Pa. pple. at first accept, now accepted. [? a. Fr. accepte-r (14th c. acepter), ad. L. acceptā-re, freq. of accip-ĕre: see prec. (Wyclif may have taken it directly from L.)] gen. To take or receive what is offered. Hence,
1. To take or receive (a thing offered) willingly, or with consenting mind; to receive (a thing or person) with favor or approval, e.g., to receive as a prospective husband.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Eng. Wks. (1879), 257. Þes foure witnessis weren acceptid of þe holy gost.
1461–83. Ord. for Royal Househ., 54. Wardes … take … allwey lyveres of mete & drinke & other by the Thesaurere of houshold tyll they be accepted to theyre landes or elles solde by the Kinge.
1494. Fabyan, III. lvii. 37. They made humble request to the kynge that he wolde accept theym vnto his grace.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froissart, II. lxxxvii. 257. He sente letters of defyaunce … whiche were nothynge pleasaunt accepted of the Kynge.
1535. Coverdale, Mal. i. 13. Ye haue brought me in a meatofferynge, shulde I accepte it of youre honde?
1596. Shaks., Merch. Ven., I. ii. 109. You should refuse to performe your Father’s will, if you should refuse to accept him. Ibid., IV. ii. 9. His ring I doe accept most thankfully.
1719. Young, Busiris, II. i. (1757), 32. My lord, I want the courage to accept What far transcends my merit.
1782. Cowper, Lett., 18 Nov., Wks. 1876, 121. Accept, therefore, your share of their gratitude.
1802. Southey, Thalaba, v. 39. Hear me, Angels! so may Heaven Accept, and mitigate your penitence.
1880. M. Pattison, Milton, 55. The girl herself conceived an equal repugnance to the husband she had thoughtlessly accepted.
1882. Daily Tel., 17 May (Cricket.). Leslie gave an easy chance to M‘Donnell at slip, which was not accepted.
2. To accept the person or face of: To receive any one’s advances with favor, to treat him as a persōna grāta, to favor him (esp. on corrupt grounds, as personal attractions, rank, influence, power to bribe). Hence to accept persons: To show (corrupt) partiality or favoritism. [A Hebraism nāsā’ phānīm ‘to accept the face,’ literally rendered in N. T. Gr. προσωποληπτεῖν, and in Vulgate acceptāre persōn-am, -as, whence it has passed into Eng. theological language.]
c. 1360. Wyclif, De Dotacione Eccl., 104. For Crist may not of his ryȝtwisnes þus accepte persones.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Esd. iv. 39. The trueth accepteth no personnes, it putteth no difference betwixte rych or poore.
1611. Bible, Job xiii. 10. He will surely reprooue you, if yee doe secretly accept persons. Ibid., Gal. ii. 6. God accepteth no mans person. [Wyclif, God takith not the persoone of man. Tindale, God loketh on no man’s person. Coverdale, God loketh not on the outwarde appearaunce of men. Cranmer, God loketh on the outward appearaunce of no man. Geneva, God loketh on no man’s person. Rheims, God accepteth not the person of man.]
3. To receive as sufficient or adequate; hence, to admit, agree to, believe.
1530. Palsgr., 416. I accepte, or take in worthe, or alowe: I accepte all his commaundementes in good worthe.
1534. Whitinton, Tully’s Off. (1540), III. 167. These thre bokes shall be accept and taken as straungers or gestes amonge the commentaryes and workes of Cratippus.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, II. xxi. 114. He hath Libertie to accept the condition.
1729. Burkitt, On New Test., Mark xii. 44. God Almighty accepts the will of those that give cheerfully.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., II. App. 530. A fact which we may surely accept on the authority of the Biographer.
Mod. His apology was not accepted. To accept the Calvinistic doctrine of the atonement, the evolution theory, etc.
Law. To accept service of a writ: to agree to consider as valid its informal delivery.
4. To take formally (what is offered) with contemplation of its consequences and obligations; to take upon oneself, to undertake as a responsibility.
1524. Wolsey, in Strype’s Eccl. Mem. (1721), I. 81. They shall have little leisure either to mind or accept the seige of Calais.
1530. Palsgr., 416. I accepte, or take in hande.
1728. Pope, Dunc., II. 167. Osborne and Curl accept the glorious strife.
1869. Hook, Lives of Archbps., I. vii. 368. His disinclination to accept the office was real and sincere.
1880. M. Pattison, Milton, 94. The post was offered him, but would he accept it?
¶ In the preceding senses accept is frequently followed by of.
1580. North, Plutarch (1676), 22. They sent defiance to each other … Both of them accepted of it.
1611. Bible, 2 Macc. xiii. 24. And [the King] accepted well of Maccabeus, made him principall gouernor.
1722. De Foe, Hist. Plague, 71. If he would accept of that lodging he might haue it.
1792. T. Jefferson, Writings (1859), III. 456. There are some hopes they will accept of peace.
1818. Q. Rev., XVIII. 459. He will not accept of the text as adopted by his predecessors.
5. Comm. To accept a bill or draft (said of the person to whom the bill or letter of exchange is addressed, or one who takes his place, or accepts ‘for the honor’ of the drawer or endorser): to acknowledge formally its receipt or presentation, and undertake the liability or obligation to meet it when due; to agree or promise to pay.
The acceptor usually writes the word ‘Accepted’ with his signature on the face of the document; adding the date, when the latter affects the date of payment.
1665. S. Bing, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., II. 310, IV. 24. Trading strangely ceaseth, and bills of Exchange are not accepted.
1848. Mill, Pol. Econ. (1876), III. xi. § 3. 312. A bill of exchange … when accepted by the debtor, that is authenticated by his signature, becomes an acknowledgment of debt.
b. absol.
a. 1845. Hood, Sniffing a Birthday, vii. I’m free to give my I O U, Sign, draw, accept, as majors do.
