accost Hear it!

accost Definition

ac·cost (ə kôst′, -käst′)

transitive verb

  1. to approach and speak to; greet first, before being greeted, esp. in an intrusive way
  2. to solicit for sexual purposes: said of a prostitute, etc.

Etymology: Fr accoster < It accostare, to bring side by side < VL *accostare < L ad-, to + costa, rib, side

accost Synonyms

accost

v.

  1. To greet

    address, hail, call to; see greet.

  2. To solicit

    approach, waylay, confront, proposition*; see approach 1, solicit 3.

accost Usage Examples

Object

  • passer-by: Here she got her living; she accosted passers-by with jokes and, mostly without request, received money.
  • stranger: One night a villager who had long made up his mind to accost the stranger did so.
  • woman: Blake accosts the woman in the black mask who turns out to be Paula's cousin.

Subject

  • man: According to The Mirror, the singer was recently accosted by a rather angry man whilst having a drink in a Los Angeles bar.
  • woman: June is accosted by a middle-aged woman in the Bible Belt.
  • people: Waited for the plane and got accosted by silly airport survey people.
  • person: Iris Wilkinson was accosted by an unidentified person asking who she was and claiming to be security.
  • policeman: At this precise moment he is accosted by a policeman.
  • lady: While there we were accosted by an American lady ( slightly inebriated I think!

Modifying Another Word

  • immediately: The writer immediately accosted the seamen about the state of the ship.
  • then: One farmer recently witnessed a Sparrowhawk take a Fieldfare and was then accosted on the ground by a Buzzard which then stole the prey.
  • once: I was once accosted and grilled by the ( constantly patrolling ) security guards just for taking pictures!
  • even: People even accosted Williams in the street to protest.

Preposition: by

  • man: According to The Mirror, the singer was recently accosted by a rather angry man whilst having a drink in a Los Angeles bar.
  • woman: June is accosted by a middle-aged woman in the Bible Belt.
  • people: Waited for the plane and got accosted by silly airport survey people.
  • person: Iris Wilkinson was accosted by an unidentified person asking who she was and claiming to be security.
  • policeman: At this precise moment he is accosted by a policeman.
  • lady: While there we were accosted by an American lady ( slightly inebriated I think!

Preposition: in

street: In 42 BC a VV was accosted in the street while returning from baths; afterward VVs were given lictors.