[ad. L. accrētiōn-em, n. of action, f. accrēt- ppl. stem of accrēsc-ĕre; see ACCRESCE.]
1. The process of growing by organic enlargement; continued growth.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 430. The action of the Increasing faculty we call Accretion, that is, when the whole body encreaseth in all his dimensions.
a. 1684. Leighton, Comm. 1 Peter ii. 1 (1817). To desire the word for the increase of knowledge … is necessary and commendable and being rightly qualified is a part of spiritual accretion.
c. 1720. Gibson, Diet of Horses, v. 78 (ed. 3). Young Horses require a greater quantity of food, as that is necessary for the Accretion and Growth of their Bodies.
1828. Kirby & Spence, Introd. Entom., IV. xxxix. 82. The blood is the principal instrument of accretion.
1859. Helps, Friends in C., II. x. 232. The tendency of all power is to accretion, and indeed, to very rapid accretion.
2. The growing together or coherence of separate particles, or of parts normally distinct; continuous coherence; concretion.
1655–60. T. Stanley, Hist. Philos., 183/2 (1701). After the second accretion followeth this contemplation which holdeth the third room.
1656. trans. Hobbes’s Elem. Philos., 479 (1839). As for stones, seeing they are made by the accretion of many hard particles within the earth.
1794. Sullivan, View of Nat., I. 94. Compounded indurated matters which are, formed by the accretion of particles, accumulated and deposited by water.
1853. Phillips, Rivers of Yorksh., iii. 43. The drop, gathered by accretion of minute particles, may be snow, ice, or water.
1866. Felton, Anc. & Mod. Greece, I. ii. 24. They [languages] agree, with a single doubtful exception, in the agglutinating or synthetic method, called by Humboldt incorporation, by Cass, coalescence, and by Schoolcraft, accretion.
3. Anything formed by the preceding process.
1873. H. Rogers, Orig. Bible (ed. 3), iv. 171. That the Bible is an accretion of casual writings arbitrarily linked together.
4. The process of growth by external addition.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, VII. § 602 (1651), 125. Plants doe nourish; Inanimate Bodies doe not: They have an Accretion, but no Alimentation.
1627. Hakewill, Apol., I. iv. § 1. 40. The losse of Elements is recovered by compensation, of mixt Bodies without life by accretion, of living Bodies by succession.
1678. Hobbes, Decam. Physiol., viii. 94. They may by accretion become greater in the Mine, or perhaps by generation, though we know not how.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 33/1. An organized part increases in its dimensions … not by mere accretion, nor by simple distention.
1869. Nicholson, Zool., 2. When unorganised bodies increase in size, as crystals do, the increase is produced simply by what is called ‘accretion,’ that is to say, by the addition of fresh particles from the outside.
1871. Farrar, Witn. Hist., I. 39. The presumptuous arrogance which can measure its [a crystal’s] angles, but throw no light on the laws of its accretion.
† 5. The assimilation of external matter by a growing body. Obs.
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Pet. ii. 18 (1865), 819. I must lay to your charge … the acquisition [of grace], and the accretion of it.
6. The adhesion of external matter or things to anything so as to increase it.
1713. Steele, Englishman, No. 2, 12. A false Appearance of Wealth within, but no Accretion of Riches from abroad.
1765. Delaval, in Phil. Trans., LV. 38. Augmented by the accretion of the oily and earthy parts of that moisture.
1873. Goulburn, Pers. Relig., ii. 12. This constant discharge of old particles, or accretion of new ones … is a sign of the vitality of the body.
1876. Douse, Grimm’s Law, § 61. 151. The accretion after K pure, of the palatal semivowel y.
1881. Daily Tel., 8 March. To the fund estimated to be produced by the accretion of new subscribers must be added the large percentage of renewed subscriptions.
7. That which has grown upon or been gradually added from without; an extraneous addition.
1653. A. Wilson, James I., Proem, 4. To remove the accretion of bad Humors.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., 96. Those places … have buried the fallen Trees three, four, or five foot deep in the ground, by an accretion or cover of Earth.
1774. Bryant, Mythol., I. 164. This accretion will be in every age enlarged; till there will at last remain some few outlines only of the original occurrence.
1853. Merivale, Rom. Rep., v. 150 (1867). He strove to pare away the accretions of age.
1878. Gladstone, in 19th Cent., 752. Professor Geddes divides the Iliad into a primary work and a later secondary addition or accretion.
8. Law. a. The increase of property by the adherence of something to it, as of land by the formation of alluvium; = ACCESSION. b. The increase of an inheritance or legacy by the addition of the share of a failing co-heir or co-legatee.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 308. To this source the rapid accretions of land on parts of the Syrian shores where rivers do not enter, may be attributed.
1880. Muirhead, Gaius, II. § 124. If a man have instituted say his three sons as his heirs, but have passed over his daughter, she by accretion becomes heir to the extent of a fourth of the inheritance. Ibid., 447. Where there were several agnates of the same degree, and some declined the inheritance, their shares went by accretion to those who took.
