| 释义 |
▪ I. act, n.|ækt|
[orig. a. Fr. acte, but in some of the senses referring directly to L. actus a doing, and actum a thing done (pl. acta).]
1. a. A thing done; a deed, a performance (of an intelligent being).
c1384Chaucer H. Fame 347 And al youre actes red and songe [MS. Bodl. actys]. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 99 Thay have no Hertys to do so terryble an Acte. 1535Coverdale Ps. lix. 12 Thorow God we shal do greate actes, for it is he that shal treade downe oure enemies. 1584D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 99 The prowesse and worthie Actes of the ancient Brytaines. 1611Bible Transl. Pref., As worthy an acte as euer he did. 1678Butler Hudibras iii. i. 925 An act and deed that makes one heart Become another's Counter-part. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 74 And snatch some portion of their acts from fate. 1832J. Austin Lect. Jurispr. xviii. (1879) I. 427 The only objects which can be called acts are the consequences of volitions..The involuntary movements which are the consequences of certain diseases are not acts.
b. A thing done as the result, practical outcome, or external manifestation of any state, and, whence the state may be inferred.
1751Jortin Serm. (1771) I. ii. 27 God required of him this act of obedience. 1768Blackstone Comm. II. 477 This hath been declared by the legislature to be an act of bankruptcy, upon which a commission may be sued out. Mod. It would be the act of a madman.
c. Any operation of the mind, as distinguished from the content or object of that operation. Also attrib., as act psychology, psychology regarded as the study of such acts; = intentionalism.
1694Locke Essay (ed. 2) ii. xxi. §30. p. 134 Desiring and willing are two distinct Acts of the mind. 1890W. James Princ. Psychol. II. xx. 168, I can[n]ot feel them by a pure mental act of attention unless they belong to quite distinct parts of the body. a1927E. B. Titchener Systematic Psychol. (1929) iii. 194 The importance of the ‘act’ in modern psychology derives from the work of Brentano. 1934H. C. Warren Dict. Psychol. 5/1 Act psychology. 1. A system of psychology which holds that every psychical phenomenon is characterized by the intentional inherence of an object. 2. A system..in which the data are psychic activities, usually of a subject upon an object. 1936A. J. Ayer Lang., Truth & Logic vii. 188 We do not accept the realist analysis of our sensations in terms of subject, act, and object.
d. spec. The act of procreation; sexual intercourse. With the.
1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 84 When the worke of generation was Betweene these woolly breeders in the act. 1611Bible John viii. 4 This woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 1923H. Crane Let. 9 May (1965) 133 They do everything but the Act itself right on the stage. 1930D. H. Lawrence A Propos of Lady Chatterley's Lover 12 Balance up the consciousness of the act, and the act itself. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 177 They do not talk about the act when it has failed to fire.
†2. A state of accomplished fact or reality, as distinguished from subjective existence, intention, possibility, etc. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. i. (1495) 78 The noblest thynges of shappes of kynde and of crafte that be hydde comyth forth in acte and in dede. 1595Shakes. John iv. iii. 135 If I in act, consent, or sinne of thought Be guiltie. 1662More Antid. agst. Ath. Ep. Ded. (1712) 2 Plato, if he were alive again, might find his timorous supposition brought into absolute Act. 1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. 109 They are only in possibility, and not in act.
†3. ? Activity, active principle. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xxiv. (1495) 74 The soule is acte and perfeccion of the body. 1652J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea v. 92 Grace is called the Divine nature, and God (we know) is a pure act, and it is called the life of God. 1694Lestrange Fables clxv. (1714) 179 Nothing can be more contrary to God Himself, who is a Pure Act, then the Sleeping and Drowsing away of our Life and Reason. 1730Beveridge Priv. Thoughts i. 18 But my Reason tells me, God is a pure Act, and therefore How can He suffer any Punishments.
4. a. The process of doing; acting, action, operation. (L. actus.) arch. exc. in Act of God: action of uncontrollable natural forces in causing an accident, as the burning of a ship by lightning.
