Co ACC 
witneffes, they were bound, by all the rules of hidorical 
faith, and of right reafon, to give credit to this hidory. 
Addifon. 
Account, in law, is a writ or action, commanding the 
defendant to render a juft account to the plaintiff, or fhew 
to the court good caufe to the contrary. In this action, if 
the plaintiff f ucceeds, there are two judgments; the ftrft 
is, that the defendant do account (quod computet) before 
auditors appointed by the court; and, when fuch account 
is finifhed, then the fecond judgment is, that he pay to the 
plaintiff fo much as he is found in arrear. This action, 
by the old common law, laid only againft the parties them- 
felves, and not their executors; becaufe matters of account 
relied folely in their own knowledge. But this defeat was 
remedied by datute 4 Anne, c. 16. which gives an aftion 
of account againft the executors and adminiftrators. But 
however it is found by experience, that the mod ready and 
effectual way to fettle theie matters of account, is by bill 
in a court of equity, where a difeovery may be had on 
the defendant’s oath, without relying merely on the evi¬ 
dence which the plaintiff may be able to produce. There¬ 
fore actions of account, to compel a man to bring in and 
fettle his accounts, are now very feldom ufed; though, 
when an account is once dated, nothing is more common 
than an action upon the implied ajfumpjtt to pay the balance. 
3 Blachjl. 162. 
A plea of a dated account is bad, unlefs it diews the ac¬ 
count was in writing, and what the balance was. 2 Atk. 399. 
A dated account is not an extinguiflwient of the original 
debt; therefore it cannot be pleaded in bar of an action 
for the debt. Bur. Mansf 9. 
Account is taken fometimes, in a particular fenfe, for 
the computation of time : thus we fay, “ the Julian Ac¬ 
count, the Gregorian Account, &c.” in which fenfe it is 
equivalent to Jlytt. 
To Account, v. a. To edeem, to think, to hold in 
opinion. To reckon, to compute.—Neither the motionof 
the moon, whereby months are computed, nor the fun, 
w hereby years are accounted, con/ideth of whole numbers. 
Brown. —To adign to, as a debt; with the particle to. — 
For fome years really accrued the yearly fum of two hun¬ 
dred thoufand pounds to the king’s coffers: and it was, in 
truth, the only project that was accounted to his own fer- 
vice. Clarendon. —To hold in elteem; with*/.—Silver was 
nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. Chron. 
To Account, v. n. To reckon. To give account, to 
adign the caufes; in which fenfe it is followed by the par¬ 
ticle/or.—If any one Ihould afk, why our general conti¬ 
nued fo eafy to the lad ? 1 know no other way to account for it, 
but by that unmeafurable love of wealth, which his bed 
friends allow to be his predominant paflion. Swift.— To 
make up the reckoning; toanfw.er; withy's?-.* 
Then thou (halt fee him plung’d, when lead he fears, 
At once accounting for his deep arrears. Dryden. 
To appear as the medium, by which any thing may be ex¬ 
plained.—Such as .have a faulty circulation through the 
lungs, ought to eat very little at a time; becaufe the in- 
creafe of the quantity of freih chyle mud make that cir¬ 
culation dill more uneafy; which, indeed, is the cafe of 
confumptive and fome .adhmatic perfons, and accountsfor 
the fymptoms they are troubled with after eating. Arbutknot. 
ACCOUNTABLE, adj. Of whom an account may be 
required ; who mud anfwer for: followed by the particle 
to before the perfon, and for before the tiling: 
Accountable to none. 
But to my conference and any God alone. ,Oldham. 
The good magHfrate will make no didin&ion; for the 
judgment is God’s; and he will look upon inmfelf as ac¬ 
countable at his bar far the equity of it. Attcrbury. 
ACCOUNTANT, adj. Accountable to; refponlible 
for. Not in ufe. 
Accountant,/. A computer; a man (killed or em¬ 
ployed in accounts.—Ina more redrifted fenfe, it is applied 
3 
ACC 
\ * 
to a perfon, or officer, appointed to keep the accounts of at 
public company or office; as the South-Sea and the Indi* 
Companies, the Bank, the Extife, &c. 
