Account to

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 -ssigned to an advertising agency by a client:
the toothpaste account was awarded to a new agency last year.

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.
to regard; consider as:
i account myself well paid.
to -ssign or impute (usually followed by to):
the many virtues accounted to him.
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 circ-mstances.
also, at all accounts.
on no account, under no circ-mstances; 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 circ-mstances. 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 value: of little account
-ssessment; judgment
profit or advantage: to 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 -sset, liability, expense, or income of a business and forming part of the ledger

a regular client or customer, esp a firm that purchases commodities on credit
an area of business -ssigned to another: they transferred their publicity account to a new agent

call to account, bring to account

to insist on explanation
to rebuke; reprimand
to hold responsible

give a bad account of oneself, to perform badly: he gave a bad account of himself in the examination
give a good account of oneself, to perform well
on account

on credit
also to account. as partial payment

(preposition) on account of, because of; by reason of
take account of, take into account, to take into consideration; allow for
settle accounts with, square accounts with

to pay or receive a balance due
to get revenge on (someone)

see bank account, credit account
verb
(transitive) to consider or reckon: he 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.

related terms

no-account
in addition to the idiom beginning with
account
also see:

all present and accounted for
by all accounts
call to account
give a good account
no accounting for tastes
on account of
on no account
on one’s own account
take account of
take into account
turn to good account