WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Ac*cre"tion
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [L. accretio, fr. accrescere to increase. Cf. Crescent, Increase, Accrue.]
Definition : 1. The act of increasing by natural growth; esp. the increase of organic bodies by the internal accession of parts; organic growth. Arbuthnot.

2. The act of increasing, or the matter added, by an accession of parts externally; an extraneous addition; as, an accretion of earth. A mineral . . . augments not by grown, but by accretion. Owen. To strip off all the subordinate parts of his as a later accretion. Sir G. C. Lewis.

3. Concretion; coherence of separate particles; as, the accretion of particles so as to form a solid mass.

4. A growing together of parts naturally separate, as of the fingers toes. Dana.

5. (Law) (a) The adhering of property to something else, by which the owner of one thing becomes possessed of a right to another; generally, gain of land by the washing up of sand or sail from the sea or a river, or by a gradual recession of the water from the usual watermark. (b) Gain to an heir or legatee, failure of a coheir to the same succession, or a co-legatee of the same thing, to take his share. Wharton. Kent.


Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913