on one's own account

Idioms  

1. Also,. For oneself; also, by one's own efforts, as in I've gone into business on my own account, or He called the police on his own hook, or She went job-hunting on her own initiative. The first term, first recorded in 1801, transfers the financial sense of account to one's own interest or risk. The hook variant, a colloquialism, was first recorded in 1812 and the precise analogy is unclear. The second variant, using initiative in the sense of “enterprise,” was first recorded in 1858.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

on one's own account

To Almenèches too one may go on one's own account; each place makes a pleasant drive from Argentan.

From Sketches of Travel in Normandy and Maine by William Holden Hutton

To be scientifically inquiring is to seek on one's own account the significant relations between things.

From Human Traits and their Social Significance by Irwin Edman

Better be a fool on one's own account, than a sage on other people's approbation!

From Thus Spake Zarathustra A book for all and none by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

It is vulgar to be angry on one's own account; we ought only to be angry for great causes.

From Amiel's Journal by Mrs. Humphry Ward