approach

v. t. 1. To bring near; to cause to draw near; to advance. [ Archaic ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To come near to in place, time, or character; to draw nearer to; as, to approach the city; to approach my cabin; he approached the age of manhood. [ 1913 Webster ]

He was an admirable poet, and thought even to have approached Homer. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mil.) To take approaches to. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. approche. See Approach, v. i. ] 1. The act of drawing near; a coming or advancing near. “The approach of summer.” Horsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

A nearer approach to the human type. Owen. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A access, or opportunity of drawing near. [ 1913 Webster ]

The approach to kings and principal persons. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. Movements to gain favor; advances. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A way, passage, or avenue by which a place or buildings can be approached; an access. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. pl. (Fort.) The advanced works, trenches, or covered roads made by besiegers in their advances toward a fortress or military post. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Hort.) See Approaching. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Golf) A stroke whose object is to land the ball on the putting green. It is made with an iron club. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

8. (Aviation) that part of a flight during which an airplane descends toward the landing strip. [ PJC ]

9. (Bowling) the steps taken by a bowler just before delivering the ball toward the pins. [ PJC. ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Approached; p. pr. & vb. n. Approaching. ] [ OE. approchen, aprochen, OF. approcher, LL. appropriare, fr. L. ad + propiare to draw near, prope near. ] 1. To come or go near, in place or time; to draw nigh; to advance nearer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city? 2 Sam. xi. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

But exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Heb. x. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To draw near, in a figurative sense; to make advances; to approximate; as, he approaches to the character of the ablest statesman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being approachable; approachableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being approached; accessible; as, approachable virtue. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being approachable; accessibility. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who approaches. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Hort.) The act of ingrafting a sprig or shoot of one tree into another, without cutting it from the parent stock; -- called, also, inarching and grafting by approach. [ 1913 Webster ]