The Collaborative International Dictionary
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.]
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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. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
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.
Wiktionary
n. The act of one who solicits. vb. (present participle of solicit English)
Usage examples of "soliciting".
I was obliged to remain at Sens, soliciting my erasure from the emigrant list, which I did not obtain, however, till 1797, and to put an end to a charge made against me of having fabricated a certificate of residence.
When the great emergencies of the state required his presence and attention, he was engaged in conversation with the philosopher Plotinus, wasting his time in trifling or licentious pleasures, preparing his initiation to the Grecian mysteries, or soliciting a place in the Arcopagus of Athens.
The nobles of Armenia flew to the standard of Tiridates, all alleging their past merit, offering their future service, and soliciting from the new king those honors and rewards from which they had been excluded with disdain under the foreign government.
Humbled by a public confession, emaciated by fasting and clothed in sackcloth, the penitent lay prostrate at the door of the assembly, imploring with tears the pardon of his offences, and soliciting the prayers of the faithful.
Theodosius, by soliciting his friendship, tacitly forgave, and almost ratified, the usurpation of Gaul.
Ascend six hundred years, and contemplate the kings of the earth soliciting an audience, as the slaves or freedmen of the Roman senate!
Petrarch, by soliciting his release, indirectly contributed to the ruin of his friend.
Montmorin, soliciting employment in the French Embassy at the Court of Austria.
At the same time he was soliciting employment at the War Office, and I at the office of Foreign Affairs.
On the 13th of September 1805 I received a letter from the Minister of Police soliciting information about Swedish Pomerania.
Posen, and, he received deputations from all parts soliciting the re-establishment and independence of the Kingdom of Poland.
The latter, understanding the sentiments of his father, wrote to Napoleon, soliciting his support.
He had just time to dress himself hastily, and fly to meet Napoleon, to whom he delivered a letter, which he had prepared beforehand for the purpose of soliciting an audience.
The Emperor kept up such an extensive agency in Holland that he easily got up a deputation soliciting him to choose a king for the Batavian Republic.
Witnesses were convicted under a statute which forbade the unlicensed soliciting of funds on the representation that they were for religious or charitable purposes, and also on a general charge of breach of the peace by accosting in a strongly Catholic neighborhood two communicants of that faith and playing to them a phonograph record which grossly insulted the Christian religion in general and the Catholic church in particular.