1494Fabyan vii. 579 The acte of Frenshmen standynge moche in ouer rydynge of theyr aduersaryes by force of speremen. 1594Drayton Idea 860 Wise in Conceit, in Act a very sot. 1635J. Swan Spec. Mundi v. §2. (1643) 130 The Materiall cause [of the rainbow] is not water in act. 1732Pope Ess. on Man ii. 105 The rising tempest puts in act the soul. 1784Cowper Task vi. 340 To give such act and utt'rance as they may To extasy too big to be suppress'd. 1850Mrs. Browning Poems II. 193 And hear the flow of souls in act and speech. 1882Charter-party: The Act of God, the Queen's Enemies, Fire, and all and every other Dangers and Accidents of the Seas..always excepted.
b. in the act: in the process, in the very doing; in the interval, however momentary, between the inception and completion of the deed; on the point of. (L. in actu.)
1596,1611[see sense 1 d above]. 1678Butler Hudibras iii. i. 666 And off the loud oaths go, but, while They're in the very act, recoil. c1746J. Hervey Medit. & Contempl. (1818) 220 It is in the very act to fly. 1826Southey Vind. Eccl. Angl. 86 He was in the very act of death. 1874Boutell Arms & Armour v. 78 When armour was in the act of ceasing to be worn.
5. Something transacted in council, or in a deliberative assembly; hence, a decree passed by a legislative body, a court of justice, etc. (L. actum, pl. acta.)
1458in Dom. Archit. III. 43 This was preved acte also in the perlement. 1535Coverdale Josh. xxiv. 26 Iosua wrote this acte in the boke of the lawe of God. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. ii. 91 You..Haue caus'd him by new act of Parliament, To blot out me, and put his owne Sonne in. 1640–1Kirkcudbright War-Com. Min. Bk. (1855) 98 All fugitives must be apprehendit and punished conforme to the actes. 1693Mem. Count Teckely ii. 91 The Male-contents demanded a general Act of Indempnity. a1704T. Brown Praise of Wealth Wks. 1730 I. 83 Before this proclamation passed into an irrevocable act. 1795Sewel tr. Hist. Quakers II. vii. 66 They asked him if he knew not of an act against meetings. 1839Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 373 An act of attainder was passed against York, Salisbury, their wives and children.
6. a. A record of transactions or decrees; any instrument in writing to verify facts. (L. actum, pl. acta.)
1535Coverdale Ezra vi. 2 A boke, & in it was there an acte wrytten after this maner. 1663Butler Hudibras i. i. 143 He could reduce all things to Acts. 1704Nelson Festiv. & Fasts (1739) 7 In the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Ignatius we find. 1726Ayliffe Parergon 27 Judicial Acts are said to be all those Writings, and matters which relate to Judicial Proceedings, and are sped in open Court at the Instance of one of the Parties Litigant; and, being reduced into writing by a Publick Notary..are recorded by the Authority of the Judge. 1789Constit. U.S. iv. §1 Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state. 1821Byron Mar. Fal. i. i. (1868) 315 The ducal table cover'd o'er With..petitions, Despatches, judgements, acts, reprieves, reports.
b. Acts (of the Apostles), name of one of the books of the N. Test.
1539Tonstall Serm. on Palme sondaye (1823) 55 It appereth playnly in the x. of the actes. 1549Coverdale Erasm. Paraphr. Rom. Argt., As Luke in the xxi chapiter of thactes reherseth. 1833Cruse tr. Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. ii. x. 59 It is also recorded in the book of Acts.
c. act and deed, part of a formula used when signing a legal instrument and putting a finger on the seal at the end of the transaction.
1756D. Garrick Let. in C. Oman David Garrick (1958) 177 The act and deed of the wife, in such cases [sc. business matters], pass for nothing. 1827Barnewall & Cresswell Reports V. 671 [He] produced the parchment, placed it on the table, signed his name, and then said, ‘I deliver this as my act and deed’, putting his finger at the same time on the seal. 1877W. S. Gilbert Sorcerer i. p. 9 They deliver it—they deliver it As their Act and Deed! 1910Encycl. Brit. I. 156/2 In law it means any instrument in writing, for declaring or justifying the truth of a bargain or transaction, as: ‘I deliver this as my act and deed.’
7. a. A ‘performance’ of part of a play; hence, One of the main divisions of a dramatic work, in which a definite part of the whole action is completed. Also often fig. (L. actus.)
