solicitor

[suh-lis-i-ter] /səˈlɪs ɪ tər/
noun
1.
a person who solicits.
2.
a person whose business it is to solicit business, trade, etc.
3.
an officer having charge of the legal business of a city, town, etc.
4.
(in England and Wales) a member of that branch of the legal profession whose services consist of advising clients, representing them before the lower courts, and preparing cases for barristers to try in the higher courts.
Compare barrister (def 1).
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English solicitour < Anglo-French; Middle French soliciteur. See solicit, -or2
Related forms
solicitorship, noun
Synonyms
4. lawyer, attorney, counselor.
Examples from the web for solicitor
  • In a friend-of-the-court brief submitted by the office of the solicitor.
  • His solicitor says the charges against him were dismissed by magistrates.
  • No telephone solicitor will ever call your house at dinner.
  • The government's solicitor-general undertook not to make any payments until the court case was concluded.
  • The charge: forcibly taking the pants off an elderly solicitor.
  • Holding a solicitor and producer license simultaneously.
  • The solicitor was struck off the rolls for his offence, but was thereafter reinstated.
British Dictionary definitions for solicitor

solicitor

/səˈlɪsɪtə/
noun
1.
(in Britain) a lawyer who advises clients on matters of law, draws up legal documents, prepares cases for barristers, etc, and who may represent clients in certain courts Compare barrister
2.
(in the US) an officer responsible for the legal affairs of a town, city, etc
3.
a person who solicits
Derived Forms
solicitorship, noun
Word Origin and History for solicitor
n.

early 15c., "one who urges," from Middle French soliciteur, from soliciter (see solicit). Meaning "one who conducts matters on behalf of another" is from early 15c. As a name for a specific class of legal practitioners in Britain, it is attested from 1570s. Both the fem. forms, solicitress (1630s) and solicitrix (1610s), have been in the sexual sense, but the latter seems more common in non-pejorative use.