Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that solicits, especially one that seeks trade or contributions.
  • noun An attorney holding a public office that handles cases involving a city, state, or other jurisdiction.
  • noun Chiefly British An attorney who advises clients on legal matters, represents clients in certain lower courts, and prepares cases for barristers to present in the higher courts.
  • noun Canadian A barrister and solicitor; a lawyer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A tempter; an instigator.
  • noun One who solicits; one who asks with earnestness.
  • noun An advocate; specifically, one who represents a party in a court of justice, particularly a court of equity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who solicits.
  • noun An attorney or advocate; one who represents another in court; -- formerly, in English practice, the professional designation of a person admitted to practice in a court of chancery or equity. See the Note under Attorney.
  • noun The law officer of a city, town, department, or government

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun In many common law jurisdictions, a type of lawyer whose traditional role is to offer legal services to clients apart from acting as their advocate in court. A solicitor instructs a barrister to act as an advocate for their client in court, although rights of audience for solicitors vary according to jurisdiction.
  • noun In English Canada and in parts of Australia, a type of lawyer who historically held the same role as above, but whose role has in modern times been merged with that of a barrister.
  • noun In parts of the U.S., the chief legal officer of a city, town or other jurisdiction.
  • noun North America A person soliciting sales, especially door to door.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a petitioner who solicits contributions or trade or votes
  • noun a British lawyer who gives legal advice and prepares legal documents

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In the USA the term solicitor has nothing to do with the practice of law.

    Attorney, Lawyer, Barrister, Solicitor and Notary (English) Rene Meertens 2010

  • In the USA the term solicitor has nothing to do with the practice of law.

    Archive 2010-03-01 Rene Meertens 2010

  • Because on this side of the pond, what we call a solicitor is what you call an attorney.

    Mmmm… Rude-osity « Whatever 2006

  • Lady Margaret Huggins (1848-1915), the daughter of a Dublin solicitor, became a pioneer of astronomical spectroscopy in partnership with her husband, Sir William Huggins (1824-1910) at their home in Tulse Hill

    The Prime Minister's haiku nwhyte 2009

  • The practising solicitor is constantly concerned with what some people would consider to be trifles.

    Archive 2009-04-01 2009

  • The practising solicitor is constantly concerned with what some people would consider to be trifles.

    Legal Education—For What? 2009

  • The solicitor is the one who has the defendant or plaintiff as a client, and can sue for unpaid fees.

    Diogenes' Thumbprint: Libraries and History 2006

  • So I called my solicitor, I remember the first time she explained to me about SIAC, and secret evidence, and she said 'I'll try to get you out, but ...'

    IRR News 2010

  • Court Justice John Paul Stevens, he called the solicitor general and former Harvard Law School dean "one of the nation's foremost legal minds."

    Latest Articles 2010

  • He'd play a lawyer-sorry, "solicitor" -- involved in settling an estate, meeting the widow, discovering strange supernatural things about the house where the deceased lived.

    SplicedFeed 2010

Comments

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  • In South Carolina, this is a title given to a District Attorney or an Assistant DA.

    August 21, 2008

  • The Solicitor is a rare unspeaking major part in a Savoy opera, representing Mr. Bunthorne the Aesthetic Poet in Patience. Mr. Bunthorne announces that his Solicitor has given him the advice to raffle himself off for marriage, after which the horrified suitors of the young ladies purchasing tickets curse him off the stage. Many directors take advantage of his silence yet presence on stage for a good deal of time for some situational comedy.

    August 21, 2008