approximate

t. & i. [From approx i mate, adj. (q.v.). In Fr. approximer; Port. approx i mar; Ital. appros sim are; all from Lat. approximo ( Tertullian ): ad to, and proximo to approach; proximus = nearest, the superl. of prope = near.] A. Trans.: To cause to draw near, to make to approach. "The favour of God, embracing all, hath appro rima ted and combined all together; so that now every man is our brother, not only by nature, as derived from the same stock, but by grace, as partakers of the common redemption."-Barrow: Works, 1. 241. B. In trans.: To draw near, to approach. "Among such five men there will be one po e ing all the qualifications of a good workman, one bad, and the other three middling, and approximating to the first and the last."- Burke : Thoughts on Scarcity.