v.; also 7 acredit. [a. Fr. accrédite-r, earlier acréditer Cotgr. = mettre à crédit, f. à to + crédit CREDIT. Occurs in 7, but not in general use till late in 8. In no Dict. bef. Todd, 1818.]
1. To put or bring into credit, to set forth as credible; to vouch for, sanction or countenance.
1620. Shelton, Don Quixote, II. IV. vi. 65. As well by these reasons as by many other … which acredit and fortifie mine opinion.
c. 1775. Cowper, Lett., 43 (T.). His censure will (to use the new diplomatic phrase) accredit his praises.
1802. Howard, in Phil. Trans., 175. The exhibition of this stone … did not tend to accredit the account of its descent.
1822. Southey, in Q. Rev., XXVIII. 29. The prediction of calamities for France accredited these dreams.
1850. Mrs. Jameson, Sacr. & Leg. Art, 223. It was not sufficiently accredited for a church legend.
1879. Gladstone, Sp. at Glasgow, 6 Dec. [His] mode of action at the Cape of Good Hope does not tend to accredit his advice in Afghanistan.
2. To send forth with credentials, to furnish with letters of credit; to recommend by documents as an envoy or messenger. Const. to, at.
c. 1794. Mathias, Pursuits of Lit., 320 (1798). He represents the opinions of a very large portion of their body by whom he is accredited.
1852. Gladstone, Gleanings, IV. vi. 144. There are representatives of Portugal and Spain, accredited from Sovereigns themselves symbols of the popular principle.
1860. Motley, Netherlands, II. xviii. 432 (1868). The sovereign to whom I am accredited.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea, I. vi. 89 (1876). There was a prospect of his being accredited at St. Petersburg.
3. To accredit one with something: To accredit it as his, to vouch for his being the owner or author of it; to ascribe or attribute it to him.
1864. Morning Star, 13 June, 4. Whenever topics fail them these worthy gentlemen fall back upon his Royal Highness and accredit him with the most wonderful sayings and doings.
1880. McCarthy, Hist. own Times, III. 208. Mr. Bright himself was accredited with having said that his own effort to arouse a reforming spirit … was like flogging a dead horse.
