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Act   /ækt/   Listen
noun
Act  n.  
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. "That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love." 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.
(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.
2.
A state of reality or real existence as opposed to a possibility or possible existence. (Obs.) "The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterward grow to be."
3.
Process of doing; action. In act, in the very doing; on the point of (doing). "In act to shoot." "This woman was taken... in the very act."
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-Fe.
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.
Act in pais, a thing done out of court (anciently, in the country), and not a matter of record.
Synonyms: See Action.


verb
Act  v. t.  (past & past part. acted; pres. part. acting)  
1.
To move to action; to actuate; to animate. (Obs.) "Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul."
2.
To perform; to execute; to do. (Archaic) "That we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity." "Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do." "Uplifted hands that at convenient times Could act extortion and the worst of crimes."
3.
To perform, as an actor; to represent dramatically on the stage.
4.
To assume the office or character of; to play; to personate; as, to act the hero.
5.
To feign or counterfeit; to simulate. "With acted fear the villain thus pursued."
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.


Act  v. i.  
1.
To exert power; to produce an effect; as, the stomach acts upon food.
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. "He hangs between, in doubt to act or rest."
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.
4.
To perform on the stage; to represent a character. "To show the world how Garrick did not act."
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.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Act" Quotes from Famous Books



... concludes his decree with the following words: "We confirm and permit, in our Royal mercy, by this act to the said Jews, all and everything which was granted and given to them by the Roman Popes, so that they may live securely under the shadow of our protection, and that they shall not be condemned, in any case whatever, unless properly judged and found guilty ...
— Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, Volume I • Sir Moses Montefiore
... contradiction. The outburst rather pleased him. He thought he saw in Pierre the making of an effective partisan. Diverted by this thought, and feeling sure of Antoine after the threat he had uttered, he rose abruptly, blessed the household, all unconscious of the irony of the act, and stepped out into the raw evening. There was silence in the cabin for some minutes after his going forth. The blow had fallen, even that which Lecorbeau ...
— The Raid From Beausejour; And How The Carter Boys Lifted The Mortgage • Charles G. D. Roberts
... their oath of fidelity. Sixtus V. did not yet know what manner of man he was thus attacking. The King of Navarre did not confine himself to protesting in France, on the 10th of June, 1585, against this act of the pope's: he had his protest placarded at Rome itself upon the statues of Pasquin and Marforio, and at the very doors of the Vatican, referring the pope, as to the question of heresy, to a council which he claimed at an early ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume IV. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
... ugliness of your face! The affection of Iemon has worn out. Ah! What is the name of that poisonous drug, begged of Suian until secured? That, too, has been learned. Oh! Fearful, fearful, fearful! This is to act as one without care. Life is not something which lasts forever. Send from this house dismissal to Iemon, the act of separation. This the finality! Surely the intrigue is proved. Mere thought, easily exhausted, is to no purpose. Make up your mind; express your feelings. At all ...
— The Yotsuya Kwaidan or O'Iwa Inari - Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 1 (of 2) • James S. De Benneville
... Imperial crown was meant to be involved, was a matter which concerned almost every household in Christendom. Liberty of religion, civil franchise, political charters, contract between government and subject, right to think, speak, or act, these were the human rights everywhere in peril. A compromise between the two religious parties had existed for half a dozen years in Germany, a feeble compromise by which men had hardly been kept from each others' ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley


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