solicit 
Within this hour he means hi flrst solicit 
And personal siege. 
Shirley, Grateful Servant, I. 2. 
SOlicitant (so-lis'i-tant), rt. tmd . [< L. sollici- 
ttin(t-)x. noli'citan(t-)8, ppr. of sollicitare, urge, 
incite: sec solicit.] I. . Solicitous; seeking; 
making petition: as, *oli<-ita>it of a job. EHCIJC. 
Diet. 
II 11. One who solicits. Iiitji. DM. 
solicitatet (so-lis'i-tat), r. t. [< L. sollicitatus. 
snlifHiitiis, pp. of sollicitare, solicititrc, solicit: 
see solicit.] To solicit. 
[He] dill urge and solicitate him, according to his man- 
ner of words, to recant. 
Foxe, quoted in Maitland on Reformation, p. 494. (Dames.) 
solicitatet (so-lis'i-tat), a. [< L. xollicitatiis, 
solicitatits, pp. : see solicit.] Solicitous. 
Beinge no lesse solicitate for them selues then medi- 
tatynge in what daunger theyr felowes had byn in Riuo 
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed. 
[Arber, p. 121). 
solicitation (so-lis-i-ta'shou), n. [Formerly 
also solicitation ; < OF. solicitation, F. sollicita- 
tion = Sp. solicitation = Pg. solicitaqUo = It. 
solleeitazione, sollicitazione, < L. sollicttatio(n-), 
solieitatio(n-j, vexation, instigation, < sollicitare, 
soliciiarc, pp. sollicitatus, urge, incite, solicit: 
see solicit.'] The act of soliciting, (a) Excitation ; 
invitation; temptation; allurement; enticement; dis- 
turbing effect. 
Children are surrounded with new things, which, by a 
constant solicitation of their senses, draw the mind con- 
stantly to them. Locke. 
The power of sustained attention grows with the ability 
to resist distractions and solicitations. 
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 99. 
To use an old-fashioned expression of the flrst students 
of gravitation (an expression which has always seemed to 
me amusingly quaint), the solicitations of Jupiter's attrac- 
tive force are as urgent on a swiftly rushing body as on 
one at rest JV. A. Rev., CXXXIX. 115. 
() In criminal law : (1) The inciting of another to com- 
mit a crime. (2) The enticing of a man by a prostitute 
in a public place. (3) Endeavor to influence by bribery. 
The practice of judicial solicitation has even prevailed 
in less despotic countries. Brougham. 
(c) An earnest request; a seeking with some degree of 
zeal and earnestness to obtain something from another : 
as, the solicitation of a favor. 
He was generally poor, and often sent bold solicitations 
to everybody, . . . asking for places, for money, and even 
for clothes. Ticknor, Span. Lit., I. 353. 
(dt) Advocacy. 
So as ye may be sure to have of him effectual concur- 
rence and advise in the furtherance and sollicitation of 
your charges, whether the pope's holiness amend, remain 
long sick, or (as God forbid) should fortune to die. 
Bp. Burnet, Hist. Eef., I. ii. 2. 
= SytL (") Entreaty, supplication, importunity, appeal, 
petition, suit. 
solicitor (so-lis'i-ter), H. [< solicit + -<*!. ] 
Same as solicitor. 
I ... thancke God that ye have occasyon govyn unto 
you to be a gollycyter and setter forth of such thyugs as 
do and shall conserve my said ende. 
Cardinal Wolseti, To S. Gardiner (EUis's Hist. Letters 
[Ist8er.,ciii.). 
solicitor (so-lis'i-tor), n. [Early mod. E. soli- 
citour, < OF. (and'F.) solliciteur = Pr. sollicitd- 
dor = Sp. Pg. solicitador = It. sollecitatore, sol- 
licitatore, < LL. sollid tator, solieitator, a solici- 
tor, first used in sense of 'a tempter, seducer,' 
ML. an advocate, etc., < L. sollicitare, solieitare, 
urge, incite, solicit : nee solicit.] If. A tempter; 
an instigator. 
