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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Settle \Set"tle\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Settled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Settling}.] [OE. setlen, AS. setlan. [root]154. See {Settle}, noun In senses 7, 8, and 9 perhaps confused with OE. sahtlen to reconcile, AS. sahtlian, fr. saht reconciliation, sacon to contend, dispute. Cf. {Sake}.]
1. To place in a fixed or permanent condition; to make firm, steady, or stable; to establish; to fix; esp., to establish in life; to fix in business, in a home, or the like.
And he settled his countenance steadfastly upon him, until he was ashamed. --2 Kings viii. 11. (Rev. Ver.)
The father thought the time drew on Of setting in the world his only son. --Dryden.
2. To establish in the pastoral office; to ordain or install as pastor or rector of a church, society, or parish; as, to settle a minister. [U. S.]
3. To cause to be no longer in a disturbed condition; to render quiet; to still; to calm; to compose.
God settled then the huge whale-bearing lake. --Chapman.
Hoping that sleep might settle his brains. --Bunyan.
4. To clear of dregs and impurities by causing them to sink; to render pure or clear; -- said of a liquid; as, to settle coffee, or the grounds of coffee.
5. To restore or bring to a smooth, dry, or passable condition; -- said of the ground, of roads, and the like; as, clear weather settles the roads.
6. To cause to sink; to lower; to depress; hence, also, to render close or compact; as, to settle the contents of a barrel or bag by shaking it.
7. To determine, as something which is exposed to doubt or question; to free from unscertainty or wavering; to make sure, firm, or constant; to establish; to compose; to quiet; as, to settle the mind when agitated; to settle questions of law; to settle the succession to a throne; to settle an allowance.
It will settle the wavering, and confirm the doubtful. --Swift.
8. To adjust, as something in discussion; to make up; to compose; to pacify; as, to settle a quarrel.
9. To adjust, as accounts; to liquidate; to balance; as, to settle an account.
10. Hence, to pay; as, to settle a bill. [Colloq.] --Abbott.
11. To plant with inhabitants; to colonize; to people; as, the French first settled Canada; the Puritans settled New England; Plymouth was settled in 1620.
{To settle on} or {To settle upon}, (a) to confer upon by permanent grant; to assure to. ''I . . . have settled upon him a good annuity.'' --Addison. (b) to choose; to decide on; -- sometimes with the implication that the choice is not ideal, but the best available.
{To settle the land} (Naut.), to cause it to sink, or appear lower, by receding from it.
Syn: To fix; establish; regulate; arrange; compose; adjust; determine; decide.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Settling \Set"tling\, noun
1. The act of one who, or that which, settles; the act of establishing one's self, of colonizing, subsiding, adjusting, etc.
2. pl. That which settles at the bottom of a liquid; lees; dregs; sediment. --Milton.
{Settling day}, a day for settling accounts, as in the stock market.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
settling
noun: a gradual sinking to a lower level [syn: {subsiding}, {subsidence}]
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