solicit
[suh-lis-it]
- to seek for (something) by entreaty, earnest or respectful request, formal application, etc.: He solicited aid from the minister.
- to entreat or petition (someone or some agency): to solicit the committee for funds.
- to seek to influence or incite to action, especially unlawful or wrong action.
- to offer to have sex with in exchange for money.
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- to make a petition or request, as for something desired.
- to solicit orders or trade, as for a business: No soliciting allowed in this building.
- to offer to have sex with someone in exchange for money.
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Origin of solicit
1400–50; late Middle English soliciten < Middle French solliciter < Latin sollicitāre to excite, agitate, derivative of sollicitus troubled (soll(us) whole + -i- -i- + citus, past participle of ciēre to arouse)
Synonyms
See more synonyms for solicit on Thesaurus.com2. beseech, beg. 3. excite, arouse, provoke.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for soliciting
Contemporary Examples
He is also soliciting funds for university fellowships in agronomy and engineering.
Christian conservative Sen. Larry Craig plead guilty for soliciting sex in the Minneapolis airport bathroom in 2007.
‘7th Heaven’ Dad Stephen Collins and the Christian Right’s Real Morality TaleAmanda Marcotte
October 8, 2014
On Twitter and in Facebook pages ISIS was making appeals as well as threats, attracting recruits and soliciting funding online.
In soliciting funds for care packages, Move America Forward frequently uses testimonials from troops or their relatives.
There are adolescent boys all over America soliciting naughty pics from adolescent girls, he says.
Historical Examples
One was from a manufacturer of cold cream, soliciting a testimonial.
The Film of FearArnold Fredericks
The monarchs of foreign countries often wrote to him soliciting his aid.
Henry IV, Makers of HistoryJohn S. C. Abbott
At dawn of day I found every person complaining, and some of them soliciting extra allowance; but I positively refused it.
Well, is that all you had to say to me in soliciting an audience?
Ten Years LaterAlexandre Dumas, Pere
For this purpose Gallaudet and a few others set about soliciting contributions.
The DeafHarry Best
solicit
- (when intr, foll by for) to make a request, application, or entreaty to (a person for business, support, etc)
- to accost (a person) with an offer of sexual relations in return for money
- to provoke or incite (a person) to do something wrong or illegal
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French solliciter to disturb, from Latin sollicitāre to harass, from sollicitus agitated, from sollus whole + citus, from ciēre to excite
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for soliciting
solicit
v.
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.
Meaning "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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper