approach
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈpɹəʊt͡ʃ/
ipa: /əˈpɹoʊt͡ʃ/
rhymes: -əʊtʃ
Forms: form: approaches
form: approaching
form: approached
form: approached
Etymology: From Middle English aprochen, borrowed from Old French aprochier (modern French approcher), from Late Latin appropiāre, a verb based on Latin prope (“near”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (a variant of *per- (“before, in front; first”)) + *-kʷe (“suffix forming distributives from interrogatives”)).
Senses: examples: text: She approached the door cautiously.
text: We were approached by a stranger asking for directions.
text: The deadline is fast approaching.
text: Approach thou beacon [the Sun] to this vnder gloabe,
 That by thy comfortable beames I may
 Peruſe this letter, nothing almoſt ſees my wracke
 But miſerie.
ref: c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
text: And if ſo be that the kings wrath ariſe, and hee ſay vnto thee, wherefore approched ye ſo nigh vnto the city when yee did fight? Knew yee not that they would ſhoot from the wall?
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 11:20, column 2:
text: And let vs conſider one another to prouoke vnto loue, and to good workes: Not forſaking the aſſembling of ourſelues together, as the manner of ſome is: but exhorting one another, and ſo much the more, as ye ſee the day approching.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 10:24–25, column 1:
text: It beckoned Scrooge to approach, which he did. When they were within two paces of each other, Marley's Ghost held up its hand, warning him to come no nearer. Scrooge stopped.
ref: 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 35–36:
text: The descent continues, still more steeply to Dundee (Tay Bridge), and approaching from the bridge itself this sharp descent gives the curious appearance that the station is below the level of the firth.
ref: 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:
glosses: To come or go near, in place or time; to move toward; to advance nearer; to draw nigh.
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
tennis
glosses: To play an approach shot.
examples: text: He approaches to the character of the ablest statesman.
text: The great source, as it appears to me, of the power of the Divine Comedy [by Dante Alighieri], is the strong belief with which the story seems to be told. In this respect, the only books which approach to its excellence are Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe.
ref: 1824 January, Tristram Merton [pseudonym; Thomas Babington Macaulay], “Criticisms on the Principal Italian Writers. No. I. Dante.”, in [Charles Knight], editor, Knight’s Quarterly Magazine, volume II, number I, London: […] [William Clowes] for Charles Knight, […], →OCLC, page 215:
text: Without these incentives to industry the Norwegian would be like the Laplander, without industry and civilisation; and the nearer he approaches to the beau idéal of those political economists—to the state of being without a taste for these foreign and expensive luxuries—the nearer he approaches to the condition of the Laplander in the comforts and enjoyments of life.
ref: 1839, Samuel Laing, chapter IX, in A Tour in Sweden in 1838; Comprising Observations on the Moral, Political, and Economical State of the Swedish Nation, London: […] [Andrew Spottiswoode] for Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 371:
glosses: Used intransitively, followed by to: to draw near (to someone or something); to make advances; to approximate or become almost equal.
examples: text: As we drove along the driveway, the trees approaching the house seemed more eerie.
text: [T]here appears a seeming mount, made up of trees rising one higher than another, in proportion as they approach the centre.
ref: 1712 September 17 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, September 6, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 477; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 351:
glosses: Of an immovable object or a number of such objects: to be positioned as to (notionally) appear to be moving towards (a place).
examples: text: “Would counsel please approach the bench?” asked the judge.
text: He approached the age of manhood.
text: Approch the Chamber, and deſtroy your ſight
 With a new Gorgon.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 137, column 2:
text: He [Empedocles] was an admirable Poet, and thought even to have approached Homer, in a Poem he writ of Natural Philoſophy; [...]
ref: a. 1700 (date written), William Temple, “Some Thoughts upon Reviewing the Essay of Antient and Modern Learning”, in Miscellanea. The Third Part. […], London: […] Jonathan Swift, […] Benjamin Tooke, […], published 1701, →OCLC, page 223:
text: […] I ſtuck all the Ground without my Wall, for a great way every way, as full with Stakes or Sticks of the Osier-like Wood, which I found ſo apt to grow, as they could well ſtand; inſomuch, that I believe I might ſet in near twenty thouſand of them, leaving a pretty large Space between them and my Wall, that I might have room to ſee an Enemy, and they might have no ſhelter from the young Trees, if they attempted to approach my outer Wall.
ref: 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, pages 190–191:
text: When one approaches the nest of this species, the male exhibits the greatest anxiety respecting its safety, passes and repasses, fluttering and snapping its bill within a few feet, as if determined to repel the intruder.
ref: 1831, John James Audubon, “The American Redstart. Muscicapa Ruticilla, Linn. […]”, in Ornithological Biography, or An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; […], Edinburgh: Adam Black, […], →OCLC, page 234:
text: Mr. Brownlow adopted Oliver as his own son, and removing with him and the old housekeeper to within a mile of the parsonage house, where his dear friends resided, he gratified the only remaining wish of Oliver's warm and earnest heart, and thus linked together a little society, whose condition approached as nearly to one of perfect happiness as can ever be known in this changing world.
