GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Act , n. [L. actus, fr. agere to drive, do: cf. F. acte. See Agent.]
   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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   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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   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.]
   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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   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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   To perform, as an actor; to represent dramatically on the stage.
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   To assume the office or character of; to play; to personate; as, to act the hero.
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   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.
   To exert power; to produce an effect; as, the stomach acts upon food.
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   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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   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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   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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