accrue - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ac·crue

Audio Help [uh-kroo] Pronunciation Key

–verb (used without object), -crued, -cru·ing.

1.	to happen or result as a natural growth, addition, etc.

2.	to be added as a matter of periodic gain or advantage, as interest on money.

3.	Law. to become a present and enforceable right or demand.

[Origin: 1425–75; late ME acruen, acrewen, prob. < AF accru(e), MF accreu(e), ptp. of ac(c)reistre to increase < L accréscere grow. See ac-, crew¹, accretion

]

—Related forms

ac·cru·a·ble, adjective

ac·crue·ment, noun

—Synonyms 1, 2. accumulate, collect, grow, increase.

—Antonyms 1, 2. dwindle, decrease, diminish, lessen, dissipate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
accrue

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ac·crue Audio Help   (ə-krōō') Pronunciation Key
v.   ac·crued, ac·cru·ing, ac·crues

v.   intr.

To come to one as a gain, addition, or increment: interest accruing in my savings account.
To increase, accumulate, or come about as a result of growth: common sense that accrues with experience.
To come into existence as a claim that is legally enforceable.

v. tr.
To accumulate over time: I have accrued 15 days of sick leave.

[Middle English acreuen, from Old French acreu, past participle of acroistre, to increase, add, from Latin accrēscere, to grow : ad-, ad- + crēscere, to arise; see ker-² in Indo-European roots.]

ac·cru'a·ble adj., ac·crue'ment n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
accrue

1440, from O.Fr. acreue "growth, increase," from acreu, pp. of acreistre "to increase," from L. accrescere (see accretion).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

accrue
verb
1.	grow by addition; "The interest accrues"
2.	come into the possession of; "The house accrued to the oldest son"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Accrue

Ac*cresce"\, v. i. [L. accrescere. See Accrue.]

1. To accrue. [R.]

2. To increase; to grow. [Obs.] --Gillespie.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Accrue

Ac*cre"tion\, n. [L. accretio, fr. accrescere to increase. Cf. Crescent, Increase, Accrue.]

1. The act of increasing by natural growth; esp. the increase of organic bodies by the internal accession of parts; organic growth. --Arbuthnot.

2. The act of increasing, or the matter added, by an accession of parts externally; an extraneous addition; as, an accretion of earth.

A mineral . . . augments not by grown, but by accretion. --Owen.

To strip off all the subordinate parts of his as a later accretion. --Sir G. C. Lewis.

3. Concretion; coherence of separate particles; as, the accretion of particles so as to form a solid mass.

4. A growing together of parts naturally separate, as of the fingers toes. --Dana.

5. (Law) (a) The adhering of property to something else, by which the owner of one thing becomes possessed of a right to another; generally, gain of land by the washing up of sand or sail from the sea or a river, or by a gradual recession of the water from the usual watermark. (b) Gain to an heir or legatee, failure of a coheir to the same succession, or a co-legatee of the same thing, to take his share. --Wharton. Kent.

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