• IPA: /səˈlɪsɪt/

solicit (solicits, present participle soliciting; past and past participle solicited)

1. To persistently endeavor to obtain an object, or bring about an event.

   to solicit alms, or a favour

   • 1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard:

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

     Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?

2. To woo; to court.
3. To persuade or incite one to commit some act, especially illegal or sexual behavior.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 8”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     That fruit […] sollicited her longing eye.

   • 1689 (indicated as 1690)​, [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Thomas Basset, […], OCLC 153628242 ↗:

     , Book II, Chapter 1

     Sounds and some tangible qualities fail not to solicit their proper senses, and force an entrance to the mind.

   If you want to lose your virginity, you should try to solicit some fine looking women.
4. To offer to perform sexual activity, especially when for a payment.

   My girlfriend tried to solicit me for sex, but I was tired.

5. To make a petition.
6. (archaic) To disturb or trouble; to harass.
7. To urge the claims of; to plead; to act as solicitor for or with reference to.
   • 1628, John Ford (dramatist), The Lover's Melancholy

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

8. (obsolete, rare) To disturb; to disquiet.
   • 1611-1615, George Chapman, ''Iliad, Book XVI

     Hath any ill solicited thine ears?

   • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: Printed for Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 6484883 ↗, Act I, page 3 ↗:

     2

     But anxious fears solicit my weak breast.

• (to persistently endeavor to obtain an object) supplicate, thig
• (to woo) address, romance; see also Thesaurus:woo
• (to urge the claims of) plead
• (to disturb) worry
• appeal, request

• German: anfordern, bedrängen, erbitten, nachsuchen
• Portuguese: solicitar
• Russian: добива́ться
• Spanish: solicitar

• German: werben, den Hof machen
• Russian: уха́живать

• German: anstiften, beschwatzen, überreden
• Russian: домога́ться
• Spanish: solicitar

• Russian: приставать

• Russian: ходатайствовать
• Spanish: solicitar

• German: belästigen, stören
• Russian: досажда́ть

solicit

1. (archaic) solicitation