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or the matter added, by an accession of parts externally; an extraneous addition; as, an accretion 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.

Continuous growth; an accretion. [R.] The silent accrescence of belief from the unwatched depositions of a general, never contradicted hearsy. Coleridge.

Characterized by accretion; made up; as, accrete matter.

Relating to accretion; increasing, or adding to, by growth. Glanvill.

The act of accruing; accretion; as, title by accruer.

An accession of land gradually washed to the shore or bank by the flowing of water. See Accretion.

The act of adding; application; accretion. It grows . . . by the apposition of new matter. Arbuthnot.

To grow larger by accretion; to increase. Their snowball did not gather as it went. Bacon.

A kernel; hence, a central mass or point about which matter is gathered, or to which accretion is made; the central or material portion; -- used both literally and figuratively. It must contain within itself a nucleus of truth. I. Taylor.

Corrosive or injurious accretion or influence. Sacred truths cleared from all rust and dross of human mixtures. Eikon Basilike.

A remarkable accretion of fat upon the buttocks of Africans of certain tribes, especially of Hottentot women.