1520Terens in Englysh (Andria) The furst scene of the furst Act. 1549Chaloner tr. Erasmus's Praise of Folie sig. N iv verso, Resteth now the fifte acte or parte, wherein it behoueth them to shew foorth all their cunning and profunditie. 1565Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc (title-p.), The Tragedie of Gorboduc Where of three Actes were wrytten by Thomas Nortone, and the two laste by Thomas Sackuyle. Ibid., sig. A iiv The Order of the dōme shewe before the firste Acte. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, Epil. 3 Some come to take their ease, And sleepe an act or two. c1615Fletcher Mad Lover i. 21 Away then: our Act's ended. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 156 ⁋8 An act is only the representation of such a part of the business of the play as proceeds in an unbroken tenor, or without any intermediate pause. 1769Junius Lett. xxiii. 112 Can age itself forget that you are now in the last act of life? 1858De Quincey Grk. Trag. in Wks. IX. 64 The very meaning of an act is, that in the intervals, the suspension of the acts, any possible time may elapse, and any possible action go on. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. II. x. 507 We are approaching the close of the first act of our great drama.
†b. An interval or interlude in a play. Obs.
1606J. Marston Parasitaster Actus Quintus. Whilest the Act is a playing, Hercules and Tiberio enters, Tiberio climes the tree, and is received above by Dulcimel. 1611Cotgrave Dict., Acte..an Act, or Pause in a Comedie, or Tragedie. 1623Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ad fin., They sleepe all the Act. 1653Middleton & Rowley Changeling iii. i (stage-direction) In the act-time De Flores hides a naked rapier behind a door.
c. One of a series of short performances in a variety programme, circus, etc. Also, the entertainer or entertainers (considered collect.) by whom an act is performed. Cf. double act s.v. double a. 6.
1890‘Biff’ Hall Turnover Club vi. 63 The usual attraction was ‘Professor Etherio, the flying man’, who did a rope⁓walking act. 1912Stage Year Bk. 1912 39 The boom in bare flesh..Even those managers who..had refused to give engagements to this class of ‘act’, were soon tumbling over one another. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage xviii. 228 Their act was booked for a tour by the African theatres. 1959Times 16 Oct. 12/3 The team had completed their twists, loops and all the tricks of their acts which had been seen..in..other air shows.
1919F. Hurst Humoresque 300 Two specialty acts and a pair of whistling Pierrots. 1929Daily Express 12 Jan. 3/5 New comedy acts are needed most. These, if found, will be helped to find better material and to buy attractive costumes. 1971Rolling Stone 24 July 12/2 The customers..aren't going to be able to take a chance on the unknown or lesser known acts if the record is priced too high.
d. transf. An imitation of a theatrical part, a piece of acting; a display of exaggerated behaviour; pretence (of being what one is not); esp. to put on an act (colloq.), to show off, to talk for display, to behave insincerely, to act a part.
Also in other phrases: to get into the act (colloq., orig. U.S.), to become a participant; to involve oneself in some (successful, fashionable, etc.) venture or activity; also (to be) in on the act; to get one's act together (colloq., orig. U.S.), to (re-)organize effectively one's (muddled or disorganized) life, business, etc.
1928Barrie Peter Pan in Plays 20 We are doing an act; we are playing at being you and father. 1934F. Baldwin Innocent Bystander (1935) viii. 145 When he spoke of the theatre he wasn't putting on an act. He was himself. 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) viii. 235 You put on some kind of an act with Caroline, and..she fell for it. 1939A. Huxley After Many a Summer ii. v. 220 It was such a relief not to have to put on that act with Pete for the benefit of uncle Jo. 1946M. Dickens Happy Prisoner viii. 158 This girl's not naturally like that. She's putting on an act. 1953X. Fielding Stronghold iii. ii. 192 This might have been an act designed to impress us. 1959Times 1 Apr. 8/3 Some men were injured and some were ‘putting on an act’.
(b)1947Current Biog. 1946 168/1 The Durante quips (‘I've got a million of 'em’, ‘Everybody wants to get into da act,’..) are ‘timelessly colorful’. 1951‘J. Tey’ Daughter of Time viii. Morton had been very much ‘in on the act’. 1958Spectator 22 Aug. 239/1 President Chamoun got back into the act by announcing that they would not be asked to withdraw from the Lebanon. 1967Listener 22 June 835/2 No one for a moment supposes that Friendly will not be in on the act. 1969M. Puzo Godfather ii. xiii. 188 The author..came west on Johnny's invitation, to talk it over without agents or studios getting into the act.
