Forms: α. Sc. 5–6 solistatioun (6 -acioun), 6–7 -ation, 6 solyst-, sollistatioun. β. 6–7 sollicitac(i)on, 6–8 -ation (6 -atioun); 6 solicitacion, solyssetacion, 7 solissitation, 7– solicitation. [a. OF. sol-, sollicitation (mod.F. sollicitation, = Sp. solicitacion, Pg. solicitação, It. solle-, sollicitazione), or ad. L. sōl-, sollicitātio: see SOLICIT v. and -ATION.]
† 1. Management, transaction, or pursuit of business, legal affairs, etc. Obs.
1492. Acta Dom. Concilii, 250/1. Þe Soume of fiftj merkis … auch to him … for solistatioun of thar errandis þe tyme he wes alderman of þe said toun.
1529. in Burnet, Hist. Ref., I. II. Rec. xxii. (1679), 54. So as ye may be sure to have of him effectual concurrence and advice in the furtherance and sollicitation of your Charges.
1642. Harcourt, in Macm. Mag., XLV. 289. I presume you are now very bussee in the solissitation of my law bussines.
1722. in Westm. Gaz. (1906), 27 Aug., 2/3. To undertake the Sollicitation and Management of any Affairs which may come before either House.
2. The action of soliciting, or seeking to obtain by earnest request; entreaty, petition, diligent or importunate asking.
α. 1533. Bellenden, Livy, I. xv. (S.T.S.), I. 82. Numa havand na cognossance of Rome,… was chosin but ony his solistacioun, and maid king.
1561. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 160. To the effect oure Soverane Lady be nocht molestit with importunite, solistatioun, and requeist.
1637–50. Row, Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.), 221. He was upon great moyen and solistation inlarged, but verie shortlie after he departed this life.
β. 1533. Bellenden, Livy, V. vi. (S.T.S.), II. 167. Þai þat war movit be requiest or sollicitatioun of tribunys militare.
1588. Lambarde, Eiren., IV. vii. 514. At the sollicitation and by the meanes of some parties grieued.
1622. Williams, in Fortescue P. (Camden), 173. By the sollicitacion of Sir Edw. Cooke I forbore … to doe any thing herein.
1697. Luttrell, Brief Relat. (1857), IV. 296. Great sollicitation has been used for the two latter to change their sentence from death to transportation.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 160, ¶ 2. [Patrons] are sometimes corrupted by Avarice, and sometimes cheated by Credulity, sometimes overpowered by resistless Solicitation.
1780. Mirror, No. 71. After two years solicitation … Antonio gave up all hopes of success.
1836. Sir H. Taylor, Statesman, xxiii. 167. A spirit of justice, ears shut against private solicitation, ought to be regarded as essential qualifications … for the office of private secretary.
1883. Law Rep. 23 Chanc. Div. 722. At her solicitation the trustee lent the fund to the husband and it was lost.
b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lvii. 2. Be dyuers … operatiounis Men makis in court thair solistationis.
1596. Earl Essex, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., 3rd Ser. IV. 13. His sollicitacons and guifts, offered to the rebells of Irland.
1625. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1909), III. 59. Our owne peticions, sollicitacions, and complaintes.
1671. Milton, Samson, 488. Spare that proposal, Father, spare the trouble Of that sollicitation.
1769. Junius Lett., xxv. (1780), 140. Your solicitations … were renewed under another administration.
1836. J. Martin, Discourses, iv. 121. Without one solicitation on the part of the conquered, peace is offered.
1874. Green, Short Hist., ix. 689. In spite of his master’s personal solicitations Churchill remained true to Protestantism.
c. The action of soliciting a person of the other sex (cf. SOLICIT v. 4 b and 4 d).
1604. Shaks., Oth., IV. ii. 202. If she will returne me my Iewels, I will giue ouer my Suit, and repent my vnlawfull solicitation.
a. 1639. T. Carew, Upon Sickness of E. S., 19. Shee Who hath preserv’d her spotless chastity From all solicitation.
1681. Otway, Soldier’s Fort., III. i. She cannot be free from the insolent Sollicitations of such Fellows as you are, Sir.
1781. Mrs. Inchbald, I’ll tell you what, III. ii. He had just seen the most beautiful girl his eyes ever beheld, to whom he had given a look of solicitation.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, liv. From my marriage day I found myself exposed … to such solicitation and pursuit … from one mean villain.
1887. [see SOLICITEE].
d. Law. (See quot. and SOLICIT v. 3.)
1835. Tomlins, Law Dict., Solicitations. It is an indictable offence to solicit and incite another to commit a felony.
3. The exertion or operation of a physically attracting influence or force.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 836. By Excitation and Solicitation of the Body Putrified, and the Parts thereof, by the Body Ambient.
1833. Sir J. Herschel, Astron., viii. 266. Be it pressure from without or the resultant of many pressures or sollicitations of unknown fluids.
1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857), II. 67. The ‘solicitations of gravity.’
1884. R. A. Proctor, in N. Amer. Rev., Aug., 115. The solicitations of Jupiter’s attractive force are as urgent on a swiftly rushing body as on one at rest.
4. The action of some attractive, enticing or alluring influence.
1676. Hale, Contempl., II. Medit. Lord’s Prayer, 153. In these the Objects were innocent, and had in themselves no active solicitation to Evil.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. i. § 8. Children … are surrounded with a world of new things, which, by a constant Sollicitation of their Senses, draw the Mind constantly to them.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull (1755), 32. She was a thief, and a common mercenary prostitute, and that without any sollicitation from nature.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 25, ¶ 10. Vicious sollicitations of appetite, if not checked, will grow more importunate.
a. 1820. T. Brown, Philos. Human Mind, xcviii. IV. 561. The duty that is exercised in resisting the solicitations of evils.
1884. J. Sully, Outlines Psychol., iv. 99. The power of sustained attention grows with the ability to resist distractions and solicitations.
† 5. Anxiety; solicitude. Obs.
1697. Clayton, Acc. Virginia, in Misc. Curiosa (1708), III. 297. If … their Heards are stray’d from their Plantations, without more sollicitation they go directly to the Rivers to fetch them home again.
a. 1718. W. Penn, in Life, Wks. I. 135. Whom I ever served with a steady Sollicitation.
1725. Fam. Dict., s.v. Snow-Water, This comes so little either into our Diet or Physick, that it is not worth much Sollicitation about it.
Hence Solicitationism.
1880. W. D. Howells, Undiscovered Country, iii. 52. What I wish now to establish as the central principle of the spiritistic science is the principle of solicitationism.
