2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Accretion  \Ac*cre"tion\,  n.  [L.  accretio,  fr  accrescere  to 
  increase.  Cf  {Crescent},  {Increase},  {Accrue}.] 
  1.  The  act  of  increasing  by  natural  growth;  esp.  the  increase 
  of  organic  bodies  by  the  internal  accession  of  parts 
  organic  growth.  --Arbuthnot. 
 
  2.  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  grown,  but  by 
  accretion.  --Owen. 
 
  To  strip  off  all  the  subordinate  parts  of  his  as  a 
  later  accretion.  --Sir  G.  C. 
  Lewis. 
 
  3.  Concretion;  coherence  of  separate  particles;  as  the 
  accretion  of  particles  so  as  to  form  a  solid  mass. 
 
  4.  A  growing  together  of  parts  naturally  separate,  as  of  the 
  fingers  toes.  --Dana. 
 
  5.  (Law) 
  a  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. 
  b  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.  --Wharton.  Kent. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  accretion 
  n  1:  an  increase  by  natural  growth  or  addition  [syn:  {accumulation}] 
  2:  (law)  an  increase  in  a  beneficiary's  share  in  an  estate  (as 
  when  a  co-beneficiary  dies  or  fails  to  meet  some  condition 
  or  rejects  the  inheritance) 

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