▪ I.access,n.|ˈæksɪs,ækˈsɛs|Forms: 4 acces; 4–7 accesse; 5– access; and in the special sense IV: 4 axcesse, axcess; 5 axces, axesse, axez, aksis; 5–6 axes, axis; 6 axys, acceys.[In sense IV, the earliest inEng., a.Fr.accès,OFr.aces, aceis:—L. accēss-us, a coming unto,vbl.n.f.accēd-ĕre to come to: see accede v. In this sense the word soon received theEng.accent ˈaccess, whence the spellings axes, axis, etc., above. In its more general sensesapp.taken direct from L. accēss-us chiefly after 1500, and retaining thepronunc.acˈcess in all the poets of 6–8; but ˈaccess is given by Sheridan 1789, rejected by Smart 1857, used by Tennyson 1864, and is now apparently the more usual, as more distinct from exˈcess.Cf.reˈcess, sucˈcess; ˈabscess, ˈprocess. Like variety of usage prevails as to access-ary, -ory, and their derivatives, though in these it is more common to accent the first syllable.]I.Coming to or towards; approaching.†1.The action of going or coming to or into; coming into the presence of, or into contact with; approach, entrance. (Const. into, unto, to.) Obs.1528Gardiner in PocockRec.Ref.I. xlvii. 90How to use and order ourself at our access to the pope's presence.1682GrewAnat.Plants 10Lest its new access into the ayr should shrivel it.1699GarthDispensary i. (1706) 2The Goddess..shuns the great access of vulgar eyes.1718PopeIliad xiv. 195Safe from access of each intruding power.1721StrypeEccl.Mem.I. 138He kept an honourable post here: and had great access of gentlemen to him.2. a.The habit or power of getting near or into contact with; entrance, admittance, admission (to the presence or use of). Also attrib., as access-time, the time taken to reach ‘information’ stored in a computer.1382WyclifRom.v. 2By whom we han accesse, or nyȝ goynge to.1534Polyd. Verg.,Eng.Hist.(1846) I. 23Thus crowse have free accesse to these highe trees.1579GossonSch.of Abuse (Arb.) 39How many times hath accesse to Theaters beene restrayned.1600Shakes.A.Y.L. i. i. 98He is heere at the doore, and importunes accesse to you.1772–84CookVoyages (1790) IV. 1192These voyages have facilitated the access of ships into the Pacific Ocean.1864TennysonAylmer's F. 503Those at home..Then closed her access to the wealthier farms.1876FreemanNorm.Conq. II. viii. 180Some office which..gave him close access to the person of his princely nephew.1879LubbockSc.Lect.xi. 39This prevents the access of ants and other small creeping insects.1950W. W. StiflerHigh-Speed Computing Devices xiv. 304We define the access time of a system as the time required to withdraw a number from storage.1960E. DelavenayIntrod.MachineTrans.ii. 20Access to data..is very rapid, the average access time being of the order of a few millionths of a second.b.Broadcasting. The practice of giving broadcasting time to individuals and groups who wish to present programmes of their own devising, free of management by the broadcasting organization. Usu. attrib.Cf.public-accesss.v.public a. 5 g.[1972Times 12 Feb. 2/4Broadcasting organizations should operate under some system of workers' self-management or industrial democracy, should be free from government control, and should provide regular access for individuals and groups to express specialist and minority views, according to Mr Anthony WedgwoodBenn.]1972Ibid.14 July 16/6Recently David Attenborough, controller of BBC TV programmes asked Rowan Ayres, who runs[Late Night]Line-Up to explore the possibilities of ‘access television’..where groups can use air time on their own terms.1973Ibid.22 Sept. 14/4Where will Access end? It is unlikely that..professional broadcasters will be ousted from their seats by amateurs.1977Rep.Comm.Future of Broadcasting 24 inParl.Papers 1976-7 (Cmnd. 6753) VI.1Working a 24 hour-a-day 7 day a week access channel, Government would be able to offer every adult a second a year.1983Listener 10 Feb. 11/1Radios 4, 3 and 2..could be extended through a much greater use of access radio: allow individuals to have more control in the making and compiling of programmes.3.The state or faculty of being approached; accessibility.c1425WyntounCron. v. iii. 21He gret repayre amang þaim mád; Be sic access he kend wele.1559Myrroure forMag.