access

Etymology 1

From Middle English accesse, acces, borrowed from Middle French acces (“attack, onslaught”) or from its source Latin accessus, perfect passive participle of accēdō (“approach; accede”), from ad (“to, toward, at”) + cēdō (“move, yield”). Doublet of accessus. First attested in the early 14th century. The sense "entrance" was first attested about 1380.

noun

1. (uncountable) A way or means of approaching or entering; an entrance; a passage.
2. (uncountable) The act of approaching or entering; an advance.
3. (uncountable) The right or ability of approaching or entering; admittance; admission; accessibility.
4. (uncountable) The quality of being easy to approach or enter.
   Coalition plans to widen access to university will fail to get to the 'root cause' of the problem, according to the Russell Group. September 20, 2011, Graeme Paton, “University access plan 'will fail', says Russell Group”, in Telegraph
5. (uncountable) Admission to sexual intercourse.
6. (archaic, countable) An increase by addition; accession
   an access of territory
7. (countable) An onset, attack, or fit of disease; an ague fit.
8. (countable) An outburst of an emotion; a paroxysm; a fit of passion.
   The Magpie's flashlight, as he shifted it from his right hand to his left and wrenched out his revolver, had fallen upon two men crouched close against the wall by the library door—and he screamed out in an access of fury. "De double cross! A plant! De bulls! You damned snitch, Larry!" screamed out the Magpie—and fired. 1917, Frank L. Packard, chapter 15, in The Adventures of Jimmie Dale
   It appears that, about the middle of the fourth century of the Christian Era, the Germans in the Roman service started the new practice of retaining their native names; and this change of etiquette, which seems to have been abrupt, points to a sudden access of self-confidence and self-assurance in the souls of the barbarian personnel which had previously been content to 'go Roman' without reservations. 1946, Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History (Abridgement of Volumes I-VI by D.C. Somervell)
9. (uncountable, law) The right of a noncustodial parent to visit their child.
10. (countable, computing) The process of locating data in memory.
    Operations on C++ volatiles do put the compiler on notice that the object may be modified asynchronously, and hence are generally safer to use than ordinary variable accesses. 2011, Victor Pankratius, Ali-Reza Adl-Tabatabai, Walter Tichy, Fundamentals of Multicore Software Development, page 74
11. (uncountable, networking) Connection to or communication with a computer program or to the Internet.
12. (uncountable, Scotland) Complicity or assent.

Etymology 2

* First attested in 1962.

verb

1. (transitive) To gain or obtain access to.
2. (transitive, computing) To have access to (data).
   I can't access most of the data on the computer without a password.