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.