[a. Fr. accente-r, OFr. acenter, f. accent sb.]
1. To pronounce, utter or distinguish with accent or stress, to lay the vocal stress upon; to emphasize.
1530. Palsgr., 415. I can nat accent aryght in the latyn tonge.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. xiii. 110. Gōd graūnt this peāce măy lōng ĕndūre—Where the sharpe accent falles more tunably vpon [graunt] [peace] [long] [dure] then it would by conuersion, as to accent them thus: Gōd graūnt-thīs peāce-māy lŏng-ēndūre.
1790. Blair, Rhetoric, I. ix. 225. In Greek and Latin, no word is accented farther back than the third syllable from the end.
1795. Mason, Ch. Music, Wks. 1811, III. 291. For the preservation of this Rhythm in Music it is necessary that at least one note in every bar should be accented.
1868. Pall Mall G., 23 July, 4. The probability is … in favour of these words having been accented in his [Milton’s] day as they now are.
2. To mark with a (written) accent.
Mod. He accented his exercise very carelessly, making more than twenty mistakes.
3. To pronounce, utter, intone.
a. 1639. Wotton, Tears at the Grave of Morton.
| Oh, my unhappy lines! you that before | |
| Have serv’d my youth to vent some wanton cries, | |
| And now congeal’d with grief, can scarce implore | |
| Strength to accent, Here my Albertus lies. |
1656. W. Coles, Art of Simpling, 93. The warbling notes, which the charming birds accent forth from amongst the murmuring leaves.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xv. (1830), II. 116. These solemn sounds, accented by a thousand voices, were prolonged among the waste hills.
4. fig. To mark emphatically or distinctly; to heighten, sharpen or intensify; to make conspicuous.
1655. Gurnall, Christian in Arm., I. 67. The remembrance of his sin in hell thus accented will adde to his torment.
1725. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 207. I were an ungrateful wretch, if this royal favour did not quicken and accent my concern in them.
1876. Miss Braddon, Josh. Hagg. Daughter, II. 10. ‘Of course I’m not eluding to ladies like you,’ said the farmer … accenting his speech by a slap on Priscilla’s spare shoulder.
1877. R. J. King, in Academy, 3 Nov., 438/2. The great piers, of Doulting stone, are accented at the cardinal points by shafts of dark lias.