(c)1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 17 June 1-g/1 (caption) Winfield, after giving it careful consideration, I have decided to get my act together and split! 1977C. McFadden Serial (1978) iv. 15/1 Like, I can't get my act together... Leonard, I need you. I want you to help me get clear. 1984Times 22 May 3/1 We need to get our act together... Users have been divided so far and are being picked off by the publishers one by one.
e. attrib. act-drop = drop n. 16.
1884[see execute v. 2]. 1890G. B. Shaw in Star 28 Apr. 2/3 She made a very marked impression which the audience gave vehement emphasis to after each descent of the act-drop. 1896[see drop n. 16]. 1960Times 29 Sept. 16/7 An act-drop is lowered to display a multicoloured abstract design.
8. In the Universities, a thesis publicly maintained by a candidate for a degree, or to show a student's proficiency.
At Oxford, the Act took place early in July. The graduates kept Acts, or discussed theses, on Saturday and Monday; on the intervening Act Sunday, two of the new Doctors of Divinity preached Act Sermons before the University. The Act was last held after long interruption in 1733; in 1856 the name, with all that related to the ceremony, was removed from the Statute-book, and only survives in the appellation Act Term sometimes given to Trinity Term. At Cambridge, the name is still given to the thesis and accompanying examination required for the obtainment of the doctor's degree in Divinity, Law, and Medicine.
1549Chaloner tr. Erasmus's Praise of Folie sig. M iv verso, At their Actes and Comencements ye dooe see theim swadled in with so many cappes, coyues, and furde hoodes as they weare. 1592T. Nashe Strange News I. 279 Acts are but idle wordes, and..Pumps and Pantofles...therefore do no Acts..onelie..to Oxford they trudge,..and there are confirmed in the same degree they took at Cambridge. 1607[R. Parker] Scholas. Disc. agst. Antichrist i. ii. 89 For proofe heereof, what need I goe further then to an Vniuersitie Acte, where before a confluence and concourse of people,..a Doctor incipient in Diuinitie publisheth these verses. 1641F. Greville Disc. Nat. Episc. ii. vii. 118 They desire they may have leave (as Probationers) to exercise, or keepe Acts, before the Church; 'till the Church shall approve of them. 1654Gataker Disc. Apol. 42 At the time..were divers created Doctors without attendance to keep Acts. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 182 Upon Act Sunday the same year he preached the University Sermon at S. Maries. 1695Kennett Paroch. Antiq. II. 58 This method was first reflected on by Mr. Peter Heylin, in an Act sermon at St. Mary's in Oxon, July 11, 1630. 1713Guardian No. 72 (1756) I. 320 This paper is written with a design to make my journey to Oxford agreeable to me, where I design to be at the Publick Act. 1733Berkeley in Fraser Life vi. 207 The approaching Act at Oxford is much spoken of. 1877Camb. Univ. Calend. 51 The Degree of Bachelor in Divinity, for which the requisite Exercises are, one Act, and an English Sermon. The Act is required to be kept in the following manner:..The Candidate shall read a thesis composed in Latin by himself on some subject approved by the Professor; the Professor or graduate presiding, shall bring forward arguments or objections in English for the Candidate to answer, etc.
†9. An auto da fé, or act of faith; a burning of heretics. Obs.
1709Strype Annals of Ref. xx. 228 In this act also were burnt the bones and picture of D. ægidio.
Add:[7.] [d.] a hard (or tough) act to follow: an outstanding performance, one which is difficult to rival; hence, someone or something hard to equal. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1975Chemical Week 12 Mar. 22/1 Tough acts to follow:..companies in three other principal CPI segments are somewhat less sanguine about topping last year's results. 1975Business Week 3 Nov. 24 (heading) A hard act to follow; after the third-quarter surge in GNP, growth is sure to be slower. 1981P. F. Boller Presidential Anecdotes ii. 24 It was not easy being the second President of the United States; George Washington was a hard act to follow. 1983Listener 29 Sept. 24/3 But Olivier, to say the least, was a hard act to follow. 1986Sunday Express Mag. 6 Apr. 18/4, I was rash enough to remark that Wogan was a hard act to follow, and Jameson jumped down my throat.
