account, accompt

[O. Fr. a compter, aconter, from Lat. ac ad, and computo = to count.] [COMPUTE.] I. The act or operation of computing by means of numbers of counting numbers themselves; or of making verbal, written, or printed statements in explanation of conduct, or for historic or other ends. 1. Of numerical computations : the courts of equity have acquired a concurrent jurisdiction with every other court in all matters of account ."-Black stone: Comment ., bk. iii., ch. xxvii. 2. Of explanation, defence, or apology for conduct : "Cut off even in the blo oms of my sin; No reckoning koning made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head." Shakesp. Hamlet , 1. 5. 3. Of narration, especially of an historic kind. (See No. III. 4.) II. The state of being counted, computed, or given forth orally, in writing, or printed. 1. Lit. The state of being counted or computed. IMG:content-0093.png:[blocks in formation] (a) The state of being estimated; estimation, honourable estimate, regard, consideration, importance. "Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!" Ps. cxliv. 3. "The state had been of no account in Europe."Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. x. (b) The state of being considered profitable, profit, advantage. Üsed specially in the phrases "to turn to account" = to produce advantage; and "to find one's account in" =to make worth one's while. such a solid and substantial virtue as will turn to a account in the great day."- Add is on: Spec tat or, No. 309. "I cannot yet comprehend how those persons 'find their account in any of the three."- Swift . the molecular motion produced in the act of union may be turned to mechanical account ."Tyndall: Frag. of Science, 3rd ed., iv. 9. To lay one's account with : To a ure oneself of, to make up one's mind to. ( Scotch .) "I counsel you to lay your account with suffering." -Walker : Peden , p. 56. On one's own account: On one's own behalf, for one's own profit or advantage, for one's own sake. those members trafficked, each on his own account."-Macaulay: Hist . Eng . , ch. xxiii. 3. The state of being accounted for. In the phrase "on account of" = accounted for by; by reason of, because of, in consequence of. ne and harshne on account of the sternne on acco of his nature."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. ii. III. The thing or things computed, given forth, or told; the statement made, the record privately kept or more or le openly published. 1. Banking, Commerce, Law, and Ordinary Language: A registry of pecuniary transactions; such a record as is kept by merchants, by housewives, and by all prudent people, with the view of day by day ascertaining their financial position. "It would be endle to point out all the several avenues in human affairs and in this commercial age which lead to or end in accounts."-Black stone: Com mont., bk. iii., ch. xxvii. Spec .: A bill or paper sent in by tradespeople to those who do not pay for goods on delivery. In it is entered the name of the debtor, each item of his debt, and the sum of the whole. "If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account , 1 Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it."- Philemon 18, 19. To open an account is to commence ресиniary transactions with, so that one's name is entered for the first time in the books of the banker or merchant. An open account , or an account current, is commercially one in which the balance has not been struck; in banking it is one which may be added to or drawn upon at any time, as opposed to a deposit account where notice is required for withdrawals. To keep an open account is to keep an account of the kind now stated running on, instead of closing it. A stated account is one which all parties have, either expre ly or by implication, admitted to be correct. A settled account is one which has actually been discharged. Payment on account in partial payment of a debt. 2. Old Law: A writ or action brought against a man whose office or busine places him under the obligation to render an account to another, and who has failed to furnish it; as a bailiff neglecting to give one to his master, or a guardian to his ward. The action, of course was most frequently brought when there was reason to believe that the money unaccounted for had been embezzled. 3. A verbal or written explanation, excuse, or defence given by a defendant arraigned before a tribunal, or a servant summoned before a master to answer. "Give an account of thy stewardship."- Luke xvi. 2. they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Matt . xii. 36. "A member could no longer be called to account for his harangues or his votes."- Macaulay : Hist . Eng., chap. xv. In the last example account may be a substantive or a verb. It is probably the former. 4. A verbal, written, or printed recital of incidents, an historic narrative. In this sense it is often plural. "If, therefore, we require that a historical account should rest on the test i in ony of known and a ignable witne es, whose credibility can be scrutinized and judged...."-Lewis: Early Roman Hist . , ch. vii., § 7. "The chroniclers have given us many accounts of the masks and piays which were acted in the court."Froude: Hist . Eng . , ch. i.