accounting

obsolete To regard, deem, or value someone or something. The man carried with him a salacious reputation and thus was little accounted of among the nobility of the city. It was accounted of the very finest work ever produced by the famed writer.

To report or explain (something) to one. I shall not account to someone who is of lower rank than I. You will need to account to the board of directors if you want to receive any more funding for this project.

proverb Friendships remain peaceful when you can avoid disagreements about money. I wouldn't loan him that much money, if I were you. Who knows when he'll be able to pay it all back, and good accounting makes good friends. I'll pay you back tomorrow, don't worry. I know that good accounting makes good friends.

People like or dislike things for inexplicable reasons. How this utter trash could be at the top of the box office for three weeks is beyond me. There's no accounting for taste, I guess. John's new boyfriend is kind of a bore to be honest, but John seems to be absolutely smitten with him. There's no accounting for taste.

Prov. You cannot blame different people because they like different things, even if you do not understand why they like what they like. Jill: I can't believe so many people are going to see that idiotic movie. Jane: There's no accounting for tastes.

Prov. Cliché There is no explanation for people's preferences. Look at that purple and orange car! There's no accounting for taste. Some people seemed to like the music, although I thought it was worse than noise. There's no accounting for taste.

Individual likes and dislikes defy explanation, as in They painted their house purple-there's really no accounting for tastes. This expression, first put as no disputing about tastes, dates from the mid-1600s; the present wording was first recorded in 1794. A mid-20th-century synonym that originated in the American South is different strokes for different folks. For a far older synonym, see one man's meat.

People say there's no accounting for taste when they are talking about someone who likes something that they think it is strange to like. Cherise says her favourite band is Westlife (there's no accounting for taste).

Each to his or her own preference. This locution for the inexplicability of likes (and dislikes) began as “there is no disputing about tastes” in the sixteenth century. It was changed to “accounting for” by the early nineteenth century. Anthony Trollope, in the last of his Barset Chronicles (1867), said of Major Grantly as a suitor, “There was . . . no accounting for tastes.” A similar mid-twentieth-century phrase that is on its way to clichédom is different strokes for different folks, which originated in American regional slang. All these are synonymous with the much older proverb, One man’s meat is another’s poison, originating in Roman times and proverbial since about 1700. See also to each his own.