▸ Act of State n. (also with lower-case initials) an act passed (or occas. performed) by the executive power of an independent state, esp. an act which relates to foreign affairs or foreign citizens.
1605Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. I, It was giuen, not by a formall Decree or Act of State, as it was used amongst the Romane Emperours; but by an inward assent and beleefe. 1684T. Southerne Disappointment iii. i. 31 And by an act of State, this very day We are oblig'd, as all good Subjects ought, To bring by turns our Wives and Daughters in. 1780Parl. Hist. Eng. (1814) XX. 1167 The idea of an act of state, or the resolution of the Crown. 1883J. F. Stephen Hist. Criminal Law II. xvi. 61 The question to which I refer is, whether the criminal law applies to what have sometimes been described as acts of State? 1942H. Byas Govt. by Assassination xxiv. 324 The Japanese Emperor is not an autocrat; every act of state must be made on the advice and responsibility of an official person. 2004Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 24 Jan. 16 He also said he needed to make a proper examination of the facts before being able to decide on whether the alleged false imprisonment of the asylum-seekers amounted to an act of state.
▪ II. act, v.|ækt|
[f. L. act- ppl. stem of ag-ĕre to drive, carry on, do. Probably influenced in its development by act n. More than a century intervened between the use of the word by the Sc. poet Henryson, and its first appearance in Eng.]
†1. trans. To put in motion, move to action, impel; to actuate, influence, animate. Obs.
1602Warner Alb. Eng. xiii. lxxvii. 316 Thy Senses fiue that acte thy life; thy Speache, whereby to many Thou doest communicate thy selfe, saue God disclameth any. 1605Timme Quersitanus ii. 8 All spirit..in the world is acted & gouerned by the spirit. 1642Rogers Naaman 453 There was a different principle that acted them. 1649H. Guthry Mem. (1702) 54 The People of Scotland are much acted by their Ministers Doctrine. 1675Barclay Apol. Quakers ii. §1. 19 They are not acted nor led by God's Spirit. 1677Gale Crt. of Gentiles II. iv. 235 Al his companions, who are acted by the same atheistic principes. 1691Petty Pol. Arith. iii. 54 Ships, and Guns do not fight of themselves, but Men who act and manage them. 1712Addison Spec. No. 287 ⁋1 If I shall be told that I am acted by prejudice, I am sure it is an honest prejudice. 1732Pope Ess. on Man ii. 59 Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 309 Mrs. Howe was acted by the springs I set at work.
†2. To bring into action, bring about, produce, perform, work, make, do (a thing or process). Obs.
1594Greene Orl. Furioso 17 Thus did I act as many brave attempts. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. xliv. (1632) 414 Dunstan..who not onely did refuse to act his Coronation. 1649Selden Laws of Eng. ii. viii. (1739) 52 Whereby they did get power to act other enormities mentioned in the Charge. 1660T. Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 82/2, I do most act the business of the Commonwealth, if I practise it only. 1726De Foe Hist. Devil i. xi. (1840) 172 Had Satan been able to have acted anything by force. 1791T. Paine Rights of Man (ed. 4) 144 Measures which at other times it would censure, it now approves, and acts persuasion upon itself to suffocate its judgment.
3. To carry out in action, work out, perform (a project, command, purpose). arch.
1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 273 To act her earthy, and abhord commands. 1659Reynolds in Burton Diary (1828) IV. 302 Our enemies..take an advantage of a parliament sitting to act all their plots. 1693Mem. Count Teckely Pref. 11, A formed Design, intended to be acted in one Place after another, throughout Europe. 1718Pope Iliad i. 426 The unwilling heralds act their lord's commands. a1842Tennyson Œnone 146 To live by law, Acting the law we live by without fear.
4. To carry out or represent in mimic action (an ideal, incident, or story); to perform (a play). Hence fig. in a bad sense: To simulate, counterfeit.
1594M. Drayton in Shaks. Cent. of Praise 13 Acting her passions on our stately stage. 1601Returne fr. Parnass., Ibid. 48 Let me see you act a little of it. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 455 It was neuer acted: or if it was, not aboue once, for the Play I remember pleas'd not the Million. 1812J. & H. Smith Rejec. Addr. v. (1873) 40 It is built to act English plays in. 1823Lamb Elia Ser. i. xx. (1865) 149 A present sense of the blessing, which can be but feebly acted by the rich. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 474 Sunderland acted calumniated virtue to perfection. 1858Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 43 It is extremely well acted by all concerned.
