GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 3 definitions

  1.       
    Act (ăkt), n. [L. actus, fr. agere to drive, do: cf. F. acte. See Agent.]
    1. That which is done or doing; the exercise of power, or the effect, of which power exerted is the cause; a performance; a deed.

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    That best portion of a good man's life,

    His little, nameless, unremembered acts

    Of kindness and of love. Wordsworth.

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    Hence, in specific uses: (a) The result of public deliberation; the decision or determination of a legislative body, council, court of justice, etc.; a decree, edit, law, judgment, resolve, award; as, “an act of Parliament, or of Congress”. (b) A formal solemn writing, expressing that something has been done. Abbott. (c) A performance of part of a play; one of the principal divisions of a play or dramatic work in which a certain definite part of the action is completed. (d) A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.

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    2. A state of reality or real existence as opposed to a possibility or possible existence. [Obs.]

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    The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterward grow to be. Hooker.

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    3. Process of doing; action. In act, in the very doing; on the point of (doing). “In act to shoot.” Dryden.

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    This woman was taken . . . in the very act. John viii. 4.

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    Act of attainder. (Law) See Attainder. -- Act of bankruptcy (Law), an act of a debtor which renders him liable to be adjudged a bankrupt. -- Act of faith. (Ch. Hist.) See Auto-da-Fé. -- Act of God (Law), an inevitable accident; such extraordinary interruption of the usual course of events as is not to be looked for in advance, and against which ordinary prudence could not guard. -- Act of grace, an expression often used to designate an act declaring pardon or amnesty to numerous offenders, as at the beginning of a new reign. -- Act of indemnity, a statute passed for the protection of those who have committed some illegal act subjecting them to penalties. Abbott. -- Act in pais, a thing done out of court (anciently, in the country), and not a matter of record.

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    Syn. -- See Action.

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  2.       
    Act, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Acted; p. pr. & vb. n. Acting.] [L. actus, p. p. of agere to drive, lead, do; but influenced by E. act, n.]
    1. To move to action; to actuate; to animate. [Obs.]

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    Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul. Pope.

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    2. To perform; to execute; to do. [Archaic]

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    That we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity. Jer. Taylor.

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    Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do. Barrow.

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    Uplifted hands that at convenient times

    Could act extortion and the worst of crimes. Cowper.

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    3. To perform, as an actor; to represent dramatically on the stage.

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    4. To assume the office or character of; to play; to personate; as, “to act the hero”.

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    5. To feign or counterfeit; to simulate.

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    With acted fear the villain thus pursued. Dryden.

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    To act a part, to sustain the part of one of the characters in a play; hence, to simulate; to dissemble. -- To act the part of, to take the character of; to fulfill the duties of.

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  3.       
    Act, v. i.
    1. To exert power; to produce an effect; as, “the stomach acts upon food”.

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    2. To perform actions; to fulfill functions; to put forth energy; to move, as opposed to remaining at rest; to carry into effect a determination of the will.

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    He hangs between, in doubt to act or rest. Pope.

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    3. To behave or conduct, as in morals, private duties, or public offices; to bear or deport one's self; as, “we know not why he has acted so”.

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    4. To perform on the stage; to represent a character.

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    To show the world how Garrick did not act. Cowper.

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    To act as or To act for, to do the work of; to serve as. -- To act on, to regulate one's conduct according to. -- To act up to, to equal in action; to fulfill in practice; as, “he has acted up to his engagement or his advantages”.

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