Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AP-PROACH', v.t.

1. To come near to; as, Pope approaches Virgil in smoothness of versification. This use of the word is elliptical, to being omitted, so that the verb can hardly be said to be transitive. The old use of the word, as “approach the hand to the handle,” is not legitimate.
2. To have access carnally. Lev. xviii.
3. In gardening, to ingraft a sprig or shoot of one tree into another, without cutting it from the parent stock. – Encyc.