accumulate

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin accumulātus, perfect passive participle of accumulō (“amass, pile up”), formed from ad (“to, towards, at”) + cumulō (“heap”), from cumulus (“a heap”). First attested in the 1520's.

verb

1. (transitive) To heap up in a mass; to pile up; to collect or bring together (either literally or figuratively)
   He wishes to accumulate a sum of money.
2. (intransitive) To gradually grow or increase in quantity or number.
   With her company going bankrupt, her divorce, and a gambling habit, debts started to accumulate so she had to sell her house.
   Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, / Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, lines 17–18
3. (education, dated) To take a higher degree at the same time with a lower degree, or at a shorter interval than usual.

adj

1. (poetic, rare) Collected; accumulated.