1. trans. To quicken, or add to the speed of (a motion or process).
1601. Sir A. Sherley, Trav. into Persia (1613), 4. My iourney was under-taken in the dead of winter, and I left no paines untaken to accelerat it.
1771. Junius Lett., xlii. 223. Every step accelerates the rapidity of the descent.
1791. Hamilton, trans. Berthollet’s Art of Dyeing, I. I. § 1. iii. 57. Light greatly accelerates the combustion of colouring matter.
1873. Buckle, Civilis., III. v. 319. The selfishness of the individual accelerates the progress of the community.
b. To quicken (anything) in motion or process.
1631. Braithwait, Whimzies, 62. Elevate that tripode; sublimate that pipkin … accelerate your crucible.
1797. Encycl. Brit., II. 492/1. After conjunction Jupiter will again accelerate Saturn.
2. To hasten the occurrence of (an event); to bring it nearer, by quickening intervening processes, or by shortening the interval.
1525–30. More, De quat. Nouiss., Wks. 1557, 101. Their maner of liuing must nedes accelerate this dredfull day, & drawe it shortly to them.
1662. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 68. Change of air and diet … are conceived to have accelerated his death.
1772–84. Cook, Voyages (1790), VI. 2216. The intelligence we had gained … rendered us the more anxious to accelerate our departure.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xviii. 87. The commons accelerated the grant of a tenth … due at Martinmas.
b. To place earlier in point of time, to antedate.
1855. Milman, Lat. Christ. (1864), I. I. ii. 72. Deliberate invention … in defiance of history, accelerated the baptism of Constantine.
3. intr. To add to one’s speed, to increase in speed, or become swifter.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 194. Putrefaction … shall retard or accelerate according to the subject and season of the year.
1868. W. R. Greg, Lit. & Soc. Judg., 419. This deterioration still continues, if even it does not accelerate.
