Accommodate
Etymology
Latin accommodatus, past participle of accommodare, from ad- + commodare to make fit, from commodus suitable
- Date: 1550
Definitions
- transitive verb
- 1 : to make fit, suitable, or congruous
- 2 : to bring into agreement or concord : reconcile
- 3 : to provide with something desired, needed, or suited (as a helpful service, a loan, or lodgings)
- 4 a : to make room for
- b : to hold without crowding or inconvenience
- 5 : to give consideration to : allow for <accommodate the special interests of various groups>
- intransitive verb :
- to adapt oneself; also : to undergo visual accommodation
Description
Most commonly, accommodation (in British usage) or accommodations (in American usage) refers to lodging in a dwelling or similar living quarters afforded to travelers in hotels or on cruise ships, or prisoners, etc.
It also refers to the process by which the vertebrate eye changes optical power to maintain a clear image (focus) on an object as its distance changes.
Accommodation acts like a reflex, but can also be consciously controlled. Mammals, birds and reptiles vary the optical power by changing the form of the elastic lens using the ciliary body (in humans up to 15 diopters). Fish and amphibians vary the power by changing the distance between a rigid lens and the retina with muscles.
It is normally accompanied by a convergence of the eyes to keep them directed at the same point, sometimes termed accommodation convergence reflex.[1]
