accreteadj.
/əˈkriːt/, U.S. /əˈkrit/ 1. Botany. Designating parts of a plant which are usually separate but which have grown together by adhesion of external parts. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > growth, movement, or curvature of parts > [adjective] > cohering or not cohering
free1757
solute1760
connate1785
segregate1793
cohering1796
adherent1806
adnate1830
coherent1830
adglutinate1831
accrete1832
coadunate1839
inapplicate1855
coadnate1866
inseparate1880
1832 J. Lindley Introd. Bot. 416 Accrete (accretus); fastened to another body, and growing with it.
1855 Jrnl. Hort. Soc. 9 20 On the lower surface of the leaf there is a number of easily separable hairs, which are decumbent, and deceptively accrete within their base.
1888 W. Hillebrand Flora Hawaiian Islands 282 Stamens..inserted at the base of the petals, not longer than these, with accrete filaments and short anthers.
2008 M. Vakhrameeva et al. Orchids of Russia & Adjacent Countries x.124 The lower segment is..formed by two accrete side segments and furcate at the tip.
2. gen. Formed by accretion; (also) factitious, made-up. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > [adjective]
feignedc1374
wronga1375
forged14..
falsesome1533
compound1574
flim-flam1577
coined1582
minted1598
fabled1606
commentitial1611
inventive1612
commentitious1615
fictiousa1644
fictitious1660
manufactured1705
commentative1716
made-up1806
inventeda1831
concocted1840
accrete1846
fictive1855
mythical1870
1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. I. 152/2 Milton is no factitious or accrete man; no pleader, no rhetorician.
1859 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. V. 411/1 Masses of accrete..colouring matter.
1908 Catholic World Feb. 678 The idea of the priest..has kept alive the accrete charities and graces of sacramentalism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
accretev.
/əˈkriːt/, U.S. /əˈkrit/ 1.
a. transitive. To draw or attract to oneself or itself, by (or as if by) accretion; to come gradually to have or possess, to acquire.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > move towards or approach (a thing, place, or person) [verb (transitive)] > bring near > draw towards or attract
drawa1387
attire1549
attract1589
accrete1664
invite1671
1664 T. Lawrence Mercurius Centralis 53 Some Minerals are no other than certain kind of Juices accreted, as Allum, Vitriol, &c.
1736 Present State Republick Lett. 17 152 Nature must use different Methods at different Times to generate and accrete the same Bone.
1836 Ladies' Compan. (N.Y.) Jan. 98/1 It was so cold that each particular hair of my whiskers accreted a portion of my vital moisture in the form of an icicle.
1877 Dublin Univ. Mag. May 630/1 As the minor worlds are accreted a solid nucleus will be formed as a basis for supporting a new phase of life.
1884 Belgravia Jan. 269 The affair..had accreted so many extraneous matters, that it would have puzzled all the parties to it..to define it.
1901 H. B. George Relations Geogr. & Hist. 260 It became the seat of one of the small principalities which happened to accrete other dominions.
1968 Diss. Abstr. B. 29 857/1 The central stellar core..grows in mass as the surrounding material falls into it, finally becoming an ordinary star when all of the original protostellar material has been accreted.
2001 Times 12 Sept. ii. 14/4 Scrabble has not yet accreted the mythos of chess, but it's getting there.
b. transitive. To cause (a thing) to grow or unite to something (esp. itself) by (or as if by) accretion; to draw or attract to itself.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > fact or action of being joined or joining > attachment > attach or affix [verb (transitive)]
fastenOE
fasta1225
tachec1315
to-seta1340
catcha1350
affichea1382
to put ona1382
tacka1387
to put to1396
adjoina1400
attach?a1400
bend1399
spyndec1400
to-tachc1400
affixc1448
complexc1470
setc1480
attouch1483
found?1541
obligate1547
patch1549
alligate1563
dight1572
inyoke1595
infixa1616
wreathe1643
adlige1650
adhibit1651
oblige1656
adent1658
to bring to1681
engage1766
superfix1766
to lap on1867
accrete1870
1870 Littell's Living Age 9 July 117/1 Without a reactionary policy a Chamber strong enough to unseat Ministers is pretty sure to accrete to itself a large measure of power.
1881 F. W. H. 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.
1901 M. Townsend Asia & Europe 81 Christianity in a new people must develop civilization for itself, not be..be exhausted in the impossible effort to accrete to itself a civilization from the outside.
1994 R. Samuel Theatres of Memory II. ii. 173 Beginning life with no more than a small company museum..it accreted to itself..not only a matching ironworker's hamlet, but also five additional ‘living history’ museums.
2007 M. Newell No Bottom (2008) 50 One day I..found that the memory..had accreted to itself other images.
2. To grow or adhere to something else gradually or by accretion; to attach to.
a. intransitive. With to.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > extrinsicality or externality > externalize [verb (transitive)] > attach to as something extrinsic
to grow to1390
annex1395
to wait on or upon ——1579
waita1674
subfix1684
accrete1712
cleave1958
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > inhere [verb (intransitive)] > adhere to (of qualities)
accrete1869
1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northants. 146 By the Fashion of it, it seems to have been formed of Matter accreting to the two opposite Sides of the Intervall by little and little.
