noun
- an oral or written description of particular events or situations; narrative: an account of the meetings; an account of the trip.
- an explanatory statement of conduct, as to a superior.
- a statement of reasons, causes, etc., explaining some event.
- reason; basis: On this account I’m refusing your offer.
- importance; worth; value; consequence: things of no account.
- estimation; judgment: In his account it was an excellent piece of work.
- an amount of money deposited with a bank, as in a checking or savings account: My account is now with Third National.
- Also called charge account. an accommodation or service extended by a business to a customer or client permitting the charging of goods or services, the returning for credit of unsatisfactory merchandise, etc.: Do you have an account at this store? My account with the restaurant is past due.
- a statement of financial transactions.
- Bookkeeping.
- a formal record of the debits and credits relating to the person, business, etc., named at the head of the ledger account.
- a balance of a specified period’s receipts and expenditures.
- Commerce.
- a business relation in which credit is used.
- any customer or client, especially one carried on a regular credit basis.
- Also called advertising account.the business assigned to an advertising agency by a client: The toothpaste account was awarded to a new agency last year.
verb (used without object)
- to give an explanation (usually followed by for): to account for the accident.
- to answer concerning one’s conduct, duties, etc. (usually followed by for): to account for the missing typewriters.
- to provide a report on money received, kept, and spent.
- to cause (usually followed by for): The humidity accounts for our discomfort. His reckless driving accounted for the accident.
verb (used with object)
- to regard; consider as: I account myself well paid.
- to assign or impute (usually followed by to): the many virtues accounted to him.
Idioms
- call to account,
- to hold accountable; blame; reprimand: Call them to account for having endangered their lives.
- ask for an explanation of.
- give a good/bad account of, to do something or conduct oneself in a good (bad, etc.) manner: She gave a good account of herself in the tennis tournament.
- hold to account, to hold responsible; hold accountable or culpable: If any of the silver is missing, I’m going to hold you to account.
- on account, as an installment or a partial payment: I can’t pay the balance, but here’s $10 on account.
- on account of,
- by reason of; because of.
- for the sake of: She saw it through on account of me.
- on all accounts, in any case; under any circumstances.Also at all accounts.
- on no account, under no circumstances; absolutely not: On no account should you buy that painting without having it appraised.
- take account of,
- to make allowance for; consider: One must take account of the difficult circumstances. Taking account of the high overhead, the price is not excessive.
- to notice or observe.
Also take into account.
- turn to account, to derive profit or use from; turn to advantage: She has turned her misfortunes to account.
noun
- a verbal or written report, description, or narration of some occurrence, event, etc
- an explanation of conduct, esp one made to someone in authority
- ground; basis; consideration (often in the phrases on this (that, every, no, etc) account, on account of)
- importance, consequence, or valueof little account
- assessment; judgment
- profit or advantageto turn an idea to account
- part or behalf (only in the phrase on one’s or someone’s account)
- finance
- a business relationship between a bank, department store, stockbroker, etc, and a depositor, customer, or client permitting the latter certain banking or credit services
- the sum of money deposited at a bank
- the amount of credit available to the holder of an account
- a record of these
- a statement of monetary transactions with the resulting balance
- (on the London Stock Exchange) the period, ordinarily of a fortnight’s duration, in which transactions formerly took place and at the end of which settlements were made
- accounting a chronological list of debits and credits relating to a specified asset, liability, expense, or income of a business and forming part of the ledger
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- a regular client or customer, esp a firm that purchases commodities on credit
- an area of business assigned to anotherthey transferred their publicity account to a new agent
- call to account or bring to account
- to insist on explanation
- to rebuke; reprimand
- to hold responsible
- give a bad account of oneself to perform badlyhe gave a bad account of himself in the examination
- give a good account of oneself to perform well
- on account
- on credit
- Also: to accountas partial payment
- on account of (preposition) because of; by reason of
- take account of or take into account to take into consideration; allow for
- settle accounts with or square accounts with
- to pay or receive a balance due
- to get revenge on (someone)
- See bank account, credit account
verb
- (tr) to consider or reckonhe accounts himself poor
n.c.1300, “reckoning of money received and paid,” from Old French acont “account, reckoning, terminal payment,” from a “to” (see ad-) + cont “counting, reckoning of money to be paid,” from Late Latin computus “a calculation,” from Latin computare “calculate” (see compute). Meaning “sum of (one’s) money in a bank” is from 1833. Sense of “narration” is first attested 1610s. Plural accounts used as a collective or singular in phrases such as to give accounts (of something), is from mid-13c. Phrase by all accounts is attested from 1798. v.c.1300, “to count, enumerate,” from Old French aconter “to count, render account” (Modern French conter), from a “to” (see ad-) + conter “to count, tell” (see count (v.)). Meaning “to reckon for money given or received, render a reckoning,” is from late 14c.; sense of “to explain” (c.1710) is from notion of “answer for money held in trust.” Transferred sense of “value” is from late 14c. Related: Accounted; accounting. In part payment of a debt, as in He paid half the amount on account. [Early 1600s] In addition to the idiom beginning with account
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