Greet, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Greeted; p. pr. & vb. n. Greeting.]
Etymology: [OE. greten, AS. grtan to address, approach; akin to OS. gr, LG gröten, D. groeten, OHG. gruozzen, G. grüssen.]
1. To address with salutations or expressions of kind wishes; to salute; to hail; to welcome; to accost with friendship; to pay respects or compliments to, either personally or through the intervention of another, or by writing or token. My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you. Shak.
2. To come upon, or meet, as with something that makes the heart glad. In vain the spring my senses greets. Addison.
3. To accost; to address. Pope.
5 other Webster entries under this spelling
Greet, a.
Great. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Greet, v. i.
To weep; to cry; to lament. [Obs. or Scot.] [Written also greit.] Spenser.
Greet, n.
Mourning. [Obs.] Spenser.
Greet, v. i.
To meet and give salutations. There greet in silence, as the dead are wont, And sleep in peace. Shak.
Greet, n.
Greeting. [Obs.] F. Beaumont.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for greet; he lists it under address.
Where he writes about it:
To accost is to speak first, to friend or stranger, generally with a view to opening conversation; greet is not so distinctly limited, since one may return another's greeting; greet and hail may imply but a passing word; greeting may be altogether silent; to hail is to greet in a loud-voiced and commonly hearty and joyous way, as appears in the expression "hail fellow, well met." To salute is to greet with special token of respect, as a soldier his commander. — from address
Address is slightly more formal than accost or greet, though it may often be interchanged with them. — from address