1773 tr. G. van Swieten Comm. Aphorisms Boerhaave XVI. §1423. 297 A greater quantity may accrete to the stone, and its size be quickly increased.
1838 C. J. Roberts Hints Domest. Managem. of Children iii. 34 A very large quantity of dirt..is accreted to the skin by perspiration.
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.
1880 Spectator 3 Jan. 11/2 In this country, popularity, no less than power, tends to accrete to the old.
1922 Southwestern Reporter 242 972/1 The land involved did not accrete to plaintiffs' deeded land, but first formed as an island, and was thereafter joined to the mainland by accretions.
1990 P. Kearey & F. J. Vine Global Tectonics viii. 164 The proportion [of sedimentary cover] actually accreted to the overriding plate varies significantly and is controlled by rheological and porosity variations within the sediments.
b. intransitive. With around, round, on, or upon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > extrinsicality or externality > be extrinsic or external [verb (intransitive)] > attach or be added to something or intervene
knit1571
intervene1605
advene1651
father1760
accrete1821
1821 T. Hare View Struct., Functions, & Disorders Stomach xxiii. 247 Tartar..commonly accretes upon their necks, and other extraneous matter upon their lateral converging surfaces.
1841 Rep. 10th Meeting Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1840 232 It [sc. the anchor] was found imbedded in a conglomerate of pebbles, bones and altered wood,..and held together by a calcareous cement, which had accreted round the metal.
1877 Fraser's Mag. July 110 All the incrustations which have accreted round the primitive mythical nucleus.
1907 Southern Planter Nov. 1028/1 Usually they commence to accrete around a pebble or some other hard, irregular formed substance.
1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon ii. 34 He seemed depressed at this fresh addition to the dramatis personae accreting round Gobbo's troublesome disclosures.
1993 V. Milan From Depths Prol. 3 He brushed at the gray grit film that had accreted on the arm of his chair.
2010 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 15 Mar. 32 Lavatories were her speciality—and not just lavatories, but the special form of dirt that accretes around the bowl.
3. intransitive. To grow or come into being by accretion or accumulation; to coalesce, combine. Also transitive (reflexive). Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being combined > combine [verb (intransitive)]
adjoin1483
combinate1578
meet1581
symbolize1601
cohere1606
to run together1662
consolidate1690
combine1712
to run into ——a1715
compound1727
accrete1730
amalgamate1797
concrete1853
1730 P. Shaw tr. G. E. Stahl Philos. Princ. Universal Chem. ii. §3. 225 If it [sc. Salt of Tartar] meets with a Substance to which it may accrete [L. acrescere], it easily and readily does so.
1784 J. Twamley Dairying Exemplified 175 How the different parts accrete to bring on Fermentation, or cause the Intestine motion excited in Vegetables.
1826 Christian Advocate Feb. 76/1 Any human being..grows like a vegetable or accretes like a crystal..and, taking the aggregate of all the circumstances that assail him.
1890 A. S. Beveridge tr. F. A. Noer's Emperor Akbar I. ii. v. 133 His wide dominions fell asunder almost as rapidly as they had accreted and his rule endured only in the lands along the Oxus.
1916 Living Age Apr. 371/1 Who that heard the Fifth Symphony in 1808 could guess what cosmic significances would gradually accrete themselves round that simple opening theme of ‘Fate’ for the men of 1908?
1979 R. Anderton et al. Dynamic Stratigr. Brit. Isles vii. 83/2 300 m of argillaceous Tremadoc sediments accreted at Portmadoc in the northern part of the Welsh Basin.
1992 Boston Globe 31 July 32/5 It is the task of the memoirist to shape the flow of anecdotes in such a way that they accrete.
Derivatives
aˈccreted adj.
ΚΠ
1758 T. Flloyd & J. Hill tr. J. Swammerdam Bk. Nature i. 88/1 The shells are not yet covered with the accreted matter.
1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 287 The rock in this mine is of that species of limestone called kettonstone, or compact limestone of Kirwan, and consists of very small accreted round granulations.
1921 Chambers's Jrnl. 10 Sept. 648/1 The accreted and reclaimed land.
1963 A. Baraka Blues People xii. 180 The accreted cultural significance of the black man's three hundred years in America.
2007 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 17 June iii. 6/2 Seasoned TIPS [= Treasury inflation-protected securities] that have significant accreted principal and prolonged deflation takes hold.
aˈccreting n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1738 D. Hartley Acct. Contrib. Mrs. Stephenson's Medicines 2/1 It is not at all improbable, that Urine with these Properties should first lose its cementing, accreting Power.
1793 J. Douglas Nenia Britannica Tumulus X An iron bow brace... The wood of the bow is still preserved in the inner part by the accreting quality of the rust.
1838 G. A. Wigney Elem. Dict. Maltsters 312 The union of such heat with the disunited atoms of the solid and accreting atoms thereto.
1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xi. 85 From where he sat he could see the village of Hilton, strung upon the North Road, with its accreting suburbs.
1971 Nature 24 Dec. 463/1 The accreting material may also have contained relatively small quantities of other components.
2005 P. Doyle Echo & Reverb 14 The safeguards against obsessive and overheated interpretations include..the accreting of multiple examples in which domains of broadly similar meaning can be identified.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1832
v.1664