How to assess “an access of butchness”
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Chapters
00:00 How To Assess “An Access Of Butchness”
01:34 Answer 1 Score 0
01:44 Answer 2 Score 2
02:21 Answer 3 Score 2
03:25 Accepted Answer Score 1
04:01 Thank you
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Full question
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Tags
#meaning #wordchoice #nouns #errors
#avk47
ANSWER 1
Score 2
It's a rare, but perfectly normal, usage: my Chambers dictionary gives one meaning of access as 'addition or accession', which probably gives a clue to the derivation. Dictionary.com has a quotation:
"... protesting against this unprecedented access of generosity. The very picture, as MCEWAN said, of a good man struggling with the adversity of overwhelming good fortune."
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, May 9, 1891 • Various
And it seems altogether more likely than a repeated misprint for 'delighted by an excess'.
ANSWER 2
Score 2
From OED...
access - 4. The action of coming towards, coming, approach, advance. Contrasted with recess.
...the parents saw the boy's asking for a Meccano set for Christmas as evidence that he was moving towards butch/masculine behaviour, and that their fears of him "growing up gay" were misplaced.
EDIT: I was vaguely aware of the usage before seeing this question, though to be honest I thought it was hopelessly archaic. Apparently not - although usage has rapidly declined over recent decades, it actually peaked around the 30s, so I guess all I can say is it's a bit dated/formal/literary.
EDIT2: I'm now inclined to think Bennett is using the word with OED sense 11...
(fig.) An outburst; a sudden fit of anger or other passion. (Modern, after Fr. accès.)
I suspect this "modern" usage may gain some traction by association with excess, and that in some cases this would be a better choice of word anyway.
ACCEPTED ANSWER
Score 1
From Jonathan's Franzen's Freedom (2011): "Patty did her utmost to play this role, but finally, in an access of depression, she sat down..." (p. 183). Consonant with usage 1 in the Shorter Oxford.
Nb Mind you, the copy I have of Freedom is the uncorrected first UK edition, which was pulped since it was not printed from the final proofs, and includes hundreds of mistakes. So if ever this usage was likely to be a typo for 'excess' this would be the instance! (But, of course, it is not.)
ANSWER 4
Score 0
I doubt this is anything other than a misspelling for “excess of butchness”.