Appetite is the Will's solicitor, and the Will is Appe- 
tite's controller. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 7. 
2. One who solicits; one who asks with ear- 
nestness. 
We single you 
As our best-moving fair solicitor. 
Shak.,L.L. L., ii. 1.2!). 
3. An advocate ; specifically, one who repre- 
sents a party in a court of justice, particularly 
a court of equity. Generally, in the United States 
wherever the distinction between courts of law and of 
equity remains, practitioners in the latter are termed so- 
licitors. In England solicitors are officers of the supreme 
court, and the medium between barristers and the gen- 
eral public ; they prepare causes for the barrister, and 
have a right of audience as advocates before magistrates 
at petty sessions, at quarter-sessions where there is no 
bar, in county courts, and in the bankruptcy court, but 
they cannot appear as advocates in any of the superior 
courts, or at assizes, or at any court of commission So- 
icitors were at one time officers only of the court of chan- 
cery but the term is now applied to all attorneys. In 
Scotland solicitors are of two classes- solicitors in the 
supreme court, who occupy a position similar to that of 
solicitors in England ; and solicitors at law, who are mem- 
bers of a society of law-agents at Edinburgh, incorporated 
by royal charter and entitled to practise before inferior 
courts ; they are also known by the name of procurators. 
ft SZ m Scotland are now on an equal 
5758 
Be merry, Cassio, 
For thy solicitor shall rather die 
Than give thy cause away. 
Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 27. 
I take bishops to be the worst solicitnrs in the world. 
Sw^ft, Letter, Oct. 10, 1710. 
City solicitor, in some of the United States, an officer 
having charge of the legal business of a municipality. 
Crown solicitor. See crown. Solicitor of the Trea- 
sury, an officer of the Treasury Department having charge 
of the prevention and punishment of all frauds, and the 
conduct of all suits involving the revenue of the United 
States except those arising under the internal revenue 
laws of the United States, which are in charge of the So- 
licitor of Internal Revenue. 
solicitor-general (so-lis'i-tor-jen'e-ral), .; pi. 
solicitors-general. 1. In England, an officer of 
the crown, next in rank to the attorney-general, 
with whom he is in fact associated in the man- 
agement of the legal business of the crown and 
public offices. On him generally devolves the 
maintenance of the rights of the crown in reve- 
nue cases, patent causes, etc. 2. In Scotland, 
one of the crown counsel, next in dignity and 
importance to the lord advocate, to whom he 
gives his aid in protecting the interests of the 
crown, in conducting prosecutions, etc. 3. In 
the United States : (a) The second officer of the 
Department of Justice, who assists the attorney- 
general, and in his absence performs his duties. 
(6) A chief law officer of some of the States, cor- 
responding to the attorney-general in others. 
W. C. Anderson, Law Diet. 
solicitorship (so-lis'i-tor-ship), H. [< solicitor 
+ -ship.] 1. The office or status of solicitor. 
2. A mock respectful title of address applied 
with a possessive pronoun to a solicitor. Com- 
pare the analogous use of lordship. [Rare.] 
Your good solicitorship, and rogue Welborn, 
Were brought into her presence. 
Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, ii. 3. 
Solicitous (so-lis'i-tus), a. [= Sp. solicito = Pg. 
solicito = It. sollccito, sollicito, < L. sollicitus, 
less correctly solicitus, agitated, disturbed, 
anxious, careful: see solicit.] Anxious; con- 
cerned; apprehensive; eager, whether to ob- 
tain something desirable or to avoid some- 
thing evil; very desirous; greatly concerned: 
disturbed; uneasy: as, a solidtous temper or 
temperament : generally followed by an infini- 
tive, or by about, concerning, or for (less fre- 
quently of) before the object of anxiety or 
concern. 
