access

noun

1. (uncountable)A way or means of approaching or entering; an entrance; a passage.

   “The door provides access to the premises.”

   “All access was thronged.”

2. (uncountable)The act of approaching or entering; an advance.

   “They gained access to the basement from the stairs.”

3. (uncountable)The right or ability of approaching or entering; admittance; admission; accessibility.

   “Staff prevent unauthorized access to the building.”

4. (uncountable)The quality of being easy to approach or enter.

   “ease of access”

   “I did repel his fetters, and denied His access to me.”

   “Coalition plans to widen access to university will fail to get to the 'root cause' of the problem, according to the Russell Group.”

5. (uncountable)Admission to sexual intercourse.

   “During coverture, access of the husband shall be presumed, unless the contrary be shown.”

6. (archaic, countable)An increase by addition; accession

   “an access of territory”

   “I, from the influence of thy looks, receive access in every virtue.”

7. (countable)An onset, attack, or fit of disease; an ague fit.

   “The first access looked like an apoplexy.”

   “Then he resumed the pose, the decent pose, from which the sudden access of his old trouble had startled him, his hands on his knees, […]”

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.”

   “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.”

9. (uncountable)The right of a noncustodial parent to visit their child.
10. (countable)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.”

11. (uncountable)Connection to or communication with a computer program or to the Internet.
12. (Scotland, uncountable)Complicity or assent.

verb

1. (transitive)To gain or obtain access to.

   “The value of having in-house medical expertise is that staff with poor attendance records who have difficulty accessing NHS services can receive support from their employer, to help reduce absenteeism brought about by medical conditions.”

2. (transitive)To have access to (data).

   “I can't access most of the data on the computer without a password.”