5. With various complemental phrases, esp. to act out; now spec. in Psychiatry, to represent (one's unconscious impulses, desires, etc.) in action; also absol. or intr., esp. to misbehave, to behave anti-socially (orig. U.S.). Cf. acting vbl. n. 3 c.
1611W. Goddard Sat. Dial. E b, Oh, her that well cann acte-out such sweete partes. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. vi. 23 To act the Fable into a reality. 1659South Serm. Matt. x. 33 I. 83 It has been still preached up, but acted down. 1715Burnet Hist. Own Time II. 237 Lord Tweedale saw, that..he would act over his former extravagances. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 36 This would be to act over again the scene of the criminals condemned to the gallies. 1840Carlyle Heroes vi. (1858) 354 To speak-out, to act-out what Nature has laid in him. 1860E. G. White Spiritual Gifts II. 45 Said Bro. H., ‘If I was well I should partake of this food, and I believe GOD has healed me, and shall act out my faith.’ 1913Dialect Notes IV. 3 Act out, to misbehave, of children in school, etc. Orono [Maine]. 1934A. Tate in New Republic 14 Mar. 128/1 The characters..suffer no dramatic alteration; an episode ends when they have acted out enough of the moral to please the poet. 1945[see acting vbl. n. 3 c]. 1949M. Mead Male & Female ix. 197 Some societies permit periods of licence in which those who feel that they are able to cope with more members of the other sex than are normally permitted to them have a chance to act out their day-dreams without disrupting the social order. 1951G. Humphrey Thinking 310 While a human being thinks his problem out, an animal acts it out. 1965G. McInnes Road to Gundagai xi. 192 He persuaded the boys to act out episodes from the Odyssey and the Aeneid. 1974H. L. Foster Ribbin' ii. 46 The child with a learning or physical problem or disability may act-out to divert attention from, for example, his inability to read. 1983N. Humphrey Consciousness Regained vii. 75 Human ancestors were acting out the physiological states of fear or jealousy long before they were in a position to have insight into them.
6. to act a part, or act the part of: orig. To sustain the part of one of the characters in a play, hence to simulate. fig. To fulfil the character or duties of.
1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iv. 26 That part, thou (Pisanio) must acte for me. 1684T. Burnet Theo. Earth 185 Our life now is so short..by that time we begin to understand our selves a little, and to know where we are, and how to act our part, we must leave the stage, and give place to others. 1769Junius Lett. xxxv. 167 You have still an honourable part to act. 1794Paley Evid. ii. ix. (1817) 211 Those who had acted and were acting the chief parts in the transaction. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 121 He acted something like the part of a deserter.
7. To act (anyone): To personate, assume the character of, to play; orig. on the stage; fig. in real life; dial. it passes into the sense of mimicking, mocking.
1651Hobbes Leviathan i. xvi. 80 He that acteth another, is said to beare his Person, or act in his name. 1670Cotton Espernon iii. ix. 470 Why should I take that ill from you, which I suffer from Marais, who every day acts me in your presence? This Marais was..a Buffoon, that had a marvellous faculty of imitation. 1727Swift To Yng. Lady Wks. 1755 II. ii. 41 A wise man..soon grows weary of acting the lover and treating his wife like a mistress. 1742Young Night Th. iv. 556 She gives the soul a soul that acts a god. 1796Gouv. Morris Sparks' Life & Writ. (1832) III. 98 It is to act, not to be, the monarch, and he suits better the theatre than the throne. 1837J. H. Newman Par. Serm. xxvi. (ed. 3) I. 390 What was it but to act the child, to ask how many times a fellow-Christian should offend against us.
8. a. intr. (object suppressed). To perform on the stage.
1598J. Marston in Shaks. Cent. of Praise 27 Say who acts best? Drusus or Roscio? 1611Coryat Crudities 247, I saw women acte, a thing that I neuer saw before, though I haue heard that it hath beene sometimes used in London. a1625Fletcher Mad Lover ii. i. 8 Plague act yee, I'le act no more. 1718Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xxi. 64 No women are suffered to act on the stage.
b. Of a play: to be susceptible of being performed (well or otherwise).