(ed.2) xiii. 1Disdayne not prynces easye accesse.1662GerbierPrinc.13The Staires..are..of so easie an Accesse, as that Travellers do ascend them on Horse-back.1791BoswellJohnson (1816) I. 244He insisted on Lord Chesterfield's general affability and easiness of access.1870YeatsNat.Hist.Comm.89Markets are so difficult of access, that much wealth is wasted.4.The action of coming towards, coming, approach, advance. Contrasted with recess.1610HealeyAug. City of God (1620) v. vi. 193We see the alteration of the year by the Sunnes accesse and departure.1695WoodwardNat.Hist.of Earth (1723) vi. 279The Sea, by this Access and Recess, shuffling the empty Shells.1843J. MartineauEndeav. afterChr.Life (1876) 506The Rainbow interpreted by the prism..painting the access and recess of his thought.†5.A coming to work or business, an assembling or meeting of a body. The access and recess of Parliament. Obs.1587FlemingContn. Holinshed III. 1584/1A briefe report of the second accesse..and of the answer made in the name of the lords of the parlement.1647MayHist.Parl.ii. i. 3Before the Accesse and meeting again of the Parliament.†6.A coming to office, dignity, or sovereignty; arrival at the throne;=accession 3. Obs.1641Charles ILet.to Judges 5 July 3Our Accesse to the Crowne.1650J. HallParadoxes 25Many Princes have sweetened and disguised the memory of their accesse to Government.1759MartinNat.Hist.I. 247Their first Access to their Dignity.II.A way or means of approach.7. a.An entrance, channel, passage, or doorway. Also attrib.1642HowellFor.Trav.14They..have not those obvious accesses and contiguity of situation.1670MiltonHist.Brit.ii.Wks.1847, 484The Accesses of the Island were wondrously fortify'd.1725PopeOdyssey viii. 51Now all accesses to the dome are fill'd.1831ScottAnne of G. ii. 25If there be actually such a pass, there must be an access to it somewhere.1943J. S. HuxleyTVA 78 (caption)Access Road.1959Duke of BedfordSilver-Plated Spoon x. 202The new access roads were nearly ready.1962Listener 10 May 800/2The East German regime's agreement was needed for use of the access routes to the city.Ibid.24 May 902/1The motor vehicle is demanding completely novel arrangements of buildings and access ways.b.fig.1605BaconAdv.Learn. (1640)Pref.17We doe heere, in the Accesse to this work, Poure forth humblest and most ardent supplications to God.1720RoweAmb. Step-MotherProl.7The Poet does his Art employ, The soft Accesses of your Souls to try.1878R. W. DaleOn Preaching vii. 216We ought to try..every possible access to the conscience.III.A coming as an addition.8.The coming of anything as an addition; adherence, addition, increase, growth. Now almostobs.and replaced by accession.1576LambardePeramb. Kent (1826) 272The death of this one man[Becket]..brought thereunto more accesse of estimation and reverence.1610J. GuillimDispl. Herald. (1660) iii. xxvi. 258They had in them neither accesse nor defect.1667MiltonP.L. ix. 310,I from the influence of thy looks receive Access in every virtue.1728NewtonChronol.Amended 10The Philistims, strengthned by the access of the Shepherds, conquer Israel.1869PhillipsVesuv. ix. 261The liquid mass of rock is always ready to be poured out upon the access of adequate pressure.1881BroadhouseMus.Acoustics 270Their varying rates bring about, at regular intervals, an access of tone, when the crests of the waves correspond, and a diminution of tone when the crest of one coincides with the trough of the other.IV.A coming on or attack of illness, anger, etc.9.A coming on of illness or disease, especially of sudden illness; an attack or fit.c1325E.E.Allit.P. C. 325Þacces of anguych watȝ hid in my sawle.1423James IKing's Quair ii. xlviii,Bot tho began myn axis and turment.a1597‘Chaucer's Dreme’Wks.1855, 56The peyne, and the plesaunce, Which was to me axes and hele.1656RidgleyPract.Phys.139Let meat be given at the time of the least accesse.1678ButlerHudibras iii. ii. 822Relapses make Diseases More desp'rate than their first Accesses.1748HartleyObserv.on Man i. i. §1. 7. 