▪ I. accustom, v.
(əˈkʌstəm)
Forms: 5 acustum(e, 5–6 acustom(e, 6 accustome, 6– accustom.
[a. OFr. acostume-r, later acoustumer, accoustumer (mod.Fr. accoutumer) f. à to + costume, coustume:—late L. cōstūma:— earlier cōstūdinem:— cl. L. consuetūdinem custom. The vb. accōstūmāre was probably already in use in late pop. L. The prefix a- was refashioned as ac- after L. in 14th c.]
† 1. trans. To make (a thing) customary, habitual, usual, or familiar; to practise habitually. Most common in the passive, to be accustomed: to be made customary, to be practised habitually. Obs.
| 1477 Earl Rivers Dictes (Caxton) 74 Angre the not sodeynly, for if thou acustume it, it wolle tourne ones to thy harmes. 1523 Ld. Berners Froissart I. cliii. 182 [He] was made cardynall..by authoritie of a bull fro the pope, the which hadde nat be acustomed ther before. 1567 Trial of Treasure in Hazlitt Dodsley III. 265 Hypocrites accustom the like, day by day. 1593 Marlowe Dido iv. iii. (1700) 416 Such ceremonious thanks, As parting friends accustom on the shore. 1650 Venner An Advert. 370 It were much better to abate and attemper their bloud by fasting..than to accustome the opening of a vein. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 88 Whether such tithes be due and accustomed..cannot be determined in the ecclesiastical court. |
† b. To use (a thing) customarily or habitually; to frequent as a customer. Obs. rare exc. in pa. pple.
| 1690 [See under accustomed, 2.] 1852 Thackeray Esmond (1876) i. xiv. 126 An house used by the military in his time as a young man, and accustomed by his Lordship ever since. |
† 2. intr. (refl. pron. suppressed). To become familiar, go or act familiarly. To accustom to: to resort to, frequent; to accustom with: to consort or cohabit with. Obs.
| 1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest 101 All those sea fishes which accustome to Aquitania. 1670 Milton Hist. Brit. Wks. 1738 II. 33 We with the best man accustom openly; you with the basest commit private adulteries. |
3. To habituate, familiarize (a person or thing to (in, into, for, with obs.) something, or to do something).
| 1478 Liber Niger in Pegge Curialia Misc. 86 It [the office of Barber to the king] hath been much accustomed to one or two well known officers. 1490 Caxton Eneydos vii. 31 [They] dyd alle other thynges whiche is acustumed to be doon bytwene neyghbours and good frendes. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxv. ii, Bulwarkes about accustomed for warre. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xxiii. 9 Let not thy mouth be accustomed with swearinge [1611 Accustome not thy mouth to swearing]. 1586 Let. to Earle of Leycester, etc. 14, I haue not accustomed my tongue to be an instrument of untrueth. 1592 R. Hyrde tr. Vives, Instr. Chr. Woman B. iij. What thing soever they have beene accustomed in before, they doe the same afterward. 1664 Evelyn Sylva 19 The incomparable use of this noble Tree for shade and delight, into whatever Figure you will accustom them. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Wks. I. 160 When we can accustom our eyes to it [danger], a great deal of the apprehension vanishes. 1851 Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. ii. i. ii. §2. 50 The ear is not accustomed to exercise constantly its functions of hearing; it is accustomed to stillness. |
b. refl.
| 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour, a vj. It shalle be to yow a lyght thyng yf ye accustomme yow therin. 1561 T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. iii. 182 We should accustome vs with much abasing of our selues, reuerently to looke vp vnto the mightinesse of god. 1585 Abp. Sandys Serm. (1841) 172 If we accustom ourselves with sinning..our custom will wax to be our nature. 1718 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxxii. 112, I cannot enough accustom myself to this fashion to find any beauty in it. 1754 Earl of Chatham Lett. to Nephew v. 39 Towards servants, never accustom yourself to rough and passionate language. Mod. She soon accustomed herself to her new surroundings. |
† c. intr. (from refl.) To be wont, to use, to have the habit to do something. Obs.
| 1571 Jewel on 1 Thess. iv. 6 (1611) 78 The mouth that accustometh to lie slaieth the soule. 1602 Carew Cornwall 27 b, Some accustomed to burne it on heapes in pits at the cliffe side. 1649 Milton Eikon. Pref., Kings, who ever have accustom'd from the cradle to use thir will onely as thir right hand. 1668 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 209 Those, therefore, who..accustom to wash their heads, instead of powdering, would doubtless find the benefit of it. |
d. pass. To be habituated, to be in the habit, to be wont or used.
| 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) B 8 b, The auncient Romayn historiens were not accustomed to write the lyues of the Emperours fathers. 1611 Bible Jer. xiii. 23 Then may ye also doe good, that are accustomed to doe euill. 1788 Reid Active Powers i. vii. 530 We are accustomed to call the first the cause, and the last the effect. 1846 Mill Logic ii. v. §6 (1868) 269 Were we not well accustomed to see the sun and moon move. |
▪ II. † aˈccustom, n. Obs.
[f. the vb.]
Custom, habit, habituation.
| 1523 Skelton Garland of Laurel 64 The accustome and usage Of auncient poetis. 1533 Bellendene Livy (1822) 66 And now, be lang accustum, [he] has perfitelie lernit all the Romane lawis. 1538 Leland Itin. V. §8. 56 Hoele..by auncient Accustume was wont to give the Bagge of the Sylver Harpe to the best Harper of North Walys. 1645 Milton Tetrach. (1851) 171 Tribonian defines Matrimony a conjunction of man and woman containing individual accustom of life. |