Part 81

<hw>Ac"ci*dence</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[A corruption of Eng. <ets>accidents</ets>, pl. of <ets>accident</ets>. See <er>Accident</er>, 2.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>The accidents, of inflections of words; the rudiments of grammar.</def>

<i>Milton.</i>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>The rudiments of any subject.</def>

<i>Lowell.</i>

<h1>Accident</h1> <Xpage=11>

<hw>Ac"ci*dent</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[F. <ets>accident</ets>, fr. L. <ets>accidens</ets>, <ets>-dentis</ets>, p. pr. of <ets>accidere</ets> to happen; <ets>ad + cadere</ets> to fall. See <er>Cadence</er>, <er>Case</er>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>Literally, a befalling; an event that takes place without one's foresight or expectation; an undesigned, sudden, and unexpected event; chance; contingency; often, an undesigned and unforeseen occurrence of an afflictive or unfortunate character; a casualty; a mishap; <as>as, to die by an <ex>accident</ex></as>.</def>

<blockquote>Of moving <b>accidents</b> by flood and field. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Thou cam'st not to thy place by <b>accident</b>: It is the very place God meant for thee. <i>Trench.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Gram.)</fld> <def>A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, as gender, number, case.</def>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Her.)</fld> <def>A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms.</def>

<p><b>4.</b> <fld>(Log.)</fld> <sd>(a)</sd> <def>A property or quality of a thing which is not essential to it, as <i>whiteness</i> in paper; an attribute.</def> <sd>(b)</sd> <def>A quality or attribute in distinction from the substance, as <i>sweetness</i>, <i>softness</i>.</def>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>Any accidental property, fact, or relation; an accidental or nonessential; <as>as, beauty is an <ex>accident</ex></as>.</def>

<blockquote>This <b>accident</b>, as I call it, of Athens being situated some miles from the sea. <i>J. P. Mahaffy.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>6.</b> <def>Unusual appearance or effect.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<i>Chaucer.</i>

<note>&hand; <i>Accident</i>, in <i>Law</i>, is equivalent to <i>casus</i>, or such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as is out of the range of ordinary calculation.</note>

<h1>Accidental</h1> <Xpage=11>

<hw>Ac`ci*den"tal</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[Cf. F. <ets>accidentel</ets>, earlier <ets>accidental</ets>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>Happening by chance, or unexpectedly; taking place not according to the usual course of things; casual; fortuitous; <as>as, an <ex>accidental</ex> visit</as>.</def>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>Nonessential; not necessary belonging; incidental; <as>as, are <ex>accidental</ex> to a play</as>.</def>

<cs><col>Accidental chords</col> <fld>(Mus.)</fld>, <cd>those which contain one or more tones foreign to their proper harmony.</cd> -- <col>Accidental colors</col> <fld>(Opt.)</fld>, <cd>colors depending on the hypersensibility of the retina of the eye for complementary colors. They are purely subjective sensations of color which often result from the contemplation of actually colored bodies.</cd> -- <col>Accidental point</col> <fld>(Persp.)</fld>, <cd>the point in which a right line, drawn from the eye, parallel to a given right line, cuts the perspective plane; so called to distinguish it from the principal point, or point of view, where a line drawn from the eye perpendicular to the perspective plane meets this plane.</cd> -- <col>Accidental lights</col> <fld>(Paint.)</fld>, <cd>secondary lights; effects of light other than ordinary daylight, such as the rays of the sun darting through a cloud, or between the leaves of trees; the effect of moonlight, candlelight, or burning bodies.</cd></cs>

<i>Fairholt.</i>

<syn>Syn. -- Casual; fortuitous; contingent; occasional; adventitious.</syn> <usage> -- <er>Accidental</er>, <er>Incidental</er>, <er>Casual</er>, <er>Fortuitous</er>, <er>Contingent</er>. We speak of a thing as <i>accidental</i> when it falls out as by chance, and not in the regular course of things; <as>as, an <ex>accidental</ex> meeting, an <ex>accidental</ex> advantage, etc.</as> We call a thing <i>incidental</i> when it falls, as it were, <i>into</i> some regular course of things, but is secondary, and forms no essential part thereof; <as>as, an <ex>incremental</ex> remark, an <ex>incidental</ex> evil, an <ex>incidental</ex> benefit</as>. We speak of a thing as <i>casual</i>, when it falls out or happens, as it were, by mere chance, without being prearranged or premeditated; <as>as, a <ex>casual</ex> remark or encounter; a <i>casual</i> observer</as>. An idea of the unimportant is attached to what is <i>casual</i>. <i>Fortuitous</i> is applied to what occurs without any known cause, and in opposition to what has been foreseen; <as>as, a <ex>fortuitous</ex> concourse of atoms</as>. We call a thing <i>contingent</i> when it is such that, considered in itself, it may or may not happen, but is dependent for its existence on something else; <as>as, the time of my coming will be <ex>contingent</ex> on intelligence yet to be received</as>.</usage>

<h1>Accidental</h1> <Xpage=11>

<hw>Ac`ci*den"tal</hw> <tt>(#)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>A property which is not essential; a nonessential; anything happening accidentally.</def>

<blockquote>He conceived it just that <b>accidentals</b> . . . should sink with the substance of the accusation. <i>Fuller.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <pluf>pl.</pluf> <fld>(Paint.)</fld> <def>Those fortuitous effects produced by luminous rays falling on certain objects so that some parts stand forth in abnormal brightness and other parts are cast into a deep shadow.</def>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Mus.)</fld> <def>A sharp, flat, or natural, occurring not at the commencement of a piece of music as the signature, but before a particular note.</def>

<h1>Accidentalism</h1> <Xpage=11>