A growing to; an increase by natural growth; applied to the increase of organic bodies by the accession of parts. Plants have an- accretion, but no alimentation.

In the civil law, the adhering of property to something else, by which the owner of one thing becomes possessed of a right to another; as, when a legacy is left to two persons, and one of them dies before the testator, the legacy devolves to the survivor by right of accretion.