a. [a. Fr. accessible (in Cotgr.), ad. L. accēssibil-em, vbl. adj. f. accēss- ppl. stem of accēd-ĕre; see ACCEDE and -BLE.]
1. Capable of being used as an access; affording entrance; open, practicable. Const. to.
1610. Shaks., Cymb., III. ii. 84. Accessible is none but Milford way.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 546. With one ascent Accessible from Earth.
1835. J. Harris, Gt. Teacher (1837), 347. All the paths of human ambition were open and accessible to him.
2. Capable of being entered or reached; easy of access; such as one can go to, come into the presence of, reach, or lay hold of; get-at-able. Const. to.
1642. Howell, For. Trav., 45. She [Spain] hath bold accessible coasts.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, II. ii. 149. He is accessible enough, but not too liberal to the poor.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & Fall, I. xix. 537. The town was accessible only by two wooden bridges.
1850. Merivale, Hist. Rom. Emp. (1871), V. xli. 89. The ear of the public was accessible perhaps by no other means.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. I. iv. 52. He was … as accessible as any one could desire, and gave patient audience to all who asked it.
1861. May, Const. Hist. Eng. (1863), I. i. 44. Evidence, not accessible to contemporaries, has since made his statement indisputable.
b. fig. Accessible to: open to the influence of.
1818. Scott, Hrt. of Midl., 185. He had shewn himself in a certain degree accessible to touches of humanity.
1881. Rep. of Elect. Comm., in Daily Tel., 31 Jan. 500 or 600 [voters] are at all times accessible to bribery.
