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accrue

verb, noun — 6 senses

accrue

verb

UK /əˈkɹuː/ · US /əˈkɹu/

Etymology First attested in mid 15th century. From Middle English acrewen, borrowed from Old French acreüe, past participle of accreistre (“to increase”), from Latin accrēsco (“increase”), from ad (“in addition”) + crēscō (“to grow”). Compare accrete.

1

To increase, to rise

  • And though pow’r fail’d, her Courage did accrue1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
2

To reach or come to by way of increase; to arise or spring up because of growth or result, especially as the produce of money lent.

  • Environmental benefits that accrue to the area.
  • 1879, Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Dictionary of Terms and Phrases used in American or English Jurisprudence: ACCRUE Interest accrues to principal.
1 more example
  • The great and essential advantages accruing to society from the freedom of the press1772, Junius, The Letters of Junius, Preface:
3

Accounting, Business, Finance To be incurred as a result of the passage of time.

  • The monthly financial statements show all the actual but only some of the accrued expenses.
4

To accumulate.

  • He has accrued nine sick days.
  • We, who are dead and gone, shall bear no Part, In all the Pleasures, no shall we feel the smart, Which to that other Mortal shall accrew, Whom of our Matter Time shall mould anew.1709, John Dryden, "Lucretius: A Poem against the Fear of Death" (lines 26-29), published in a pamphlet of the same name with an Ode in Memory of Mrs. Ann Killebrew
5

Law To become an enforceable and permanent right.

Synonyms
rise, accrete, add up
Antonyms
amortize, defer, prepay
Derived terms
accruable, accrual, accruement, accruer, reaccrue
Related terms
accretion, accresce, accrete, crescent

accrue

noun

Etymology First attested in mid 15th century. From Middle English acrewen, borrowed from Old French acreüe, past participle of accreistre (“to increase”), from Latin accrēsco (“increase”), from ad (“in addition”) + crēscō (“to grow”). Compare accrete.

1

Obsolete Something that accrues; advantage accruing

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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