account

plural accounts

1. accountingA registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review.First known use c. 1300

   The firm failed to file its accounts on time.

2. bankingA bank account.

   The money was refunded to her account.

   1 more example

   The Pueblo bank has advised that the operator opened an account at that bank with currency, and a few days later withdrew the amount.

   1910, Journal of the American Bankers Association Vol. XI, No. 1, American Bankers Association, page 3

3. A statement in general of reasons, causes, grounds, etc., explanatory of some event; a reason of an action to be done.

   No satisfactory account has been given of these phenomena.

   2 more examples

   Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.

   2012 January 28, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 10 Nov 2013, page 60

   Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 16:2

   Synonyms: accounting, explanation

4. A reason, grounds, consideration, motive; a person's sake.

   on no account

   4 more examples

   Don't trouble yourself on my account.

   on every account

   on all accounts

   […] who evidently a glutton for work, it struck him, was having a quiet forty winks for all intents and purposes on his own private account while Dublin slept.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

5. A record of events; a relation or narrative.First known use c. 1610

   An account of a battle.

   4 more examples

   A laudible account of the city of London.

   1657, Jam. Howel [i.e., James Howell], Londinopolis; an Historicall Discourse or Perlustration of the City of London, the Imperial Chamber, and Chief Emporium of Great Britain: […], London: […] J[ohn] Streater, for Henry Twiford, George Sawbridge, Thomas Dring, and John Place, […], →OCLC

   The study of the main body of Hittite texts was intrusted^([sic]) to the Austrian scholar Hrozny, who in 1915 published a preliminary account of his results[…]

   1920, Carl D. Buck, “Hittite an Indo-European Language?”, in Classical Philology, volume 15, number 2, →DOI, page 185

   According to one published account, said to be based on information provided by foreign missionaries in Chungking, whose reaction may have been influenced by the excesses of the Boxer Rebellion just a few years earlier, Tuan-fang was killed by his own soldiers at Tzu-chou, Shensi province.

   1991, Thomas Lawton, A Time of Transition: Two Collectors of Chinese Art, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 63

   In a lapidary style, Qiu Dongping clearly and forcefully describes battlefield actions with simple sentences, giving a blow-by-blow account of successive events with neither understatement nor exaggeration.

   2000, Yunzhong Shu, chapter 2, in Buglers on the Home Front: The Wartime Practice of the Qiyue School, State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 58

   Synonyms: narrative, narration, relation, recital, report, description, explanation

6. An estimate or estimation; valuation; judgment.

   To stand high in your account

   1623, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 3, scene 2

7. Importance; worth; value; esteem; judgement.

   There is a peculiarity in Homer's manner of apoſtrophizing Eumæus, and ſpeaking of him in the ſecond perſon; it is generally apply'd by that Poet only to men of account and diſtinction, and by it the Poet, as it were, addreſſes them with reſpect; […]

   1725, William Broome, “Book XIV”, in Homer, translated by [Alexander Pope], The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, footnote, page 235

8. Authorization as a specific registered user in accessing a system.

   Since the system outage, I've been unable to log in to my account.

   5 more examples

   In these cases, the agency has to buy through another ad agency that has an account with the media vehicle in question.

   2000, Sean Mooney, 5,110 Days in Tokyo and Everything's Hunky-dory, page 66

   For example, to register an account with Hotmail, you should type www.hotmail.com on the Address bar of your browser to go to the Hotmail e-mail service WEB page.

   2002, Whizkids Data Creation

   While the buyer might have to create an account with the online payment service, this account is free; the account exists only to facilitate future transactions, since the buyer's address and payment information doesn't have to be re-entered for each new transaction.

   2006, Michael Miller, Choosing an Online Payment Service

   Depending on the shipping options you plan to offer to your customers, you'll probably need to open shipping accounts with FedEx, UPS, and perhaps other couriers as well.

   2009, Jason Rich, Design and Launch an Online Web Design Business in a Week, page 223

   Of course, to use iCloud on your iPhone, you need to have an iCloud account.

   2014, Brad Miser, My iPhone (Covers iOS 8 on iPhone 6/6 Plus, 5S/5C/5, and 4S), page 71

   Synonyms: membership, registration

9. archaicA reckoning; computation; calculation; enumeration; a record of some reckoning.

   It seems that this severity weakened his frame, for three years syne come Martinmas he was taken ill with a fever of the bowels, and after a week's sickness he went to his account, where I trust he is accepted.

   1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

10. uncountableProfit; advantage.

    The young man soon turned his woodworking skills to some account.

    1 more example

    I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account.

    1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput)

present singular third person accounts · participle present accounting · participle past accounted · past accounted · first person past singular accounted · archaic present second person singular accountest · past second person singular accounted · archaic past second person singular accountedst · present singular third person accounts · archaic present singular third person accounteth · past singular third person accounted · past plural accounted · past subjunctive accounted · participle present accounting · participle past accounted

1. To provide explanation.
   1. obsoletetransitiveTo present an account of; to answer for, to justify.First known use 14th–17th c.
   2. archaicintransitiveTo give an account of financial transactions, money received etc.First known use 14th c.
   3. transitiveTo estimate, consider (something to be as described).First known use 14th c.

      I'd account it a privilege to serve you.

      1 more example

      The Pagan Hercules, why was he accounted a hero?

      1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, chapter 8, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker)

      Synonyms: appraise, count, esteem, see, censure, consider, deem, hold

   4. intransitiveTo consider that.First known use 14th c.

      Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 11:19

   5. intransitiveTo give a satisfactory evaluation for financial transactions, money received etc.First known use 15th c.

      An officer must account with or to the treasurer for money received.

   6. intransitiveTo give a satisfactory evaluation for (one's actions, behaviour etc.); to answer for.First known use 16th c.

      We must account for the use of our opportunities.

   7. intransitiveTo give a satisfactory reason for; to explain.First known use 16th c.

      Idleness accounts for poverty.

      1 more example

      While the overall model was invariant across groups, the direct relationship between atypical eating (not driven by weight/shape) and ED pathology was only significant in the autistic group. Therefore, while body image appears to contribute to ED pathology in autistic adults, atypical eating may represent an additional unique risk factor for ED pathology. While the correlational nature of this study precludes inferences about causality, the combination of atypical eating and body image dissatisfaction may partially account for elevated ED pathology in autism.

      2025 February 14, Heather Westwood, Will Mandy, Rebecca Brewer, “The Relationship Between Interoception, Alexithymia, Autistic Traits and Eating Pathology in Autistic Adults”, in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, →DOI

   8. intransitiveTo establish the location for someone.First known use 19th c.

      After the crash, not all passengers were accounted for.

   9. intransitiveTo cause the death, capture, or destruction of someone or something (+ for).First known use 19th c.

      Desperately bold at last, the persecuted animals bolted above-ground—the terrier accounted for one, the keeper for another; Rawdon, from flurry and excitement, missed his rat, but on the other hand he half-murdered a ferret.

      1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 45, in Vanity Fair

2. To count.
   1. archaictransitiveTo calculate, work out (especially with periods of time).First known use 14th c.

      neither the motion of the Moon, whereby moneths are computed; nor of the Sun, whereby years are accounted, consisteth of whole numbers, but admits of fractions, and broken parts, as we have already declared concerning the Moon.

      1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC

   2. obsoleteTo count (up), enumerate.First known use 14th–17th c.
   3. obsoleteTo recount, relate (a narrative etc.).First known use 14th–16th c.

      Long worke it were / Here to account the endlesse progeny / Of all the weeds that bud and blossome there [...].

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

3. Used in phrasal verbs: account for, account of, account to.