Accessaries

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Items or articles that serve as supplementary parts or accessories to something else ; persons who assist or contribute to an act, especially in a secondary or supporting role ; supplementary objects or collaborators connected to a main entity or event
2. Additional objects or supplementary components that accompany or enhance a primary item ; individuals who aid or participate indirectly in an action or event ; subsidiary items or associates involved in a larger scheme or situation
3. Secondary elements or adjunct articles that provide support or complement a principal thing ; parties who assist in the commission or preparation of an act without being the principal actors ; complementary accessories or accomplices related to a chief subject or occurrence

Etymology: "Accessaries" is the plural of "accessary", a variant spelling of "accessory" that was once standard in legal and everyday English alike. The spelling "accessary" was the form used for the sense of a person who helps in a crime, and it still appears in legal writing. The noun came into Middle English as "accessarie", "axcessary" or "excercary", borrowed from Medieval Latin "accessārius", a word meaning someone who joins in or adds to something, derived from the Latin "accedere", to approach or go toward. The Latin root gives the sense of something drawn near to a main thing. An accessory is literally an extra that comes toward a principal, which explains why the word moved from a helper or partner in an act to a decorative or supplementary item. The two spellings split over time, with "accessory" becoming the dominant form in general use while "accessary" remained a recognised variant, especially in legal contexts.

Synonyms: accessories, appendages, attachments, add-ons, supplements