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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
solicit
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
contribution
▪ Some trial lawyers say Rosenfield has solicited contributions from them.
▪ But, the source added, others were contacted by Democratic fund-raising officials after the sessions and solicited for contributions.
donation
▪ He solicited donations for one purpose and used them for another.
▪ Democrats are not alone in soliciting big-money donations or coupling them with access to political bigwigs.
▪ Verdugo hands guests small white envelopes soliciting donations for funerals and reconstruction of the shrine.
▪ No one solicited him for donations, he said.
▪ Although the museum has been helpful in soliciting donations, according to center officials, it has been a constant money loser.
▪ The University of Wisconsin, for instance, formed one group to solicit donations from women.
funds
▪ Clinton said he could not remember whether he personally solicited campaign funds by telephone from the White House.
opinion
▪ He charmed several of the newer cardinals by soliciting their opinion.
▪ He sent out a questionnaire to solicit further opinions.
▪ Those who wish to be appointed must somehow solicit the good opinion of the prime minister's appointments secretary.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Certain federal employees are forbidden to solicit campaign funds.
▪ Two households signed the contract when the cable company solicited them.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But Forbes did remarkably well for a nerdish unknown, so Dole now solicits his thoughts on jazzing up his tax platform.
▪ Financial donations are also being solicited.
▪ Jennifer White Dove smiled at him again, almost soliciting his interest.
▪ Now producers sit around, make up a topic and then solicit for it.
▪ Rosen said he never personally solicited the man as a client or knew of any solicitation by one of his partners.
▪ Sneed, who works nights, spent the days soliciting business for the magazine.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Solicit

Solicit \So*lic"it\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Solicited; p. pr. & vb. n. Soliciting.] [F. sollicier, L. sollicitare, solicitare, -atum, fr. sollicitus wholly (i. e., violently) moved; sollus whole + citus, p. p. of ciere to move, excite. See Solemn, Cite.]

  1. To ask from with earnestness; to make petition to; to apply to for obtaining something; as, to solicit person for alms.

    Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?
    --Milton.

  2. To endeavor to obtain; to seek; to plead for; as, to solicit an office; to solicit a favor.

    I view my crime, but kindle at the view, Repent old pleasures, and solicit new.
    --Pope.

  3. To awake or excite to action; to rouse desire in; to summon; to appeal to; to invite.

    That fruit . . . solicited her longing eye.
    --Milton.

    Sounds and some tangible qualities solicit their proper senses, and force an entrance to the mind.
    --Locke.

  4. To urge the claims of; to plead; to act as solicitor for or with reference to. [Obs.]

    Should My brother henceforth study to forget The vow that he hath made thee, I would ever Solicit thy deserts.
    --Ford.

  5. To disturb; to disquiet; -- a Latinism rarely used.

    Hath any ill solicited thine ears?
    --Chapman.

    But anxious fears solicit my weak breast.
    --Dryden.

    Syn: Syn. To beseech; ask; request; crave; supplicate; entreat; beg; implore; importune. See Beseech.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
solicit

early 15c., "to disturb, trouble," from Middle French soliciter (14c.), from Latin sollicitare "to disturb, rouse, trouble, harass; stimulate, provoke," from sollicitus "agitated," from sollus "whole, entire" + citus "aroused," past participle of ciere "shake, excite, set in motion" (see cite). Related: Solicited; soliciting.\n

\nMeaning "entreat, petition" is from 1520s. Meaning "to further (business affairs)" evolved mid-15c. from Middle French sense of "manage affairs." The sexual sense (often in reference to prostitutes) is attested from 1710, probably from a merger of the business sense and an earlier sense of "to court or beg the favor of" (a woman), attested from 1590s.

Wiktionary
solicit

vb. 1 To persistently endeavor to obtain an object, or bring about an event. 2 To woo; to court. 3 To persuade or incite one to commit some act, especially illegal or sexual behavior. 4 To offer to perform sexual activity, especially when for a payment. 5 To make a petition. 6 (context archaic English) To disturb or trouble; to harass. 7 To urge the claims of; to plead; to act as solicitor for or with reference to. 8 (context obsolete rare English) To disturb; to disquiet.

