different between solicit vs prey

English

Etymology

From Middle English soliciten, solliciten, from Old French soliciter, solliciter, from Latin sollicit?re, present active participle of sollicit? (“stir, disturb; look after”), from sollicitus (“agitated, anxious, punctilious”, literally “thoroughly moved”), from sollus (“whole, entire”) + perfect passive participle of cie? (“shake, excite, cite, to put in motion”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?-l?s'?t
• IPA^(key): /s??l?s?t/
• Rhymes: -?s?t

Verb

solicit (third-person singular simple present solicits, present participle soliciting, simple past and past participle solicited)

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

   to solicit alms, or a favour

   • 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.
   • , 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, 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?

   • But anxious fears solicit my weak breast.

Conjugation

Synonyms

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

• appeal, request

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• solicit in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• solicit in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Noun

solicit

1. (archaic) solicitation

Anagrams

• colitis

English

Etymology

From Middle English preye, prei, prey?e, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French preie, one of the variants of proie, from Latin praeda. Compare predator.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pr?, IPA^(key): /p?e?/
• Rhymes: -e?
• Homophone: pray

Noun

prey (countable and uncountable, plural preys)

1. (archaic) Anything, such as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; something taken by force from an enemy in war

   Synonyms: spoil, booty, plunder
2. That which is or may be seized by animals or birds to be devoured

   • Already sees herself the monster's prey.

3. A person or thing given up as a victim.
4. A living thing that is eaten by another living thing.

5. (archaic) The act of devouring other creatures; ravage.
6. The victim of a disease.

Translations

Verb

prey (third-person singular simple present preys, present participle preying, simple past and past participle preyed)

1. (intransitive) To act as a predator.
   • 2001, Karen Harden McCracken, The Life History of a Texas Birdwatcher (page 278)

     The ridge had been a haven for birds and small earth creatures, creeping, crawling, and hopping in a little world of balanced ecology where wild things preyed and were preyed upon […]

Related terms

• prey on

References

• prey in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• pyre, rype