addresses

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of address.

   The delivery driver double-checked the addresses before loading the van.

   Both opening addresses set an optimistic tone for the summit.

   Note

   One meaning belongs especially to the plural: addresses as polite approaches made to another person, often romantic ones, so that a suitor's addresses were his advances. That use is now archaic. Otherwise the plural simply counts the noun's other meanings: several speeches, several petitions to a sovereign, or, in Commonwealth parliaments, the replies each House gives to the sovereign's opening speech.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of address.

   The new report addresses several long-standing safety concerns.

   Each spring the principal addresses the graduating students in person.

   Note

   A reflexive construction is worth knowing here. She addresses herself to the task means she applies her energies to it, and he addresses himself to the committee means he directs his remarks there. Older meanings such as to prepare or to aim are obsolete. The spelling is shared with the plural noun, so the subject and verb slot tell you which one you are reading.

   She addresses herself to the problem with real patience.

   He rises and addresses himself to the committee.

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