the.com/settling
The slow art of calling a ceiling a foundation.
means Accepting something less than what you wanted, or the gradual coming-to-rest of things into a stable state.
from From the Old English 'setlan,' to seat or place, built on 'setl,' a seat or resting-place — a cousin of 'sit.' The earliest sense was literal: to put something down, to make it stay. From there it spread outward — dust settles, debts are settled, settlers settle land, nerves settle — all variations on the same idea of coming to rest. The bittersweet modern sense of 'settling for less' is a much later twist, where coming to rest quietly became giving up the search.
- physics
- Sediment settles fastest in still, undisturbed water
- houses
- New foundations settle for years, cracking walls slightly
- law
- Most lawsuits settle before ever reaching trial
- etymology
- From Old English 'setlan,' to seat or place
- twist
- Settled liquids look clear; the murk just sank
treaty of paris 1783 — ended american revolutionary war, britain recognized us independence
homestead act 1862 — 270 million acres distributed to settlers in american west
wounded knee settlement 1973 — 71-day standoff between lakota sioux and federal agents in south dakota