Accessory
(Ac*ces"so*ry), n.; pl. Accessories
1. That which belongs to something else deemed the principal; something additional and subordinate.
"The aspect and accessories of a den of banditti." Carlyle.
2. (Law) Same as Accessary, n.
3. (Fine Arts) Anything that enters into a work of art without being indispensably necessary, as mere
ornamental parts. Elmes.
Syn. — Abettor; accomplice; ally; coadjutor. See Abettor.
Acciaccatura
(||Ac*ciac`ca*tu"ra) n. [It., from acciaccare to crush.] (Mus.) A short grace note, one
semitone below the note to which it is prefixed; — used especially in organ music. Now used as equivalent
to the short appoggiatura.
Accidence
(Ac"ci*dence) n. [A corruption of Eng. accidents, pl. of accident. See Accident, 2.]
1. The accidents, of inflections of words; the rudiments of grammar. Milton.
2. The rudiments of any subject. Lowell.
Accident
(Ac"ci*dent) n. [F. accident, fr. L. accidens, -dentis, p. pr. of accidere to happen; ad + cadere
to fall. See Cadence, Case.]
1. Literally, a befalling; an event that takes place without one's foresight or expectation; an undesigned,
sudden, and unexpected event; chance; contingency; often, an undesigned and unforeseen occurrence of
an afflictive or unfortunate character; a casualty; a mishap; as, to die by an accident.
Of moving accidents by flood and field.
Shak.
Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident:
It is the very place God meant for thee.
Trench.
2. (Gram.) A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, as gender, number, case.
3. (Her.) A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms.
4. (Log.) (a) A property or quality of a thing which is not essential to it, as whiteness in paper; an
attribute. (b) A quality or attribute in distinction from the substance, as sweetness, softness.
5. Any accidental property, fact, or relation; an accidental or nonessential; as, beauty is an accident.
This accident, as I call it, of Athens being situated some miles from the sea.
J. P. Mahaffy.
6. Unusual appearance or effect. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Accident, in Law, is equivalent to casus, or such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as
is out of the range of ordinary calculation.
Accidental
(Ac`ci*den"tal) a. [Cf. F. accidentel, earlier accidental.]
1. Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; casual; fortuitous; as,
an accidental visit.
2. Nonessential; not necessary belonging; incidental; as, are accidental to a play.
