FromMiddle Englishsoliciten,solliciten, fromOld Frenchsoliciter,solliciter, borrowed fromLatinsollicitō(“stir, disturb; look after”), fromsollicitus(“agitated, anxious, punctilious”, literally“thoroughly moved”), fromsollus(“whole, entire”) + perfect passive participle ofcieō(“shake, excite, cite, to put in motion”).
solicit (third-person singular simple presentsolicits,present participlesoliciting,simple past and past participlesolicited)
- (transitive) Topersistentlyendeavor toobtain an object, orbring about an event.
- Synonyms:supplicate,thig
tosolicit alms, or a favour
1717,Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, inThe Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume(please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, forBernard Lintot, […], published1717,→OCLC:I view my crime, but kindle at the view,
Repent old pleasures, andsolicit new.
Did Isolicit thee From darkness to promote me?
- (transitive) Towoo; tocourt.
- Synonyms:address,romance
1960 November, David Morgan, “"Piggyback"—U.S. success story”, inTrains Illustrated, page683:American railroads are not permitted to operate long-haul road routes, but the I.C.C. decision of 1954 did permit them tosolicit trailer business in, say, New York for Chicago provided the trailer was piggybacked in between.
- (transitive) Topersuade orincite one tocommit some act, especiallyillegal orsexualbehavior.
1667,John Milton, “Book VIII”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC:That fruit[…]sollicited her longing eye.
- , Book II, Chapter 1
- Sounds and some tangible qualities fail not tosolicit their proper senses, and force an entrance to the mind.
If you want to lose your virginity, you should try tosolicit some fine looking women.
- (transitive) Tooffer toperformsexualactivity, especially when for apayment.
My girlfriend tried tosolicit me for sex, but I was tired.
- To make apetition.
- Synonyms:appeal,petition,request
- (archaic, transitive) Todisturb ortrouble; toharass.
- (transitive) Tourge theclaims of; toplead; to act assolicitor for or withreference to.
- Synonym:plead
- (obsolete, rare, transitive) Todisturb; todisquiet.
- Synonym:worry
- 1611-1615,George Chapman,Iliad, Book XVI
- Hath any illsolicited thine ears?
1681,John Dryden,The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson andJacob Tonson, […],→OCLC, Act I,page 3:But anxious fearssolicit my weak breast.
to persistently endeavor
- Bulgarian:умолявам (bg)(umoljavam),измолвам (bg)(izmolvam)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin:懇求 /恳求 (zh)(kěnqiú)
- Finnish:penätä (fi),pyytää (fi),tavoitella (fi)
- Galician:solicitar (gl)
- German:anfordern (de),bedrängen (de),erbitten (de),nachsuchen (de)
- Hindi:याचना करना(yācnā karnā)
- Hungarian:kér (hu),kérlel (hu),könyörög (hu),folyamodik (hu),esdekel (hu)
- Japanese:強請る (ja)(yusuru)
- Portuguese:solicitar (pt)
- Romanian:solicita (ro)
- Russian:добива́ться (ru)(dobivátʹsja)
- Spanish:solicitar (es)
- Turkish:ısrarlarica etmek (tr)
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to offer to perform sexual activity, especially when for a payment
(obsolete, rare in English) to disturb or trouble; to harass
- “solicit”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “solicit”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
solicit (pluralsolicits)
- (chiefly archaic)Solicitation.
2017, Lia Litosseliti,Research Methods in Linguistics, page19:(1) How many male or female students are named (or otherwise identified) in the context of asolicit?
(2) How many words of asolicit are directed to a particular student?
