in Physics, the increase or growth of an organical body, by the accession of new parts. See NUTRITION, PLANTS, and VEGETABLES.

Accretion, among civilians, the property acquired in a vague or unoccupied thing, by its adhering to or following another already occupied: thus, if a legacy be left to two persons, one of whom dies before the testator, the legacy devolves to the survivor by right of accretion.