accrescimento (akkreshimento)

[It.: see accresce.] In music, the increase of the duration of a sound by one half, indicated by a dot after the note. accrete (a-krēt'), v.; pret. and pp. accreted, ppr. accreting. [ We see everywhere wasted cliffs and denuded shores, or accreted shingle-banks and sand-hills. N. and Q., 7th ser., II. 62. 2. To be added; adhere; become attached by a proce of accretion. Centres about which thought has accreted , instead of crystallizing into its own free forms. G. S. Hall , German Culture, p. 161. II. trans. To cause to grow or unite. accrete (a-krēt'), a . [L. accretus , pp. of ac crescere : see accresce .] Grown together; formed by accretion; accreted. accretion (a-krē'shon), n. [L. accretio (n-), accretus , pp. of accrescere , grow: see accresce and accrete .] 1. The act of accreting or accrescing; a growing to; an increase by natural growth; an addition; specifically, an increase by an acce ion of parts externally. The phrase "living language," used with reference to facts, must import perpetual excretion and accretion of substance, involving or producing a imilation, develop ment, and renewal. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 18. A mineral or unorganized body can undergo no change save by the operation of mechanical or chemical forces; and any increase of its bulk is due to the addition of like particles to its exterior: it augments not by growth but by accretion . Owen, Comp. Anat., i. 2. In pathol., the growing together of parts normally separate, as the fingers or toes.-3. The thing added; an extraneous addition; an acce ion: commonly used in the plural, and restricted to acce ions made slowly and gradually by some external force. He strove to pare away the accretions of age. Merivale, Hist. Romans, V. 150. 4. In law: (a) The increase or growth of property by external acce ions, as by alluvium naturally added to land situated on the bank of a river, or on the seashore. When the accretion takes place by small and imperceptible degrees it belongs to the owner of the land immediately behind, but if it is sudden and considerable it may belong to the state. (b) In Scots law, the completion of an originally defective or imperfect right by some subsequent act on the part of the person from whom the right was derived. accretive (a-krē ́tiv), a. Of or pertaining to accretion; increasing or adding by growth; growing; accrescent: as, "the accretive motion of plants," Glan ville, Scep. Sci., ix. 60.