Act \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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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Act \Act\ ([a^]kt), 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.
[1913 Webster] 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-F['e].
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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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Act \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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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
act
n 1: a legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a
committee or society or legislative body [syn: enactment]
2: something that people do or cause to happen [syn: human
action, human activity]
3: a subdivision of a play or opera or ballet
4: a short theatrical performance that is part of a longer
program; "he did his act three times every evening"; "she
had a catchy little routine"; "it was one of the best
numbers he ever did" [syn: routine, number, turn, bit]
5: a manifestation of insincerity; "he put on quite an act for
her benefit"
v 1: perform an action, or work out or perform (an action);
"think before you act"; "We must move quickly"; "The
governor should act on the new energy bill"; "The nanny
acted quickly by grabbing the toddler and covering him
with a wet towel" [syn: move] [ant: refrain]
2: behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct
or comport oneself; "You should act like an adult"; "Don't
behave like a fool"; "What makes her do this way?"; "The
dog acts ferocious, but he is really afraid of people"
[syn: behave, do]
3: play a role or part; "Gielgud played Hamlet"; "She wants to
act Lady Macbeth, but she is too young for the role"; "She
played the servant to her husband's master" [syn: play,
represent]
4: discharge one's duties; "She acts as the chair"; "In what
capacity are you acting?"
5: pretend to have certain qualities or state of mind; "He
acted the idiot"; "She plays deaf when the news are bad"
[syn: play, act as]
6: be suitable for theatrical performance; "This scene acts
well"
7: have an effect or outcome; often the one desired or
expected; "The voting process doesn't work as well as
people thought"; "How does your idea work in practice?";
"This method doesn't work"; "The breaks of my new car act
quickly"; "The medicine works only if you take it with a
lot of water" [syn: work]
8: be engaged in an activity, often for no particular purpose
other than pleasure
9: behave unnaturally or affectedly; "She's just acting" [syn:
dissemble, pretend]
10: perform on a stage or theater; "She acts in this play"; "He
acted in `Julius Caesar'"; "I played in `A Christmas
Carol'" [syn: play, roleplay, playact]
WordNet (r) 2.0
281 Moby Thesaurus words for "act":
accomplish, accomplished fact, accomplishment, achieve,
achievement, acquit, act, act a part, act as, act as foil, act out,
acta, acting, action, actions, activism, activity, acts, address,
adventure, affect, affectation, afterpiece, air, ape, appear,
assume, barnstorm, be effective, be in action, be productive, bear,
bearing, behave, behavior, behavior pattern, behavioral norm,
behavioral science, bill, bit, blow, bluff, bring about,
bring into being, bring to fruition, bylaw, canon, carriage, carry,
cause, characterize, chaser, come out, comport, comportment,
concurrent resolution, conduct, constitution, copy, counterfeit,
coup, course, cover up, culture pattern, curtain, curtain call,
curtain raiser, custom, dealings, decree, deed, demean, demeanor,
deport, deportment, dictate, dictation, discourse, dissemble,
dissimulate, divertimento, divertissement, do, doing, doings,
edict, effectuate, effort, emote, emotionalize, employment, enact,
enaction, enactment, endeavor, engineer, enterprise, epilogue,
execute, exercise, exode, exodus, exploit, expository scene,
fait accompli, fake, feat, feign, finale, folkway, form, formality,
formula, formulary, four-flush, function, functioning, gammon,
gest, gestures, get top billing, go, go on, goings-on, guise, hand,
handiwork, have effect, have free play, have play, hoke act,
impersonate, industrialize, institution, interlude, intermezzo,
intermission, introduction, job, joint resolution, jus, law,
lawmaking, legislation, legislature, let on, let on like, lex,
maintien, make, make a pretense, make as if, make believe,
make like, maneuver, manner, manners, masquerade, masquerade as,
mass-produce, measure, method, methodology, methods, mien,
militate, mime, mimic, misbehave, modus vivendi, motion, motions,
move, movements, moves, number, observable behavior, occupation,
officiate, operate, operation, operations, ordinance, ordonnance,
overproduce, overt act, pantomime, pass for, passage, passing,
patter, pattern, percolate, perform, performance, perk, personate,
play, play a part, play possum, play the lead, playact, poise,
port, portray, pose, pose as, posture, practice, praxis, prescript,
prescription, presence, pretend, pretend to be, procedure, proceed,
proceeding, process, produce, production, profess, prologue,
put on, quit, react, realize, register, regulation, represent,
res gestae, resolution, routine, rubric, rule, ruling, run, scene,
serve, sham, shtick, simulate, sketch, skit, social science,
song and dance, stand-up comedy act, standing order, star, statute,
steal the show, step, stooge, striptease, stroke, stunt, style,
swing, tactics, take, take effect, take off, thing, thing done,
tick, tone, tour de force, transaction, tread the boards, troupe,
turn, undertaking, upstage, volume-produce, way, way of life, ways,
work, working, workings, works
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
ACT
Architecture Characterization Template (DISA)
Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002)
