All 50 Uses of
approach
in
The Count of Monte Cristo
- The ship drew on and had safely passed the strait, which some volcanic shock has made between the Calasareigne and Jaros islands; had doubled Pomegue, and approached the harbor under topsails, jib, and spanker, but so slowly and sedately that the idlers, with that instinct which is the forerunner of evil, asked one another what misfortune could have happened on board.
Chpt 1-2approached = moved toward
- When the young man on board saw this person approach, he left his station by the pilot, and, hat in hand, leaned over the ship's bulwarks.
Chpt 1-2approach = get near
- Edmond, at the approach of his patron, respectfully placed the arm of his affianced bride within that of M. Morrel, who, forthwith conducting her up the flight of wooden steps leading to the chamber in which the feast was prepared, was gayly followed by the guests, beneath whose heavy tread the slight structure creaked and groaned for the space of several minutes.
Chpt 5-6approach = coming
- It is thus that a wounded man trembles instinctively at the approach of the finger to his wound until it be healed, but Villefort's was one of those that never close, or if they do, only close to reopen more agonizing than ever.
Chpt 9-10approach = coming near
- Approach, and tell monsieur that it is possible to know beforehand all that he has not known.
Chpt 11-12approach = come near
- Soon the fury of the waves and the sight of the sharp rocks announced the approach of death, and death then terrified me, and I used all my skill and intelligence as a man and a sailor to struggle against the wrath of God.†
Chpt 15-16approach = coming
- How often did he muse over it and pronounce the name of a dear friend—a friend lost to him forever; and on his death-bed, when the near approach of eternity seemed to have illumined his mind with supernatural light, this thought, which had until then been but a doubt, became a conviction, and his last words were, 'Maximilian, it was Edmond Dantes!'†
Chpt 49-50
- The servants, standing in the doorway, not daring to approach nearer, were looking at Noirtier's old servant, who had heard the noise from his master's room, and run there also, remaining behind the others.
Chpt 71-72approach = get near
- The young man, seeing them approach, drew back mechanically, until he found himself stopped by a sycamore-tree in the centre of the clump; there he was compelled to remain.
Chpt 73-74
- Then, turning to Ali, she directed him to bring coffee and pipes, and when he had left the room to execute the orders of his young mistress she beckoned Albert to approach nearer to her.
Chpt 77-78
- 'Vasiliki,' said he to my mother, trembling perceptibly, 'the instant approaches which will decide everything.'
Chpt 77-78 *approaches = comes near
- 'Adieu, my lord,' murmured my mother, determining quietly to await the approach of death.†
Chpt 77-78approach = coming
- The count had watched the approach of death.†
Chpt 83-84
- Monte Cristo watched and saw him approach the valet, who drew a small sealed parcel from his pocket, containing a newspaper and a letter.
Chpt 85-86approach = get near
- "Approach, gentlemen," said Albert; "I wish you not to lose one word of what I am about to have the honor of saying to the Count of Monte Cristo, for it must be repeated by you to all who will listen to it, strange as it may appear to you."
Chpt 89-90approach = come near
- "Your pardon, M. Morrel," said Dantes, approaching, "the vessel now rides at anchor, and I am at your service.†
Chpt 1-2
- As he departed, Danglars approached, and said,— "Well, it appears that he has given you satisfactory reasons for his landing at Porto-Ferrajo?"†
Chpt 1-2
- As Danglars approached the disappointed lover, he cast on him a look of deep meaning, while Fernand, as he slowly paced behind the happy pair, who seemed, in their own unmixed content, to have entirely forgotten that such a being as himself existed, was pale and abstracted; occasionally, however, a deep flush would overspread his countenance, and a nervous contraction distort his features, while, with an agitated and restless gaze, he would glance in the direction of Marseilles, like one who either anticipated or foresaw some great and important event.†
Chpt 5-6
- Do you fear any approaching evil?†
Chpt 5-6
- Man does not appear to me to be intended to enjoy felicity so unmixed; happiness is like the enchanted palaces we read of in our childhood, where fierce, fiery dragons defend the entrance and approach; and monsters of all shapes and kinds, requiring to be overcome ere victory is ours.†
Chpt 5-6
- Caderousse approached him just as Danglars, whom Fernand seemed most anxious to avoid, had joined him in a corner of the room.†
Chpt 5-6
- "Oh, to be sure!" responded Danglars, who had now approached the group, "nothing more than a mistake, I feel quite certain."†
Chpt 5-6
- At this moment, and as Villefort had arrived at the corner of the Rue des Conseils, a man, who seemed to have been waiting for him, approached; it was M. Morrel.†
Chpt 7-8
- The principal charge against you is this letter, and you see"—Villefort approached the fire, cast it in, and waited until it was entirely consumed.†
Chpt 7-8
- The carriage stopped, the officer descended, approached the guardhouse, a dozen soldiers came out and formed themselves in order; Dantes saw the reflection of their muskets by the light of the lamps on the quay.†
Chpt 7-8
- "Marquise," said Villefort, approaching his future mother-in-law, "I request your pardon for thus leaving you.†
Chpt 9-10
- "Sire, sire," murmured the minister, "for pity's"— "Approach, M. de Villefort," resumed the king, addressing the young man, who, motionless and breathless, was listening to a conversation on which depended the destiny of a kingdom.†
Chpt 11-12
