v. Forms: 4–7 ascrive, 5 ascryve, asscribe, 6 ascrybe, 6–7 adscribe, 6– ascribe. [a. OF. ascriv- stem of ascrire, cogn. w. It. ascrivere:—L. ascr-, adscrīb-ĕre, f. ad- to + scrīb-ĕre to write. In 16th c. altered to ascribe after L., though ascrive was occasionally used till late in the 17th. The historical appearance of the senses in Eng. does not correspond with the logical development in Latin.]
I. To write into; to add to a writing, register, list, etc.
† 1. trans. To annex or add in writing, to subscribe: a. to subjoin (one’s name); b. to subjoin one’s name to (a document). Obs.
1603. B. Jonson, Sejanus, V. v. 4. Beare it [an Edict] to my fellow Consul to adscribe.
1649. Nethersole, Self-Cond., 3. The ascribing of my name would … have substracted from … the weight of those discourses.
† 2. To inscribe, dedicate to. (So in OFr.) Obs.
1554. Philpot, Exam. & Writ. (1842), 328. Unto those [Princes] also the sentences and arguments ought to be ascribed.
1563. Shute, Archit., C ij b. The secound pillor called Dorica, being ascribed to Hercules.
† 3. To enroll, register, reckon in a class. Obs.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 376/1. Ascribed … into the noumber of his elect and peculier chosen people.
c. 1540. trans. Pol. Verg. (1846), I. 174. She died, and was ascribed emonge the sainctes.
1628. Hobbes, Thucydides (1822), 18. Desiring you to ascribe them to the number of your confederates.
1680. Aubrey, in Bliss, Lett. Emin. Pers. (1813), II. 632. He would long since have been ascribed a member there.
† 4. To appoint (to a vacancy). (So in OFr.) Obs.
1624. Heywood, Gunaik., VI. 272. One of the Priests of the foresaid number dyed, neyther … was any agreed upon or thought fit to be ascribed into his place.
II. To enter into an account, to reckon, count.
5. trans. To enter (a thing) to in an account, to set it to the credit of; to assign, attribute, impute, refer as due or owing to.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Sam. xii. 28. Lest … to my name the victorie be ascrived.
1494. Fabyan, VI. ccxvi. 235. The which dede he ascribed chefely vnto Harolde.
1528. More, Heresyes, IV. Wks. 286/2. Al which miracles al those blessed saintes do ascribe vnto the worke of god.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. viii. 37. The same Græcians did often ascribe madnesse to the operation of the Eumenides.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 321, ¶ 6. This Speech is … the finest that is ascribed to Satan in the whole Poem.
1746. Johnson, Plan Dict., Wks. IX. 185. We usually ascribe good; but impute evil.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Berkeley, I. viii. 159. Others ascribed the whole disaster to the use of small notes.
1879. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., V. xxxiii. 193. The invention of clocks is variously ascribed to the sixth and ninth centuries.
† b. ellipt. (intr.) To give or attribute credit to.
1603. Sir C. Heydon, Jud. Astrol., ii. 56. Some … againe did as greatly admire, and ascribe vnto it.
1667. Decay Chr. Piety, xvii. § 15. 357. Many are apt to ascribe too unlimitedly to the force of a good meaning.
6. To reckon or count to, as a property or characteristic (rarely as a material possession); to consider or allege as belonging to, to claim for.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 110. Þei chalang not þis only þat is ascriuid, but þei tak a vey all þingis fro alle men.
1528. Paynell, Salerne Regim., Q iv. The forsayde vtilites … be ascriued to prunes of Armeny.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 448. This sea also is ascribed by som to the King of Great Britain.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 492. The use, which he adscribes to the Brain.
1880. G. P. Morris, Poems, 163. Ascribing with the true and just All ‘holiness unto the Lord.’
1877. Lytteil, Landmarks, II. ii. 93. The conclusion which ascribes to the lands of Trahour the site of an ancient Church.
† 7. To reckon, reckon up, count. Obs.
1432–50. trans. Higden (1865), 37. Þe Romanes … ascribede theire yeres from the begynnenge of theire cite y-made.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 586. Sotacus ascribeth and setteth downe fiue sundry kinds of the load-stone.
† 8. with compl. To reckon, consider as. refl. To reckon oneself, claim, pretend to be. (So in OFr.) Obs.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 504. Ane lord thair wes than in Northumberland … Ascryvand him to be of Danis blude.
1580. North, Plutarch, 181 (R.). Hereupon the Athenians do ascribe that day for a most unfortunate day.
¶ ? catachr. for DESCRIBE. But cf. 5.
1509. Barclay, Ship of Fooles (1570), 217. Suche a wise man as Virgil doth ascribe.
