accelerate

v. cause to move or happen faster, hasten; increase the speed of, quicken

In physics, acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity, or, equivalently, as the second derivative of position. It is thus a vector quantity with dimension length/time². In SI units, acceleration is measured in metres/second² (m·s-²). The term "acceleration" generally refers to the change in instantaneous velocity.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Verb
1. move faster; "The car accelerated"
(synonym) speed up, speed, quicken
(antonym) decelerate, slow, slow down, slow up, retard
(hypernym) intensify, deepen
(hyponym) brisk, brisk up, brisken
2. cause to move faster; "He accelerated the car"
(synonym) speed, speed up
(antonym) decelerate, slow down
(hypernym) modify, qualify
(derivation) acceleration

v. speed up, accelerate, increase the speed of; hasten, rush; precipitate

n. speeding up

adj. accelerated, hastened

(v. t.)
To quicken the natural or ordinary progression or process of; as, to accelerate the growth of a plant, the increase of wealth, etc.
  

(v. t.)
To hasten, as the occurence of an event; as, to accelerate our departure.
  

(v. t.)
To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of; -- opposed to retard.