From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsolicitso‧li‧cit /səˈlɪsɪt/ verb 1 [intransitive usually progressive]SYSEX/HAVE SEX WITH to offer to have sex with someone in exchange for money She was arrested for soliciting.2 [intransitive, transitive] formalASK A QUESTION to ask someone for money, help, or information Morgan is accused of illegally soliciting campaign contributions.solicit something from somebody The governor sent two officials to Mexico City to solicit aid from the president.3 [intransitive, transitive] American EnglishBBT to try to sell a product or service by taking it to homes or businesses and showing it to the people there No soliciting on company premises is allowed.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
solicit• Financial donations are also being solicited.• Sneed, who works nights, spent the days soliciting business for the magazine.• Certain federal employees are forbidden to solicit campaign funds.• Now producers sit around, make up a topic and then solicit for it.• Jennifer White Dove smiled at him again, almost soliciting his interest.• But Forbes did remarkably well for a nerdish unknown, so Dole now solicits his thoughts on jazzing up his tax platform.• Rosen said he never personally solicited the man as a client or knew of any solicitation by one of his partners.• Two households signed the contract when the cable company solicited them.solicit something from somebody• School officials have been soliciting ideas from parents.From Longman Business Dictionarysolicitso‧li‧cit /səˈlɪsɪt/ verb [transitive]1formal to ask someone for information or helpShe called meetings to solicit the views of her staff.2disapproving to ask someone for moneysolicit something from somebodyHe admitted that he solicited $34 million from 1,000 investors.3American English to sell something by taking orders for a product or service, usually by going to people’s houses or businessesThe office products supplier regularly solicits business in North Dakota. —solicitation noun [countable, uncountable]direct mail solicitationsdoor-to-door solicitation→ See Verb tableOrigin solicit (1400-1500) Old French solliciter “to disturb, take charge of”, from Latin sollicitare, from sollicitus; → SOLICITOUS 