From Middle French accoster, acoster, from Old French acoster (“to stand beside”) (whence Medieval Latin accostare), from Old French a- + coste (“side, flank”).
Meanings
(rare) Address; greeting.
Anne liked to accost foreigners in their own tongue , but , being ignorant of Spanish , asked M. de Grignaux to teach her a sentence of polite accost in his own language, wherewith to welcome an ambassador from Spain. 1871, Henry Morley, Clement Marot:
A man does not seize a woman by the sleeve and ask, "Is it you?" without some reason for an address so destitute of ordinary courtesy; and Lucilla was sufficiently versed in such matters to know that so rude and startling an accost could be only addressed to some one whose presence set the speaker's heart beating, and quickened the blood in his veins. 1866, Margaret Oliphant, chapter XXIII, in Miss Marjoribanks (Chronicles of Carlingford):
Great was my amazement to find the unconquerable Mr. Sim thaw immediately on the accost of this strange gentleman, who hailed him with a ready familiarity, proceeded at once to discuss with him the trade of droving and the prices of cattle, and did not disdain to take a pinch from the inevitable ram's horn. 1897, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Drovers”, in St. Ives:
An attack.
At last, when I was already within reach of her, I stopped. Words were denied me; if I advanced I could but clasp her to my heart in silence; and all that was sane in me, all that was still unconquered, revolted against the thought of such an accost. 1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Olalla”, in The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables:
From Middle French accoster, acoster, from Old French acoster (“to stand beside”) (whence Medieval Latin accostare), from Old French a- + coste (“side, flank”).
Meanings
(transitive) To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request.
A beggar accosted me as soon as I stepped outside.
(obsolete, transitive) To join side to side; to border.
(broadly, obsolete, transitive) To sail along the coast or side of.
(obsolete, transitive) To approach; to come up to.
You mistake, knight. ‘Accost’ is front / her, board her, woo her, assail her. c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, act 1, scene 3, lines 53–54:
(transitive) To speak to first; to address; to greet.
She 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." 1847, Charlotte Bronte, chapter XVIII, in Jane Eyre:
I quickly followed suit, and descending into the bar-room accosted the grinning landlord very pleasantly. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 5, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
Him, Satan thus accosts. 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost, line 653:
(intransitive, obsolete) To adjoin; to lie alongside.
For all the Shores, which to the Sea accost 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V”, in The Faerie Queene, canto 2, stanza XLII:
Lapland hath since been often surrounded (so much as accosts the sea) by the English. 1662, Thomas Fuller, “Derby-shire”, in History of the Worthies of England:
(transitive) To assault.
The Missouri prosecutors' case against Clemons, based partly on incriminating testimony given by his co-defendants, was that Clemons was part of a group of four youths who accosted the sisters on the Chain of Rocks Bridge one dark night in April 1991. 2012 August 21, Ed Pilkington, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:
Surveillance video of the incident shows the man and woman being accosted by a man armed with and assault-style handgun. 2017 June 21, Glenn E. Rice, “Police seek two gunmen who accosted Kansas City couple”, in The Kansas City Star:
(transitive) To solicit sexually.
Gladstone's initial tone of disinterested philanthropy also characterized his first encounters with prostitutes in London once he has moved there to undertake his parliamentary duties. Accosted in a London park in 1837 by two women, Gladstone merely reported of them that "both ... had taken to their miserable calling from losing their livelihood by the death of their husbands." 1997, Travis L. Crosby, The Two Mr. Gladstones:
it salutare (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · pt acostar (archaic or obsolete: to join side to side; to border) · hu megtámad (to assault) · mi aropā (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · hu odalép (archaic or obsolete: to approach, come up to) · fi tiukata (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · it aggredire (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · hu letámad (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · it affrontare (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · es acometer (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · hu odamegy (archaic or obsolete: to approach, come up to) · hu letámad (to assault) · fr aborder (archaic or obsolete: to approach, come up to) · ba өндәшеү (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · bg обръщам се към (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · cs obtěžovat (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · sv tilltala (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · hu megszólít (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · fr aborder (archaic or obsolete: to sail along the coast or side of) · ca adreçar-se (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · cs dorážet (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · la affor (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · ba һүҙ ҡушыу (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · bg акостирам (archaic or obsolete: to join side to side; to border) · da antaste (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · fi tervehtiä (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · it inveire (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · nl aanklampen (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · cs nabízet se (to solicit sexually) · ca insinuar-se (to solicit sexually) · ru приставать (to solicit sexually) · nb antaste (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · hu leszólít (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · de bedrängen (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · hu leszólít (to solicit sexually) · pt abordar (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · bg заговарям (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · it molestare (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · la affor (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · nb angripe (to assault) · pl zaczepiać (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · ca abordar (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · es embestir (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · nrf achîtrer (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · nb angripe (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · hu rátámad (to assault) · fi puhutella (to speak to first, to address, to greet) · fi vaatia (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · ru обраща́ться (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · ru загова́ривать (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · fr accoster (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · hu ráront (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request) · it accostare (archaic or obsolete: to join side to side; to border) · da antaste (to assault) · la affor (archaic or obsolete: to join side to side; to border) · cs dotírat (to approach and speak too boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request)