formerly also accrew, mid-15c., acreuen, in reference to property, etc., "to fall to someone as an addition or increment," from Old French acreue "growth, increase, what has grown," fem. of acreu, past participle of acreistre (Modern French accroître) "to increase," from Latin accrescere "grow progressively, increase, become greater," from ad "to" (see ad-) + crescere "grow" (from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow"). Related: Accrued; accruing. Apparently an English verb from a French noun because there is no English noun to go with it until much later (the earliest seems to be now-obsolete accrue, 1570s), unless the record is defective. From late 15c. as "happen or result as a natural growth;" from 1881 as "gain by increment, accumulate." Alternative verb accrete "grow by adhesion" (1784) is rare, as is accresce (1630s), from Latin accrescere.
1610s, "act of growing by organic enlargement;" 1650s as "that which is formed by continued growth from without," from Latin accretionem (nominative accretio) "an increasing, a growing larger" (as of the waxing moon), noun of action from past-participle stem of accrescere "grow progressively, increase, become greater," from ad "to" (see ad-) + crescere "grow" (from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow"). It goes with the verb accrue. Related: Accretional; accretionary.
1610s, "vouch for, bring into credit," from French accréditer, earlier acrediter, from à "to" (see ad-) + créditer "to credit" (someone with a sum), from crédit "credit" (see credit (n.)). Falsely Latinized in French. The word was rare in English in the original sense but became common in the meaning "confer credit or authority on" (1794). Related: Accredited; accrediting.
also accoutre, "to dress or equip" (especially in military clothing and gear), 1590s, from French acoutrer, earlier acostrer (13c.) "arrange, dispose, put on (clothing)," probably originally "sew up," from Vulgar Latin *accosturare "to sew together, sew up," from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + *consutura "a sewing together," from Latin consutus, past participle of consuere "to sew together," from con- (see com-) + suere "to sew" (from PIE root *syu- "to bind, sew"). The English spelling reflects the 16c. French pronunciation. Related: Accoutered; accoutred; accoutering; accoutring.
c. 1300, accounten, "to count, enumerate," from Old French aconter "to enumerate; reckon up, render account" (Modern French conter), from a "to" (see ad-) + conter "to count, tell" (see count (v.)). The meaning "reckon for money given or received, render a reckoning," is from late 14c. The sense of "to explain, justify" (c. 1300) is from the notion of "present a detailed explanation of money, etc. held in trust." The transferred sense of "to value, to estimate" (to account as belonging to a certain class of quality) is from late 14c. The intransitive sense of "render an account of particulars" is from late 14c.; hence the transitive sense "give an explanation" (1670s, which usually takes to before a person and for before a thing). In later Old French the word was partly re-Latinized as acompter (Modern French accompter), hence late Middle English accompten. Related: Accounted; accounting.