verb

• (intransitive) To come or go near, in place or time; to move toward; to advance nearer; to draw nigh.
  "She approached the door cautiously."
• (intransitive, golf, tennis) To play an approach shot.
• (ambitransitive, figuratively) Used intransitively, followed by to: to draw near (to someone or something); to make advances; to approximate or become almost equal.
  "He approaches to the character of the ablest statesman."
• (transitive, rarely intransitive) Of an immovable object or a number of such objects: to be positioned as to (notionally) appear to be moving towards (a place).
  "As we drove along the driveway, the trees approaching the house seemed more eerie."

noun

• (also figuratively) An act of drawing near in place or time; an advancing or coming near.
  "Ah, what a ſigne it is of euill life, Where death's approach is ſeene ſo terrible."
• (also figuratively) An avenue, passage, or way by which a building or place can be approached; an access.
  "Where are my lines then? my approaches? views? Where are my window-ſongs?"
• (also figuratively) An avenue, passage, or way by which a building or place can be approached; an access.
• (figuratively) A manner of making (a policy) or solving (a problem, etc.).
  "Our proposed definitional approach to the data processing-communications dilemma evoked considerable discussion. There is uniform disagreement and confusion as to the regulatory implications of the proposed definitional terms."