Ever suspicious, anxious, solicitous, they are childishly 
drooping without reason. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 1(>4. 
You are solicitous of the good-will of the meanest per- 
son, uneasy at his ill-will. 
Einerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 210. 
solicitously (so-lis'i-tus-li), adv. In a solici- 
tous manner; anxiously; with care or concern. 
solicitousness (so-lis'i-tus-nes), n. The state 
of being solicitous ; solicitude. 
solicitress (so-lis'i-tres), n. [< solicitor + -ess.] 
A female solicitor or petitioner. 
Beauty is a good solicitress of an equal suit, especially 
where youth is to be the judge thereof. 
Fuller, Worthies, Northamptonshire. 
solicitrix (so-lis'i-triks), . [< solicitor, with 
accom. L. fern. term, -trir.] Same as solicitress. 
Danes. 
solicitude (so-lis'i-tud), n. [< OF. solicitude, 
sollicitude, F. sollicitude = Pr. sollicitut = Sp. 
solicitud = Pg. solicitude = It. solledtiidine. sol- 
licitudine, < L. sollicitudo, solicitudo, anxiety, < 
sollicitus, solicitus, anxious, solicitous: see so- 
licitous.'] 1. The state of being solicitous: 
anxious care; carefulness; anxiety; concern; 
eager uneasiness of mind lest some desired 
thing may not be obtained or some apprehend- 
ed evil may happen. 
The terseness and brilliancy of his diction, though not 
at all artificial in appearance, could not have been at- 
tained without labor and solicitude. 
Whipple, Ess. and Rev., I. 141. 
2. A cause or occasion of anxiety or concern. 
Mrs. Todgers looked a little worn by cares of gravy and 
other such solicitudes arising out of her establishment. 
Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxii. 
= Syn. Concern, Anxiety, etc. See care. 
sqlicitudinous (so-lis-i-tu'di-nus), it. [< L. sol- 
licitudo, solicitudo (-din-), solicitude, + -ous.] 
Full of solicitude. [Rare.] 
Move circumspectly, not meticulously, and rather care- 
fully solicitous than anxiously eolicitudinoui. 
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., i. S3. 
solid (sol'id), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also 
sollid; < ME. solide, < OF. solide, vernacularly 
soude, F. solide = Sp. solido = Pg. solido = It. 
solido, sodo, < L. solidtis, also contracted soldus, 
firm, dense, compact, solid; akin to OL. sollus. 
whole, entire, Or. 8?.oc, whole, entire, Skt. 
solid 
xnri-ii, all. whole: see .w/e 3 . HIMK-C nit. .toM*, 
stililo, so/2, sow> solder, soldier, consolidate, etc.] 
1. a. 1. Resisting flexure ; not to be bent with- 
out force ; capable of tangential stress : said of 
a kind of material substance. See II., 1. 
O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt. 
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew ! 
SAn*.,Uamlet, i. 2. 129. 
2. Completely filled up; compact; without cavi- 
ties, pores, or interstices; not hollow: as, a WiW 
ball, as distinguished from a hollow one; miliil 
soda-water, not frothy. 
With the solid darkness hlai-k 
('liming round his vessel's track. 
Shelley, Lines written among the Euganean Hills. 
3. Firm; strong: as, a solid pier ; a nolirl wall. 
Doubtless a stanch and solid peece of framework as any 
January could freeze together. 
Miltiin, Areopagitica, p. 40. 
4. In hot., of a fleshy, uniform, undivided sub- 
stance, as a bulb or root; not spongy or hol- 
low within, as a stem. 5. ha (mat. and xool. : 
(a) Hard, compact, or firm in consistency; hav- 
ing no cavities or spongy structure: opposed 
to spoiif/iose, porous, hollow, cancellate, exca- 
i-iili-il, etc. (6) In eiitom., specifically, formed 
of a single joint, or of several joints so closely 
applied that they appear to be one : especially 
said of the capitulum or club of capitate an- 
tennas. 6. Having three dimensions ; having 
length, breadth, and thickness; cubic: as, a 
solid foot contains 1,728 solid inches. 7. 
