also 5 acrewe, 6–7 accrew. [App. f. the sb. in early sense of OFr. acrewe ‘that which grows up, to the profit of the owner, on the earth or in a wood,’ though early instances of this in Eng. are wanting. It translates L. accrēscĕre and OFr. acreistre in the law-books.]
1. To fall (to any one) as a natural growth or increment; to come by way of addition or increase, or as an accession or advantage. Const. unto, to.
1470. Harding, Chron., Proem. xii. 7. So by your mother the right to you acrewes.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Ded.. That, by the basenes of such parts, more excellencie may accrew to the principall.
1602. Warner, Albion’s Eng. (1612), IX. xlv. 213. To him by law-Descents, the Scepter did accrew.
1622. Heylyn, Cosmogr. (1682), I. 140. Such lesser parcels and additaments, as have accrewed to their Estate.
1622. R. Callis, On Stat. Sewers (1647), 30. Lands left to the shore by great quantities … accrew wholly to the King.
1642. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., 59. There are, I confess, some new additions, yet small to those which accrew to our Adversaries.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 234. More Proselites and Converts use t’accrue To false Persuasions, than the right and true.
1691. Ray, Wisd. God (1714), 204. Several advantages which accrue to us.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., II. 269. The forfeiture for such alienations accrued in the first place to the immediate lord of the fee.
1856. Miss Mulock, John Halifax (ed. 17), 223. Pay over to your order all moneys, principal and interest, accruing to her.
2. To arise or spring as a natural growth or result. Const. from (by, of obs.). Esp. of interest: To grow or arise as the produce of money invested.
1589. Horsey, Trav., App. 302 (1857). The costomes that acrewe by traffycke manye kyndes of wayes.
1592. W. West, Symbolæogr., I. i. § 21 B. Obligations accrewing of these are said to bee contracted by consent.
c. 1620. H. Anderson, Law of Christ, in Farr’s S. P., 306. From innocence a native joy accrues.
1635. Quarles, Emblems (1718), I. i. 6. What danger can accrue from such blest food.
1672–5. Comber, Comp. Temple (1702), 202. The comfort and credit that will accrue from such admissions.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, ii. 34. A Divine Right is that which accrueth from a Divine Law.
1766. [C. Anstey], New Bath Guide, xv. 66. Do the Ills of Mankind from Religion accrue?
1774. Bryant, Mythol., I. 14. Great light … will accrue from examining this abuse.
1852. McCulloch, Taxation, III. ii. 451. Interest begins to accrue from the moment that the loan is bargained for.
† 3. To grow, grow up. Obs. (See ACCRESCE.)
1604. C. Edmonds, Cæsars Com., 116. They would haue accrewed to such a multitude of people, as could not haue bene contained within the rules of gouernement.
1612. Warner, Albion’s Eng., II. xi. 50. But sight and talke accrew to loue.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Is., I. i. 1. The world more aged by new youths accrewing.
1682. Glanville, Saducismus (ed. 2), I. 126. Body is a substance material coalescent or accruing together into one.
† 4. trans. To gather up, collect. Obs.
1594. R. C[arew], Huarte’s Trial of Wits (1596), i. 7. When our nature hath accrued al the forces that she can haue. Ibid., iv. 41. A man … at one instant … accrues more wit and abilitie than he had before.
1665. Manley, Grotius’s Low-Countrey-Warrs, 656. The United States, to whom but newly redeem’d from Servitude was accrewed an Ample Dominion. [The last example is perhaps intr. Cf. the sun was risen.]
