[f. L. accrēt-, ppl. stem of accrēsc-ĕre; see ACCRESCE.]
1. intr. To grow together by adhesion, to combine.
1784. J. Twamley, Dairying Exempl., 175. How the different parts accrete to bring on Fermentation, or cause the Intestine motion excited in Vegetables.
1875. Whitney, Life of Lang., xii. 248. The variously accreted formative elements.
2. intr. To grow to, adhere, attach itself to.
1869. Spectator, 1 May, 532. An instrument of power too long neglected and disused, the loyalty which accretes to the impartial, impassive, all-protecting State. Ibid. (1880), 3 Jan., 11/2. In this country, popularity, no less than power, tends to accrete to the old.
3. trans. To cause (a thing) to grow or unite to.
1871. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue, vii. 262. We must assume that the reader has thoroughly accreted and assimilated this distinction to his habits of mind.
1881. Myers, Wordsworth, 95. Its arguments and theories have lain long in Wordsworth’s mind, and have accreted to themselves a rich investiture of observation and feeling.
