ac-cūso (also with ss; cf. Cassiod. 2283 P.), āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. [fr. causa; cf. cludo with claudo], orig. = ad causam provocare, to call one to account, to make complaint against, to reproach, blame.
I In gen., of persons: si id non me accusas, tu ipse objurgandus es, if you do not call me to account for it , you yourself deserve to be reprimanded , Plaut. Trin. 1, 2, 59: quid me accusas? id. As. 1, 3, 21: meretricem hanc primum adeundam censeo, oremus, accusemus gravius, denique minitemur, we must entreat , severely chide , and finally threaten her , Ter. Hec. 716 sq.: ambo accusandi, you both deserve reproach , id. Heaut. 119: cotidie accusabam, I daily took him to task , id. ib. 102: me accusas cum hunc casum tam graviter feram, Cic. Att. 3, 13; id. Fam. 1, 1 Manut.: me tibi excuso in eo ipso, in quo te accuso, id. Q. Fr. 2, 2: ut me accusare de epistularum neglegentia possis, that you may blame me for my tardiness in writing , id. Att. 1, 6. —Also metaph. of things, to blame , find fault with : alicujus desperationem, Cic. Fam. 6, 1: inertiam adolescentium, id. de Or. 1, 246 (cf. incusare, Tac. H. 4, 42); hence also: culpam alicujus, to lay the fault on one , Cic. Planc. 4, 9; cf. id. Sest. 38, 80; id. Lig. 1, 2; id. Cael. 12, 29.—Hence,
II Esp.
A Transferred to civil life, to call one to account publicly (ad causam publicam, or publice dicendam provocare), to accuse , to inform against , arraign , indict (while incusare means to involve or entangle one in a cause); t. t. in Roman judicial lang.; constr. with aliquem alicujus rei (like κατηγορεῖν, cf. Prisc. 1187 P.): accusant ii, qui in fortunas hujus invaserunt, causam dicit is, cui nihil reliquerunt, Cic. Rosc. Am. 5: numquam, si se ambitu commaculasset, ambitus alterum accusaret, id. Cael. 7: ne quis ante actarum rerum accusaretur, that no one should be called to account for previous offences , Nep. Thras. 3, 2; Milt. 1, 7. Other rarer constructions are: aliquem aliquid (only with id , illud , quod ), Plaut. Trin. 1, 2, 59; cf. Ter. Phorm. 5, 8, 21: aliquo crimine, Cic. Verr. 1, 16; Nep. Milt. 8; id. Lys. 3, 4; id. Ep. 1 al.: de pecuniis repetundis, Cic. Clu. 41, 114; cf.: de veneficiis, id. Rosc. Am. 32, 90: inter sicarios, id. ib. 32; cf. Zumpt, § 446; Rudd. 2, 165 sq.; 169, note 4.—The punishment that is implied in the accusation is put in gen.: capitis, to accuse one of a capital crime , Nep. Paus. 2, 6; cf. Zumpt, § 447. —
B Casus accusandi, the fourth case in grammar, the accusative case , Var. L. L. 8, § 66 Müll.; v. accusativus.