Obs. [a. MFr. accusement, vbl. sb., f. accuser: see ACCUSE and -MENT.] The action of accusing or charging with an offence; an accusing, an accusation, a charge.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 557. Than thynke I, this were her accusemente, Syn wel I woot I may hire nought purchace.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 216. The gilteles was dampned there And deide upon accusement.
1509. Barclay, Ship of Fooles (1570), 27. To her husbande she accused him falsly…. Ipolitus was murdered for this accusement.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. vii. 47. He gan t’ efforce the evidence anew, And new accusements to produce.
1715. Burnet, Hist. Ref. (1865), III. 34. The same justices shall … punish the offenders, according as their offences shall appear to them upon the accusement.