55In the Access of most Fevers the Patient is listless & sleepy.1821G. TicknorLife,Lett.& Journ. I. xvii. 334He had had an access of paralysis the afternoon previous.1862TrenchMiracles xxvii. 368These accesses of his disorder might come upon him at any moment.†10.spec.An ague fit; ague, intermitting fever. Obs.c1374ChaucerTroylus ii. 1316A charme..The whiche can helen the of thyn accesse.1398TrevisaBarth. De P.R. (1495) vii. xxxviii. 252Fyrste the cold and therafter the heete and euery daye axes, yet worse, for some daye comith double axes.1459PastonLett.970 III. 426,I was falle seek with an axeȝ.1475AudelayPoems 47A seke man, That is y-schakyd and schent with the aksis.1493Petronylla 45And Petronilla quaketh in hir accesse.a1500Lancelot of the Laik (1865) 2So be the morow set I was a-fyre In felinge of the access hot and colde.1527L. Andrewtr.Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters A ij,The same water..is good for the dayly axces or febres.1751ChambersCycl.s.v.Ague,The cure[of Ague]is usually begun with an emetic of ipecacuanha, an hour before the access.11.fig.An outburst; a sudden fit of anger or other passion. (Modern, afterFr.accès.)1781J. MooreItaly (1790) II. lxi. 214These accesses and intervals[of thunder and explosion]continued with varied force.1815Southey inQ.Rev.XIII. 10In a fresh access of jealousy,[he]plunged a dagger into her heart.1878R. B. SmithCarthage 56He gave him[his brother]over, in an access of sublime patriotism, to the death he had deserved.¶access is frequently found written for excessn., chiefly by phonetic confusion; but the senses also approach in 8 above; seequot.of date 1610.Add:V. 12.SpecialCombs.access charge, a charge made for the use of computer or local telephone-network facilities.1977Washington Post 8 Dec. d2/2He said SP is willing to explore the concept of an ‘*access charge’ to the national telephone system, if it can be demonstrated that such fees would insure adequate rural and residential services.access fee=*access charge above.1976U.S.News & WorldRep.26 July 43/3The client can..request that the abstracts be fed directly into his computer. Mr. Monsen pays his sources license fees, *access fees and charges for computer time.1985New Republic 28 Jan. 20/2Consumer groups now opposing access fees are being penny-wise and pound-foolish, because..forcing down local monthly bills through political pressure will backfire.▪ II.access,v.|ˈæksɛs|[f.then.or (in sense 2) back-formation from accession v.]1.trans.a.To gain access to (data, etc., held in a computer or computer-based system, or the system itself).1962A. M. Angel in M. C. YovitsLarge-Capacity Memory Techniques for Computing Systems 150Through a system of binary-coded addresses notched into each card, a particular card may be accessed for read and write operations.1965New Scientist 27 May 585/2Each user, and each user's programme, must be restricted so that he and it can never ‘access’ (read, write, or execute) unauthorized portions of the high-speed store.1971J. B. Carrollet al. Word FrequencyBk.p. xix,The citation records are accessed by a citation-select control deck.1977Sci.Amer.May 90/1 (Advt.),Design engineers can now access the computer directly through terminals in their offices.1983Times 8 Jan. 13/6The library's statistical section uses its Polis terminal to access various statistical databases.1983R. AllasonBranch xii. 168By accessing the information relating to a person's contributions it is possible to learn his place of work.b.gen.1978Verbatim Feb. 1/2The University of California at Berkeley..announces the hours during which its business office ‘may be accessed’.1986DailyTel.5 Feb. 11It is these markets that Sikorsky want to access through their ‘Trojan Horse’ tactics.2.=accession v. rare.1975Language for Life (Dept.Educ.&Sci.) xv. 232There is the handling of existing or purchased material: ordering, receiving, accessing, issuing, stock-checking, and progress-chasing.1978TimesLit.Suppl.1 Dec. 1392/2That awful day the Assistant Keeper had flu, the central heating leaked, and the Lowestoft Hoard had to be accessed.