1668,1789[see read v. 18 a, b]. 1821Byron in E. J. Trelawny Rec. Shelley (1858) 29 My plays won't act..my poesy won't sell. 1916S. Kaye-Smith John Galsworthy 17 Galsworthy's plays have the advantage of acting well—unlike much literary drama.
9. To perform on the stage of existence; to perform actions, to do things, in the widest sense.
a. With special reference to the reality of the doing, as opposed to think, speak, etc.
b. With reference to the manner or mode of action, and hence = behave, comport, or demean oneself.
1684Scanderbeg Rediv. vi. 133 The Emperour obliged himself to Act with an Army of Sixty Thousand Men against the Turks. 1742Young Night Th. ii. 92 Who does the best his circumstance allows Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more. 1751Jortin Serm. (1771) VII. i. 13 Who beleeve in Christ, with a resolution to act suitably to this persuasion. 1756Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 14 We begin to think and to act from reason and from nature alone. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lug. i. iv. 54, I never could act for myself in my life. 1846Sir R. Peel Sp. on resigning 28 June, Acting..from pure and disinterested motives. 1865Mill Repr. Gov. 8/2 It is what men think, that determines how they act. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 145 In overcoming the hostility of the West, William acted as he always did act.
c. To do the duties of an office temporarily, without being the regular officer; to act for, or in the absence of another. To act as: To perform in the character of, to do the work of, to serve as. (Also of things.)
1804[See under acting vbl. n. 5 a.] 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 490 He had no scruple about acting as chaplain. 1857Livingstone Trav. vi. 114 A person who acted as interpreter. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight ii. 25 They [the eye-lashes] are delicately sensitive to the slightest touch, and act as feelers to warn the eye of the approach of any small object. Mod. Is any one empowered to act in the manager's absence? Mod. I am here to act for my brother; to act in behalf of the children.
d. To act on, upon: To regulate one's conduct according to.
1814Jane Austen Mansf. Park III. x. 201 It was somehow or other ascertained, or inferred, or at least acted upon, that they were not at all afraid. 1847Tennyson Princess ii. 211 If more there be, If more and acted on, what follows? Mod. I wish the maxim were more generally acted upon in all cases.
e. To act up to: To come up in practice to an assumed standard, to fulfil or carry out in practice.
1747in Col. Rec. Penn. V. 149 As long as you shall act up to your Engagements. 1829Landor Imag. Convers. (1842) II. 99 Your lordship acts up to your tenets. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 63 That..the members of the Church of England would act up to their principles.
f. to act up: to act in an abnormal or unexpected manner; to ‘put on an act’; to become unruly, to ‘play up’. colloq.
1903A. Adams Log Cowboy xviii. 275 The horse of some peeler..acted up one morning. 1929D. H. Lawrence My Skirmish with Jolly Roger 8 When people act in sex, nowadays they are half the time acting up. 1956J. Hearne Stranger at Gate xxxvii. 282 ‘I'm sorry,’ he said, ‘I'm acting up a bit. I feel pretty tight inside.’ 1964New Statesman 20 Nov. 786/2 She would have to ‘act up’ to convince anyone that her mental health is in danger.
10. a. Of things: To put forth energy, produce effects, exert influence, fulfil functions.
1751Johnson Rambler No. 141 ⁋2, A combination of inconsiderable circumstances, acting when his imagination was unoccupied. 1812W. Taylor in Month. Rev. LXIX. 384 Rapid composition acts best. 1870Jevons Elem. Logic xxix. 251 When several causes act at once. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 63 A fall of snow thus acts like a mantle of fur thrown over the earth. Mod. The brake refused to act.
b. To act on: To exert influence on; to influence, affect. (Here act on comes round nearly to the earliest transitive sense of act; see 1.)
1810Coleridge Friend (1865) 124 Reason to act on man must be impersonated. 1812Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 437 The clear liquor..is acted on by a rod of zinc. 1855Brewster Life of Newton I. xii. 322 One sphere will act upon another with a force directly proportional to their quantities of matter. 1855Bain Senses & Intell. ii. ii. §2 (1864) 177 Gases do not act on the touch. |