solicit

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
solicit/səˈlɪsɪt/

▶verb (solicits, soliciting, solicited)

• 1 ask for or try to obtain (something) from someone.

  ■ ask (someone) for something.

• 2 accost someone and offer one's or someone else's services as a prostitute.

– derivatives
solicitation noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. solliciter, from L. sollicitare ‘agitate’, from sollicitus ‘anxious’, from sollus ‘entire’ + citus (past part. of ciere ‘set in motion’).