a. and sb. [ad. late L. accēssōri-us adj., f. accēssōr, agent noun f. accēd-ĕre; see ACCEDE, and -ORY.] For the variant pronunciations, of which a·ccessory is historical and etymological (cf. pro·missory), see ACCESSARY.
A. adj.
1. Of things: Coming as an accession; contributing in an additional and hence subordinate degree; additional, extra, adventitious.
1618. Bolton, Florus, II. ix. 122. The Iles in that Sea … accessory members of the Ætolian Warre.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 21. A Principal obligation extinguishes an Accessory obligation if they do both concur in one and the same Person.
1842. A. Gray, Struct. Bot. (1880), iii. § 2. 44. Accessory Buds. These are … multiplications of the regular axillary bud.
1872. Huxley, Physiol., VI. 139. To distinguish the essential food-stuffs or proteids from the accessory food-stuffs or fats and amyloids.
1875. Ouseley, Mus. Form, v. 38. Accessory passages may be added to either, or both, of the principal themes.
2. Aiding in a crime, privy; = ACCESSARY B 1 (the better spelling in this sense).
1607. Mis. Enforced Marriage, II., in Hazl., Dodsl., IX. 506. Thyself a murderer, thy wife accessory.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pickle (1779), II. xlvi. 86. We shall be accessory to the ruin of this enslaved people.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, 121. He charged me with being accessory to the felony.
B. sb. [The Scotch form accessor is adopted directly from Fr. accessoire: L’accessoire suit le principal. Littré.]
1. An accessory thing; something contributing in a subordinate degree to a general result or effect; an adjunct, or accompaniment.
1549. Compl. of Scot. (1872), xiii. 112. Ȝour particular veil is bot ane accessor of ȝour comont veil [= common weal] ande the accessor follouis the natur of the prencipal.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 70. All pleasures else, I Accessories call.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 21. If a Man sells a House, the Glass-Windows thereunto belonging are said to be sold as an Accessory.
1847. Dickens, Haunted Man (C.D. ed.), 222. Seasoning… is an accessory dreamily suggesting pork.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Painting, 129. Accessories are those objects in a picture, auxiliary or accessorial to the general effect, but apart from the principal subject or figure.
1882. Daily Tel., 16 May, 2. No mansion in Belgravia is better provided in all the accessories of luxurious ease.
2. Of persons: = ACCESSARY A 1 (the more usual and better spelling in this sense).
1602. Choose a Good Wife, V. iii., in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, IX. 93. For justifiers are all accessories, And accessories have deserv’d to die.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 520. Transformed Alike, to serpents all, as accessories To his bold riot.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 21. A man that gives Aid, Counsel, or Assistance unto any Crime, is … an Accessory thereunto.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 288. But that he was an accessory after the fact no human being could doubt.
