account
• noun 1 a description of an event or experience. 2 a record of financial expenditure and receipts. 3 a service through a bank or similar organization by which funds are held on behalf of a client or goods or services are supplied on credit. 4 importance: money was of no account to her. • verb consider or regard in a specified way. — PHRASES account for 1 supply or make up (a specified amount). 2 give a satisfactory record or explanation of. 3 succeed in killing or defeating. call (or bring) to account require (someone) to explain a mistake or poor performance. on someone’s account for a specified person’s benefit. on account of because of. on no account under no circumstances. on one’s own account with one’s own money or assets. take account of consider along with other factors before reaching a decision. there’s no accounting for tastes (or taste) proverb it’s impossible to explain why different people like different things, especially those things which the speaker considers unappealing. turn to (good) account turn to one’s advantage. — ORIGIN Old French acont, from conter ‘to count’.
Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary
About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day
Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names
| 
