accessary

English

Alternative forms

• accessory

Etymology

access +‎ -ary

Noun

accessary (plural accessaries)

1. (law) Someone who accedes to some act, now especially a crime; one who contributes as an assistant or instigator to the commission of an offense.

Derived terms

• accessary before the fact (legal): one who commands or counsels an offense, not being present at its commission.
• accessary after the fact (legal): one who, after an offense, assists or shelters the offender, not being present at the commission of the offense.

Adjective

accessary (comparative more accessary, superlative most accessary)

1. (law) Accompanying as a subordinate; additional; accessory; especially, uniting in, or contributing to, a crime, but not as chief actor. See accessory.

   Quotations

   • To both their deaths thou shalt be accessary. - Shakespeare, Richard III, I-iii
   • Amongst many secondary and accessary causes that support monarchy, these are not of least reckoning. - John Milton

Usage notes

• "This word, as used in law, is spelt accessory by Blackstone and many others; but in this sense is spelt accessary by Bouvier, Burrill, Burns, Whishaw, Dane, and the Penny Cyclopedia; while in other senses it is spelt accessory. In recent text-books on criminal law the distinction is not preserved, the spelling being either accessary or accessory." - Webster, 1913 Since that time this trend has accelerated.

References

• accessary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913