WordNet
solicit
  1. v. make a solicitation or entreaty for something; request urgently or persistently; "Henry IV solicited the Pope for a divorce"; "My neighbor keeps soliciting money for different charities" [syn: beg, tap]

  2. make amorous advances towards; "John is courting Mary" [syn: woo, court, romance]

  3. approach with an offer of sexual favors; "he was solicited by a prostitute"; "The young man was caught soliciting in the park" [syn: hook, accost]

  4. incite, move, or persuade to some act of lawlessness or insubordination; "He was accused of soliciting his colleagues to destroy the documents"

  5. make a solicitation or petition for something desired; "She is too shy to solicit"

Usage examples of "solicit".

Antioch, to solicit, with the same professions of allegiance and gratitude, the same favor which had been granted to the suppliant Visigoths.

It is a curious and a mystical fact, that at the period to which I am alluding, and a very short time, only a little month, before he successfully solicited the hand of Miss Milbanke, being at Newstead, he fancied that he saw the ghost of the monk which is supposed to haunt the abbey, and to make its ominous appearance when misfortune or death impends over the master of the mansion.

Pope Calixtus, who in his turn was then laboring under many difficulties, by reason of the pretensions of Gregory, an antipope, was obliged to promise that he never would for the future, except when solicited by the king himself, send any legate into England.

The emperor had solicited the mediation of his Britannic majesty, for compromising the differences between him and the court of Vienna.

An ambassador was sent to London with representations of the imminent dangers which threatened the republic, and he was ordered to solicit in the most pressing terms the assistance of his Britannic majesty, that the allies might have a superiority in the Netherlands by the beginning of the campaign.

Instead of maintaining the lofty state of a monarch, distinguished by the splendor of his purple, and encompassed by the golden shields of his guards, Julian solicited, with respectful eagerness, the meanest offices which contributed to the worship of the gods.

John whether he knew anything of a certain Margari who was soliciting the post of a clerk in the district court and gave as his reference the Lapussa family in whose service he had been for some years.

I went to Fouche to solicit the return to Paris of an officer of musqueteers who had been banished far from his family.

Powhatan and his presents of basin and ewer, bed, bedding, clothes, and such costly novelties, they had been much better well spared than so ill spent, for we had his favor and better for a plain piece of copper, till this stately kind of soliciting made him so much overvalue himself that he respected us as much as nothing at all.

Strabismus might possess to enable him to seduce her mother so outrageously, but in mid-July the world-famous scientist, as his brochures described him, came personally to Clay to solicit further funds for the impending plenary session of the Visitors, the one which would determine pretty much how the United States would be governed after the takeover.

When the fatal mandate was proclaimed, Gregory solicited the aid of some friendly merchants to convey him in a basket beyond the gates of Rome, and modestly concealed himself some days among the woods and mountains, till his retreat was discovered, as it is said, by a celestial light.

For though in this narrow period she had observed much that was admirable in his taste and disposition, and though these observations had been sanctioned by the opinion of her father, they were not sufficient testimonies of his general worth to determine her upon a subject so infinitely important to her future happiness as that, which now solicited her attention.

He preserved a steady silence to the letters in which Valancourt, despairing of greater good, and having subdued the passion, that had transgressed against his policy, solicited only the indulgence of being allowed to bid Emily farewell.

While a corps of considerable strength was upon the point of receiving orders to march for Udolpho, a young officer, prompted partly by resentment, for some injury, received from Montoni, and partly by the hope of distinction, solicited an interview with the Minister, who directed the enterprise.

Equally captivated by the figure and accomplishments of the Marquis, who was at that period one of the most distinguished noblemen of the French court, she had the art so effectually to conceal from him the dangerous traits of her character and the blemishes of her late conduct, that he solicited her hand in marriage.