Sound; not weak; strong. 
A solid and strong constitution of body, to bear the fa- 
tigue. Walts, Improvement of Mind. (Latham.) 
A Bottle or two of good solid Edifying Port, at honest 
George's, made a Night chearful, and threw off Reserve. 
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, 
|I. 199. 
8. Substantial, as opposed to frivolous, falla- 
cious, or the like; worthy of credit, trust, or 
esteem ; not empty or vain ; real ; time ; just : 
valid; firm; strong; hence, satisfactory: as, 
solid arguments ; solid comfort ; solid sense. 
In sollid content together they liv'd. 
KMn flood and Maid Marian (Child's Ballads, V. 375). 
Not barren praise alone, that gaudy flower, 
Fair only to the sight, but solid power. 
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., i. 298. 
9. Not light, trifling, or superficial ; grave ; pro- 
found. 
The older an Author is, commonly the more solid he is, 
and the greater teller of Truth. Ilowell, Letters, iv. 31. 
These, wanting wit, affect gravity, and go by the name 
of solid men, and a solid man is, in plain English, a solid 
solemn fool. Dryden. (Johnson.) 
This nobleman, being ... of a very solid mind, could 
never be brought to understand the nature of my thoughts. 
It. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, Ixviii. 
10. Financially sound or safe; possessing 
plenty of capital ; wealthy ; well-established ; 
reliable. 
Solid men of Boston, banish long potations ; 
Solid men of Boston, make no long orations. 
C. Morris. Pitt and Dundas's Return. From Lyra Ur- 
[banica. (Bartlelt.) 
11. Unanimous, or practically unanimous: as, 
a solid vote ; the solid South. [Political slang. 
U. S.] 12. Without break or opening, as a 
wall or facade. 
The apse, properly speaking, is a solid semidome, but 
always solid below, though generally broken by windows 
above. J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 475. 
13. Smooth; even; unbroken; unvaried; un- 
shaded: noting a color or pigment. 14. With- 
out the liquor, as oysters : said in measuring : 
opposite to in liquor.-pUe solid, in her. Seejafc*. 
- Solid angle. See angle*. Solid bath, a form of bath 
in which the body is enveloped in a solid or semisolid 
substance, as mud, hay, dung, peat, sand, or ashes. Solid 
blow, cam, content, culture. See the nouns. Solid 
bulb. See trtdb, i._ Solid color, (a) In decorative art, 
a color which invests the whole of an object, as a porce- 
lain vase : more often used adjectively : as, solid-color 
porcelains ; a collection of solid-color pieces. See def. 13. 
(6) With reference to fabrics, etc., a uniform color. 
Solid geometry, green, harmonic. See the nouns. - 
Solid linkage. See linkage, 1. Solid matter, in print- 
ing, matter set without leads between the lines. Solid 
measure. Same as cubic measure (which see, under mea- 
sure). Solid number, an integer having three prime fac- 
tors. Solid problem, a problem which virtually involves 
a cubic equation, and can therefore not be solved geometri- 
cally by the rule and compass alone. Solid South. See 
OT(/A.-Solld square (mStf.). Seesguarel.-To be solid 
for, to be thoroughly in favorof : be unflagging in support 
of. [Slang, U. 8.) 
"Lyra, don't speak of it." "Never!" said Mrs. Wil- 
mington, with delight. "I'm solid for Mr. Peck every 
time." HoweUs, Annie Kilburn, xviii 
To be or make one's self solid with, to be or put one's 
self on a firm or satisfactory footing with; have or secure 
the unfailing favor or support of : as. to be solid m'th the 
police : to make one's self soli/I mth those in authority or 
power. [Slang, U. S.] 