ref: 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “And Last”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 309:
text: The secular cooling that must some day overtake our planet has already gone far indeed with our neighbour [Mars]. Its physical condition is still largely a mystery, but we know now that even in its equatorial region the mid-day temperature barely approaches that of our coldest winter.
ref: 1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Eve of the War”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), page 3:
text: If a variable v takes on successively a series of values that approach nearer and nearer to a constant value l in such a manner that #124;v-l#124; [Footnote: To be read the numerical value of the difference between v and l] becomes and remains less than any assigned arbitrarily small positive quantity, then v is said to approach the limit l, or to converge to the limit l. Symbolically this is written #92;operatorname#123;limit#125;v#61;l.
ref: 1904, William Anthony Granville, “Theory of Limits”, in Percey F[ranklyn] Smith, editor, Elements of the Differential and Integral Calculus, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Ginn & Company, →OCLC, paragraph 29 (Limit of a Variable), page 19:
glosses: To move toward (someone or something) in place, time, character, or value; to draw nearer to.
examples: text: "My story is not long," said the artist; "but your honour had better sit while you listen to it." So saying, he approached to the fire a three-footed stool, and took another himself, […]
ref: 1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 263:
glosses: To bring (something) near something else; to cause (something) to draw near.
topics: mathematical-analysis
mathematics
sciences
glosses: Used when defining limits, preceded by as: To become arbitrarily close to some value, be it a number, vector or infinity and have an effect on another value.
examples: text: Mr. Moonlight Quill, mysterious, exotic, and oriental in temperament was, nevertheless, a man of decision. And it was with decision that he approached the problem of his wrecked shop.
ref: 1922 September, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “O Russet Witch!”, in Tales of the Jazz Age, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, part II, pages 243–244:
glosses: To attempt to make (a policy) or solve (a problem).
examples: text: "Why bother publishing my conversations. It has not helped you, and it is not going to help anybody else", said U. G. when I approached him with the idea of publishing excerpts from his conversations with the constant stream of people who go to visit him.
ref: 1987, Dinesh Vaghela, “Publisher’s Note”, in Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti, edited by Terry Newland, Mind is a Myth: Disquieting Conversations with the Man Called U. G., Vallabhvidyanagar, Gujarat: Crest Associates, →OCLC, page 7:
glosses: To bring up or propose to (someone) an idea, question, request, etc.
examples: text: None of you ſhall approche to any that is neere of kinne to him, to vncouer their nakedneſſe: I am the Lord.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 18:6, column 1:
synonyms: word: approach
word: cohabit
word: company
word: copulate
word: couple
word: engage in sex
word: exchange flesh
word: have intimate relations
word: have marital relations
word: have sex
word: have sexual relations
word: intercourse
word: know
word: know someone in the biblical sense
word: make love
word: mate
word: share a bed
word: sleep together
word: strain
word: bang
word: bauf
word: beat
word: bone
word: boff
word: boink
word: bonk
word: bop
word: bounce
word: breed
word: bump nasties
word: bump uglies
word: catch a dick
word: dance
word: discuss Uganda
word: dip one's pen in someone's inkwell
word: do it
word: do the deed
word: do the nasty
word: eff
word: engender
word: expletive deleted
word: feck
word: frack
word: frak
word: frick
word: frig
word: fuck
word: get busy
word: get down
word: get freaky
word: get it
word: get it on
word: get jiggy
word: get laid
word: get lucky
word: get one's dick wet
word: get one's end away
word: get one's freak on
word: get one's groove on
word: get one's leg over
word: get one's oats
word: get physical
word: get some
word: get the dirty water off one's chest
word: graft the forked tree
word: go all the way
word: haul one's ashes
word: have it away
word: have it off
word: hide the salami
word: hide the sausage
word: hide the wienie
word: hike the Appalachian Trail
word: hook up
word: hump
word: jig-jig
word: knock boots
word: lay pipe
word: lay the pipe
word: make it
word: make out
word: make the beast with two backs
word: make whoopee
word: meddle
word: ming
word: Netflix and chill
word: penetrate
word: pipe
word: pipe down
word: play
word: play hide the sausage
word: pound
word: rail
word: ride
word: rock and roll
word: roger
word: roll around
word: root
word: screw
word: see someone's etchings
word: sex
word: shag
word: shelve
word: show someone one's etchings
word: slap bellies
word: stick
word: tumble
glosses: To have sexual intercourse with (someone).
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To take approaches to (a place); to move towards (a place) by using covered roads, trenches, or other works.
Derived terms: word: approachability
word: approachable
word: approachableness
word: approacher
word: approaching
word: approachless
word: approachment
word: reapproach
word: unapproachability
word: unapproachable
word: unapproachableness
word: unapproachably
word: unapproached
word: unapproaching