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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Approaching

Approach \Ap*proach"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Approached; p. pr. & vb. n. Approaching.] [OE. approchen, aprochen, OF. approcher, LL. appropriare, fr. L. ad + propiare to draw near, prope near.]

  1. To come or go near, in place or time; to draw nigh; to advance nearer.

    Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city?
    --2 Sam. xi. 20.

    But exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
    --Heb. x. 25.

  2. To draw near, in a figurative sense; to make advances; to approximate; as, he approaches to the character of the ablest statesman.

Approaching

Approaching \Ap*proach"ing\, n. (Hort.) The act of ingrafting a sprig or shoot of one tree into another, without cutting it from the parent stock; -- called, also, inarching and grafting by approach.

Wiktionary
approaching
  1. That approaches or approach. adv. nearly. n. The act of coming closer; an approach. v

  2. (present participle of approach English)

WordNet
approaching
  1. adj. of the relatively near future; "the approaching election"; "this coming Thursday"; "the forthcoming holidays"; "the upcoming spring fashions" [syn: coming(a), forthcoming, upcoming]

  2. n. the event of one object coming closer to another [syn: approach]

  3. the temporal property of becoming nearer in time; "the approach of winter" [syn: approach, coming]

  4. the act of drawing spatially closer to something; "the hunter's approach scattered the geese" [syn: approach, coming]

Usage examples of "approaching".

In the full confidence that the approaching death of Constantius would leave him sole master of the Roman world, we are assured that he had arranged in his mind a long succession of future princes, and that he meditated his own retreat from public life, after he should have accomplished a glorious reign of about twenty years.

Trajan vainly flattered himself that he was approaching towards the confines of India.

Such was the style of discontent, brooding over the dark prospect of approaching poverty.

The fatal moment was perhaps approaching, when some licentious youth, or some jealous tyrant, would abuse, to the destruction, that absolute power, which they had exerted for the benefit of their people.

But, notwithstanding the diligence of the public messengers, a friend of Macrinus found means to apprise him of the approaching danger.

He was attended by a body of cavalry: but having stopped on the road for some necessary occasion, his guards preserved a respectful distance, and Martialis, approaching his person under a presence of duty, stabbed him with a dagger.

His timid ingratitude was published to his subjects, in an edict which prohibited the senators from exercising any military employment, and even from approaching the camps of the legions.

When the clamor of the soldiers invested the reluctant victims with the ensigns of sovereign authority, they sometimes mourned in secret their approaching fate.

He considered with attention the approaching contest between the masters of Italy and the emperor of the East, and was prepared to consult his own safety or ambition in the event of the war.

Concealing, or at least attempting to conceal, from the public knowledge the misfortunes of his arms, he indulged himself in a vain confidence which deferred the remedies of the approaching evil, without deferring the evil itself.

But the old emperor, awakened by the approaching danger, deceived the expectations of his friends, as well as of his enemies.

An elegant supper was provided for the entertainment of the bishop, and his Christian friends were permitted for the last time to enjoy his society, whilst the streets were filled with a multitude of the faithful, anxious and alarmed at the approaching fate of their spiritual father.

Every day, at the appointed hours, the principal officers of the state, the army, and the household, approaching the person of their sovereign with bended knees and a composed countenance, offered their respectful homage as seriously as if he had been still alive.

Constantius, who was hurried along in the pursuit, attempted, without effect, to restrain the ardor of his troops, by representing to them the dangers of the approaching night, and the certainty of completing their success with the return of day.

The approaching contest with Magnentius was of a more serious and bloody kind.