ACT
1. Annual Change Traffic.
2. Ada Core Technologies.
(1999-06-24)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
ACT++
A concurrent extension of C++ based on
actors.
["ACT++: Building a Concurrent C++ With Actors", D.G. Kafura
TR89-18, VPI, 1989].
(1994-11-08)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
ACT, civil law, contracts. A writing which states in a legal form that a
thing has been said, done, or agreed. In Latin, Instrumentum. Merl. Rep.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
ACT. In the legal sense, this word may be used to signify the result of a
public deliberation, the decision of a prince, of a legislative body, of a
council, court of justice, or a magistrate. Also, a decree, edict, law,
judgment, resolve, award, determination. Also, an instrument in writing to
verify facts, as act of assembly, act of congress, act of parliament, act
and deed. See Webster's Dict. Acts are civil or criminal, lawful or
unlawful, public or private.
2. Public acts, usually denominated authentic, are those which have a
public authority, and which have been made before public officers, are
authorized by a public seal, have been made public by the authority of a
magistrate, or which have been extracted and been properly authenticated
from public records.
3. Acts under private signature are those which have been made by
private individuals, under their hands. An act of this kind does not acquire
the force of an authentic act, by being registered in the office of a
notary. 5 N. S. 693; 8 N. S. 568 ; 3 L. R. 419 ; 8 N. S. 396 ; 11 M. R. 243;
unless it has been properly acknowledged before the officer, by the parties
to it. 5 N. S. 196.
4. Private acts are those made by private persons, as registers in
relation to their receipts and expenditures, schedules, acquittances, and
the like. Nov. 73, c. 2 ; Code, lib. 7, tit. 32, 1. 6; lib. 4, t. 21; Dig.
lib. 22, tit.. 4; Civ. Code of Louis. art. 2231 to 2254; Toull. Dr. Civ.
Francais, tom. 8, p. 94.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
ACT, legislation. A statute or law made by a legislative body; as an act of
congress is a law by the congress of the United States; an act of assembly
is a law made by a legislative assembly. If an act of assembly expire or be
repealed while a proceeding under it is in fieri or pending, the proceeding
becomes abortive; as a prosecution for an offence, 7 Wheat. 552; or a
proceeding under insolvent laws. 1 Bl. R. 451; Burr. 1456 ; 6 Cranch, 208 ;
9 Serg. & Rawle, 283.
2. Acts are general or special; public or private. A general or public
act is a universal rule which binds the whole community; of which the courts
are bound to take notice ex officio.
3. Explanatory acts should not be enlarged by equity Blood's case,
Comb. 410; although such acts may be allowed to have a retrospective
operation. Dupin, Notions de Droit, 145. 9.
4. Private or special acts are rather exceptions, than rules; being
those which operate only upon particular persons and private concerns; of
these the courts are not bound to take notice, unless they are pleaded. Com.
85, 6; 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 105.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
ACT, evidence. The act of one of several conspirators, performed in
pursuance of the common design, is evidence against all of them. An overt
act of treason must be proved by two witnesses. See Overt.
2. The terra. acts, includes written correspondence, and other papers
relative to the design of the parties, but whether it includes unpublished
writings upon abstract questions, though of a kindred nature, has been
doubted, Foster's Rep. 198 ; 2 Stark. R. 116, 141.
3. In cases of partnership it is a rule that the act or declaration of
either partner, in furtherance of the common object of the association, is
the act of all. 1 Pet. R. 371 5 B. & Ald. 267.
4. And the acts. of an agent, in pursuance of his authority, will be
binding on his principal. Greenl. Ev. Sec. 113.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
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