- This loophole, which gradually diminished in size as it approached the outside, to an opening through which a child could not have passed, was, for better security, furnished with three iron bars, so as to quiet all apprehensions even in the mind of the most suspicious jailer as to the possibility of a prisoner's escape.†
Chpt 15-16
- I am seized with a terrible, perhaps mortal illness; I can feel that the paroxysm is fast approaching.†
Chpt 17-18
- Dantes listened, and plainly distinguished the approaching steps of the jailer.†
Chpt 17-18
- Steps approach—I go—adieu.†
Chpt 17-18
- Spada at the same moment saw another bottle approach him, which he was pressed to taste.†
Chpt 17-18
- The door opened, and a dim light reached Dantes' eyes through the coarse sack that covered him; he saw two shadows approach his bed, a third remaining at the door with a torch in its hand.†
Chpt 19-20
- The two men, approaching the ends of the bed, took the sack by its extremities.†
Chpt 19-20
- He saw overhead a black and tempestuous sky, across which the wind was driving clouds that occasionally suffered a twinkling star to appear; before him was the vast expanse of waters, sombre and terrible, whose waves foamed and roared as if before the approach of a storm.†
Chpt 22-23
- A second after, he saw it again, approaching with frightful rapidity.†
Chpt 22-23
- Meanwhile, by a cleft between two walls of rock, following a path worn by a torrent, and which, in all human probability, human foot had never before trod, Dantes approached the spot where he supposed the grottos must have existed.†
Chpt 23-24
- Dantes approached the upper rock, which now, without any support, leaned towards the sea.†
Chpt 23-24
- He approached the hole he had dug, and now, with the aid of the torch, saw that his pickaxe had in reality struck against iron and wood.†
Chpt 23-24
- then, quitting the grotto, he replaced the stone, heaping on it broken masses of rocks and rough fragments of crumbling granite, filling the interstices with earth, into which he deftly inserted rapidly growing plants, such as the wild myrtle and flowering thorn, then carefully watering these new plantations, he scrupulously effaced every trace of footsteps, leaving the approach to the cavern as savage-looking and untrodden as he had found it.†
Chpt 25-26
- Upon the eighth day he discerned a small vessel under full sail approaching Monte Cristo.†
Chpt 25-26
- Still Dantes could not view without a shudder the approach of a gendarme who accompanied the officers deputed to demand his bill of health ere the yacht was permitted to hold communication with the shore; but with that perfect self-possession he had acquired during his acquaintance with Faria, Dantes coolly presented an English passport he had obtained from Leghorn, and as this gave him a standing which a French passport would not have afforded, he was informed that there existed no obstacle to his immediate debarkation.†
Chpt 25-26
- Nevertheless, had Caderousse but retained his post a few minutes longer, he might have caught a dim outline of something approaching from the direction of Bellegarde; as the moving object drew nearer, he would easily have perceived that it consisted of a man and horse, between whom the kindest and most amiable understanding appeared to exist.†
Chpt 25-26
- Calm and resolute, he treated any peril as he would an adversary in a duel,—calculated its probable method of approach; retreated, if at all, as a point of strategy and not from cowardice; was quick to see an opening for attack, and won victory at a single thrust.†
Chpt 31-32
- The pilot again changed the course of the boat, which rapidly approached the island, and was soon within fifty paces of it.†
Chpt 31-32
- At the first words of the song the men seated round the fire arose and approached the landing-place, their eyes fixed on the boat, evidently seeking to know who the new-comers were and what were their intentions.†
Chpt 31-32
- Ali approached his master, took his hand, and kissed it.†
Chpt 31-32
- All the bodily fatigue of the day, all the preoccupation of mind which the events of the evening had brought on, disappeared as they do at the first approach of sleep, when we are still sufficiently conscious to be aware of the coming of slumber.†
Chpt 31-32
- Then the three statues advanced towards him with looks of love, and approached the couch on which he was reposing, their feet hidden in their long white tunics, their throats bare, hair flowing like waves, and assuming attitudes which the gods could not resist, but which saints withstood, and looks inflexible and ardent like those with which the serpent charms the bird; and then he gave way before looks that held him in a torturing grasp and delighted his senses as with a voluptuous kiss.†
Chpt 31-32
- "Excellency," cried the cicerone, seeing Franz approach the window, "shall I bring the carriage nearer to the palace?"†
Chpt 33-34
Definitions:
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(1)
(approach as in: approached the city) to get closer to (near in space, time, quantity, or quality)
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(2)
(approach as in: use the best approach) a way of doing something; or a route that leads to a particular place
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(3)
(approach as in: approached her with the proposal) to begin communication with someone about something -- often a proposal or a delicate topic
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(4)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely (and typically only in classic literature), the phrase nearest approach to as used in "her nearest approach to an apology" or "her nearest approach to a smile" typically means that "something is as close to something else as it ever gets." "As near an approach to" can have a similar meaning.