The act of increasing by natural growth; especially the increase of organic bodies by the internal accession of parts; organic growth.
1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, , Chapter I,There might have been a slight accretion of the moss and lichen on the shingled roof.
The act of increasing, or the matter added, by an accession of parts externally; an extraneous addition; as, an accretion of earth.A mineral ... augments not by growth, but by accretion.
To strip off all the subordinate parts of his as a later accretion - George Cornewall Lewis
Something added externally to promote growth the external growth of an item.
concretion; coherence of separate particles; as, the accretion of particles so as to form a solid mass.
(biology) A growing together of parts naturally separate, as of the fingers or toes.
(geology) The gradual increase of land by deposition of water-borne sediment.
(legal) The adhering of property to something else, by which the owner of one thing becomes possessed of a right to another; generally, gain of land by the washing up of sand or sail from the sea or a river, or by a gradual recession of the water from the usual watermark.
(legal) Gain to an heir or legatee, failure of a coheir to the same succession, or a co-legatee of the same thing, to take his share.
