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To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects. The young stranger had been abstracted and silent. Blackw. Mag.

nonsensical; ridiculous; as, an absurd person, an absurd opinion; an absurd dream. This proffer is absurd and reasonless. Shak. 'This phrase absurd to call a villain great. Pope. p. 9

A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service. Abuse after disappeared without a struggle.. Macaulay.

To enter upon an office or dignity; to attain. Edward IV., who had acceded to the throne in the year 1461. T. Warton. If Frederick had acceded to the supreme power. Morley.

To receive with a consenting mind (something offered); as, to accept a gift; -- often followed by of. If you accept them, then their worth is great. Shak. To accept of ransom for my son. Milton. She accepted of a treat. Addison.

The act of accepting; a receiving what is offered, with approbation, satisfaction, or acquiescence; esp., favorable reception; approval; as, the acceptance of a gift, office, doctrine, etc. They shall come up with acceptance on mine altar. Isa. lx. 7.

who, not being present, contributes as an assistant or instigator to the commission of an offense. Accessary before the fact (Law), one who commands or counsels an offense, not being present at its commission. -- Accessary after the fact, one who, after an offense, assists or shelters the offender, not being present a…

The act of coming to or reaching a throne, an office, or dignity; as, the accession of the house of Stuart; -- applied especially to the epoch of a new dynasty.

An associate in the commission of a crime; a participator in an offense, whether a principal or an accessory. "And thou, the cursed accomplice of his treason." Johnson.

To render or receive an account or relation of particulars; as, an officer must account with or to the treasurer for money received.

One who is skilled in, keeps, or adjusts, accounts; an officer in a public office, who has charge of the accounts. Accountatn general, the head or superintending accountant in certain public offices. Also, formerly, an officer in the English court of chancery who received the moneys paid into the court, and deposited t…

The office or employment of an accountant.

cretion of earth. A mineral . . . augments not by grown, but by accretion. Owen. To strip off all the subordinate parts of his as a later accretion. Sir G. C. Lewis.

The act of accusing or charging with a crime or with a lighter offense. We come not by the way of accusation To taint that honor every good tongue blesses. Shak.

To charge with, or declare to have committed, a crime or offense; (Law)

Charged with offense; as, an accused person.

ne's own act, to give it legal validity; as, the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer. Also, the certificate of the officer attesting such declaration. Acknowledgment money, in some parts of England, a sum paid by copyhold tenants, on the death of their landlords, as an acknowledgment of their new lords. Co…

To discharge, as a claim or debt; to clear off; to pay off; to requite. A responsibility that can never be absolutely acquitted. I. Taylor.

A setting free, or deliverance from the charge of an offense, by verdict of a jury or sentence of a court. Bouvier.

The clearing off of debt or obligation; a release or discharge from debt or other liability.