The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Beset \Be*set"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beset; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Besetting.] [AS. besettan (akin to OHG. bisazjan, G.
   besetzen, D. bezetten); pref. be- + settan to set. See
   Set.]
   1. To set or stud (anything) with ornaments or prominent
      objects.
      [1913 Webster]

            A robe of azure beset with drops of gold.
                                                  --Spectator.
      [1913 Webster]

            The garden is so beset with all manner of sweet
            shrubs that it perfumes the air.      --Evelyn.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To hem in; to waylay; to surround; to besiege; to
      blockade. "Beset with foes." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            Let thy troops beset our gates.       --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To set upon on all sides; to perplex; to harass; -- said
      of dangers, obstacles, etc. "Adam, sore beset, replied."
      --Milton. "Beset with ills." --Addison. "Incommodities
      which beset old age." --Burke.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To occupy; to employ; to use up. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To surround; inclose; environ; hem in; besiege;
        encircle; encompass; embarrass; urge; press.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

beset
    v 1: annoy continually or chronically; "He is known to harry his
         staff when he is overworked"; "This man harasses his female
         co-workers" [syn: harass, hassle, harry, chivy,
         chivvy, chevy, chevvy, beset, plague, molest,
         provoke]
    2: assail or attack on all sides: "The zebra was beset by
       leopards" [syn: beset, set upon]
    3: decorate or cover lavishly (as with gems) [syn: encrust,
       incrust, beset]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

279 Moby Thesaurus words for "beset":
   abashed, afflict, afflicted, aggravate, agitated, ail, annoy,
   annoyed, anxious, apply pressure, assail, assault, attack, badger,
   badgered, bait, baited, barred, be at, be the matter, bedevil,
   bedeviled, beleaguer, beleaguered, besiege, besieged, blandish,
   blockade, blockaded, bother, bothered, bound, box in, bristle,
   brown off, bug, bugged, bullyrag, bullyragged, burn up, buttonhole,
   cabined, cage, caged, cajole, cast down, chagrined, chamber,
   chapfallen, chivied, chivy, circle, cloistered, close in,
   closed-in, coax, compass, compel, complicate matters, concern,
   confined, confused, contain, coop, coop in, coop up, cooped,
   cordon, cordon off, cordoned, cordoned off, corral, corralled,
   cramped, crawl with, creep with, cribbed, devil, deviled,
   discomfited, discomforted, discommode, discompose, discomposed,
   disconcerted, disquieted, distemper, distress, distressed, disturb,
   disturbed, dog, dogged, drive, dun, embarrassed, encircle, enclose,
   enclosed, encompass, enshrine, envelop, environ, exasperate,
   exercise, exert pressure, fall, fash, fence in, fenced, fret,
   fretted, gem, get, gird, girdle, grip, gripe, grubby, harass,
   harassed, harried, harry, haunt, haunted, heckle, heckled, hector,
   hectored, hedge in, hedged, hem, hem in, hemmed, hold, hound,
   hounded, house in, hung up, hunt, ill at ease, immured, impel,
   importune, impound, imprison, imprisoned, incarcerate,
   incarcerated, include, inconvenience, inconvenienced, infatuate,
   infest, infested, invade, invest, irk, irked, jail, jailed, jewel,
   kennel, lay siege to, leaguer, leaguered, lousy, mew, mew up,
   mewed, miff, molest, mortified, nag, nag at, needle, needled,
   nettle, nipped at, not let go, nudzh, obsess, oppress,
   out of countenance, overrun, overspread, overswarm, paled,
   pedicular, pediculous, peeve, pen, pen in, penned, pent-up,
   perplex, persecute, persecuted, perturb, perturbed, pester,
   pestered, pick on, picked on, pique, plague, plagued,
   pluck the beard, ply, pocket, possess, pother, preoccupy, press,
   pressure, provoke, pursue, push, put out, put to it, put-out,
   put-upon, puzzle, puzzled, quarantine, quarantined, ragged,
   rail in, railed, ratty, ravage, ravaged, restrained, ride, rile,
   ring, roil, ruffle, shrine, shut in, shut up, shut-in, soften up,
   sore beset, stable, storm, strike, surround, swarm, swarm with,
   tease, teased, teeming, torment, tormented, trouble, troubled,
   try the patience, tweak the nose, uncomfortable, uneasy, upset,
   urge, vex, vexed, victimize, wall in, walled, walled-in, wheedle,
   work on, wormy, worried, worried sick, worried stiff, worry, wrap,
   yard, yard up