Accost

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /É™.ˈkÉ”st/, /É™.ˈkÉ‘st/

Origin

• First attested in the 1570's.
• From Old French accoster, from Vulgar Latin accosto ("to come alongside someone"), from ad ("near") + costa ("rib, side")

Full definition of accost

Verb

1. (transitive) To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To join side to side; to border; hence, to sail along the coast or side of.
• So much Lapland as accosts the sea. - Fuller
3. (transitive, obsolete) To approach; to come up to.
4. (transitive) To speak to first; to address; to greet.
• MiltonHim, Satan thus accosts.
• 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIIIShe approached the basin, and bent over it as if to fill her pitcher; she again lifted it to her head. The personage on the well-brink now seemed to accost her; to make some request—"She hasted, let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him to drink."
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To adjoin; to lie alongside.
• Spenserthe shores which to the sea accost
• Fullerso much Lapland as accosts the sea
6. To solicit sexually.

Derived terms

• accostment

Noun

1. (rare) Address; greeting.

Anagrams

• coacts