ACCOUNTANTSHIP,/. The art of keeping and ba¬ 
lancing accounts. Sec Book-keeping. 
ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, / an officer in the 
court of Chancery appointed by act of parliament to re¬ 
ceive all moneys lodged in the court indead of the maders, 
and convey the fame to the bank of England for fecurity. 
ACCOUNT-BOOK, f. A book containing accounts. 
ACCOUNTING/! The aft of .reckoning, or making 
tip of accounts.—This method faithfully obferved, mult 
keep a man from breaking, or running behind-hand in his 
fpiritual edate; Which, without frequent accountings, he 
will hardly be able to prevent. South. 
To ACCOUPLE, v. a. [ decoupler, Fr.} To join, to link 
together. We now ufe couple. 
To ACCOURAGE, v. a, To animate. Nowobfolete. 
To ACCOURT, xi. a. To entertain with courtfhip, or 
courtefy. Not now in ufe. 
To ACCOUTRE, v.a. [ accoiitrcr, Fr.] To drefs; to 
equip. 
ACCOUTREMENT,/ [accoutrement, Fr. ] Drefs.equi- 
page, furniture relation to the perfon; trappings, orna¬ 
ments : 
How gay, with all tiff accoutrements of war, 
The Britons come, with gold well-fraught. Phil, 
ACCRETION,/ [ accretio , Lat.] The act of growing 
to another, fo as to increafe it.—Plants do nourifii; inani¬ 
mate bodies do not: they have an accretion, but no alimen¬ 
tation. Bacon. 
Accretion, in phyfics, the increafe or growth of an 
organicai body, by the acceffion of new parts. See Nu¬ 
trition, Plants, and Vegetables. 
Accretion, among civilians, the property acquired 
in a vague or unoccupied thing, by its adhering to or fol¬ 
lowing another already occupied : thus, if a legacy be left 
to two perfons, one of whom dies before the tedator, the 
legacy devolves to the furvivor by right of accretion. 
ACCRETIVE, adj. Growing; that which by growth 
is added.—If the motion be very flow, we perceive it not ; 
we have no fenfe of the accretive motion of plants and ani¬ 
mals: and the fly fliadow deals away upon the dial; and 
the quicked eye can difeover no more but that it is gone. 
Glanziille. 
To ACCROACH, v. a. [accrochcr, Fr.] To draw to one 
as with a hook; to gripe; to draw away by degrees what 
is another’s. 
ACCROACHMENT,/. The act of accroaching. 
ACCROCHE,/. in heraldry, denotes a thing’s being 
hooked with another. 
To ACCRUE, v. n. [from the participle accru, formed 
from accroitre, Fr.] To accede to, to be added to; as, a 
natural produftion or effect, without any particular re- 
fpect to good or ill. To be added, as an advantage or im¬ 
provement, in a fenfe inclining to good rather than ill; in 
w hich meaning it is more frequently ufedby later authors. 
To append to, to arife from : as, an ill confequence; this 
fenfe feems to be lefs proper. Ina commercial fenfe, to 
be produced, or arife; as, profits. To follow, as lofs; a 
vicious ufe. 
ACCUBATION,/ a padure of the body, between fit- 
ting and lying. The word comes from the Latin accubare, 
compounded of ad, tp, and cubo, I lie down. Accubaticn, 
or accubitus, was the table-podure of the Greeks and Ro¬ 
mans ; whence we find the words particularly ufed for the 
lying, or rather (as we call it) fitting, down.to meat. The 
Greeks introduced this poflure. The Romans, during 
the frugal ages of the republic, were drangers to it: but, 
as luxury got footing, this podure came to be adopted, at 
lead by the men; for, as to women, it was reputed an in¬ 
decency In them to lie dowm among the men : though,, af¬ 
terwards, this too was got over. But children did not lie 
down, nor fervants, nor foldiers, nor perfons of meaner 
condition. 
