accost

  • 1Accost — Ac*cost , v. i. To adjoin; to lie alongside. [Obs.] The shores which to the sea accost. Spenser. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2Accost — Ac*cost , n. Address; greeting. [R.] J. Morley. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 3Accost — Ac*cost (#; 115), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Accosted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Accosting}.] [F. accoster, LL. accostare to bring side by side; L. ad + costa rib, side. See {Coast}, and cf. {Accoast}.] 1. To join side to side; to border; hence, to sail along… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 4accost — I verb address, adoriri, affront, ambush, approach, assail, assault, assault belligerently, attack, beset, compellare, confront, draw near, fall upon, rise in hostility before, set upon, strike at, thrust at, waylay II index approach, assail …

    Law dictionary

  • 5accost — (v.) 1570s, from M.Fr. accoster move up to, from It. accostare or directly from L.L. accostare come up to the side, from L. ad to (see AD (Cf. ad )) + costa rib, side (see COAST (Cf. coast) (n.)). The original notion is of fleets of warships… …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 6accost — *address, greet, hail, salute Analogous words: *speak, talk, converse: affront, *offend, insult Contrasted words: avoid, shun, elude, evade, *escape: ignore, slight, overlook (see NEGLECT) …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 7accost — [v] approach for conversation or solicitation address, annoy, bother, brace*, buttonhole*, call, challenge, confront, cross, dare, entice, face, flag, greet, hail, proposition, run into, salute, welcome, whistle for*; concepts 48,51 Ant. avoid,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 8accost — ► VERB ▪ approach and address boldly or aggressively. ORIGIN originally in the sense «go or lie alongside»: from French accoster, from Latin costa rib, side …

    English terms dictionary

  • 9accost — [ə kôst′, əkäst′] vt. [Fr accoster < It accostare, to bring side by side < VL * accostare < L ad , to + costa, rib, side] 1. to approach and speak to; greet first, before being greeted, esp. in an intrusive way 2. to solicit for sexual… …

    English World dictionary

  • 10accost — UK [əˈkɒst] / US [əˈkɔst] verb [transitive] Word forms accost : present tense I/you/we/they accost he/she/it accosts present participle accosting past tense accosted past participle accosted formal to stop someone and speak to them, especially in …

    English dictionary