actionn.

Brit.

/ˈakʃn/, U.S.

/ˈækʃən/

Forms: Middle English accioun, Middle English accyoun, Middle English accyoune, Middle English acsyon, Middle English actione (in a late copy), Middle English actioun, Middle English axion, Middle English axyon, Middle English–1500s accione, Middle English–1500s accyon, Middle English–1600s accion, Middle English– action, 1500s actyon, 1500s excyon, 1500s–1600s accon, 1600s acon, 1600s acsion, 1900s– akshun (Caribbean); Scottish pre-1700 acceine, pre-1700 accion, pre-1700 accione, pre-1700 accioun, pre-1700 accioune, pre-1700 accyon, pre-1700 actioun, pre-1700 actioune, pre-1700 actiown, pre-1700 actiowne, pre-1700 actyoun, pre-1700 actyown, pre-1700 actyowne, pre-1700 akcion, pre-1700 akseoun, pre-1700 aksion, pre-1700 1700s actione, pre-1700 1700s– action.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French action; Latin actiōn-, āctiō.

Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman accioun, acciun, actione, actioun, Anglo-Norman and Middle French accion, Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French action (of a person) performance of deeds, activity (1223 in Old French), exercise of a claim before a judge, pursual of a lawsuit, legal proceedings (1260), way of proceeding (14th cent.), effect, influence (1426), public discourse (a1564), (in drama or oratory) gesture (a1592), operation of a physical or immaterial agent (1646), events occurring in a play (1660), financial title representing a share of capital (1669; 12th cent. in Old French as acciun ), in Anglo-Norman also (in law) matter in dispute (13th cent.), right to bring a legal action (first half of the 14th cent.), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin actiōn-, āctiō activity, doing, act, deed, dramatic incident, proposal, measure, policy, (of an orator) delivery, speech, speaking, legal process, suit, right to bring a suit, plea, statement of claim, in post-classical Latin also conduct (6th cent.), canon of the Mass (7th cent.), thanksgiving (from 8th cent. in British sources in actio gratiarum ; also 1244 in a British source as actio ), mystery play (c1225 in a British source), record of proceedings (16th cent. in a British source) < āct- past participial stem of agere to do (see act v.) + -iō -ion suffix¹. Compare Old Occitan accion, acihon (1385), Catalan acció (14th cent.), Spanish acción (c1250), Portuguese ação (1257), Italian azione (a1306).In sense 3 after classical Latin cāsus bellī casus belli n. In sense 9 perhaps immediately after Dutch aktie share in a joint-stock company (early 17th cent. in this sense). In sense 12a after French quantité d'action (Moreau de Maupertuis 1748, in Hist. de l'Acad. Royale des Sci. 1744 423).

I. Something that is done.

1. Law. A legal process, a lawsuit. (figurative in quot. c1430.)class, derivative, possessory, witness action, etc.: see the first element; action of debt, action of ejectment, action of trover, etc.: see the final element.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [noun] > a lawsuit

speechc897

mootc1225

pleadingc1275

pleac1300

actiona1325

quarrela1325

suit1348

pursuit1380

sokena1387

process1395

plead1455

pleament1480

suit in law1530

ployc1600

suit in equity1604

suit in chancery1621

lawsuit1624

instance1654

legal action1656

lis1932

a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) v. 14 Ant ȝif þe lord biþinne þulke tuo ȝer ne marie hoem noȝt, þanne hoe habbeth accion for te recoueren hoere eritage quitliche.

?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 141 (MED) Hir husband sall hafe his actioun agaynes him before þe iusticez.

c1430 (c1370) G. Chaucer A.B.C. (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1878) l. 20 Myn synne & myn confusioun..Han takyn on me a g[r]euous accioun.

1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 431/3 Doubtyng that the stryf accions and pletynges of the poure shold come onely to the presence and knowlege of hys counceyllours.

1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng vi. f. 6^v The lorde maye haue an actyon of Trespace agaynst any man.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. i. 2 Master Phang, haue you entred the action ?

a1601 W. Lambarde Archion (1635) 114 In all other Actions personalls or reals, we have power to yeeld..such Judgements as doe appertaine.

1690 W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. 9 I'le clap an action on your back.

1712 Boston News-let. 9 June 2/1 We were so happy to have almost as many Actions Tryed of late in a little Time, as had been at the Supreme Court, since the Province happily fell under her Majesties immediate Government.

1739 H. Purefoy Let. 20 June in G. Eland Purefoy Lett. (1931) I. vii. 170 If hee don't come & take the mare again & refund the money, my mother will lay an action against him.

1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 216 Actions of ejectment were commenced in the courts at Albany.

1809 T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict. I. D/1 A man attainted of treason..cannot bring an action.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 179 All actions for mesne profits were effectually barred by the general amnesty.

1924 Amer. Mercury Sept. 103/1 The clerks then manage the action, and so they come to regard lawyers as rivals and nuisances.

1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet iv. 290 The two actions..were accorded a change of venue by mutual agreement and arrangement among the litigants.

1992 Daily Tel. 4 Sept. 11/8 The province accepted the legality of homosexual marriages after a government lawyer brought an action against his employer so his partner could share his pension and insurance benefits.

2. Something done or performed, a deed, an act; (in plural) habitual or ordinary deeds, conduct.Sometimes distinguished from act in being viewed as occupying some time in being done.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun]

tightc888

workOE

laitsc1225

rule?c1225

guise1303

conditionsc1374

actiona1393

governancea1393

governailc1425

port?a1439

fashion1447

dressa1450

governinga1450

walkingc1450

abearing?1454

deport1474

behaving1482

dealing1484

guidinga1500

demeanoura1513

behaviour?1521

walk?1567

daps1582

courses1592

deportment1601

behave?1615

deportation1616

containment1619

conduct1673

haviour1752

daddyism1984

the world > action or operation > doing > [noun] > an act or deed

deedc825

i-wurhtc888

workOE

casec1325

acta1393

actiona1393

operationc1395

featc1420

exploitc1425

commissionc1475

factc1487

practice1547

part1561

practisement1581

issuea1616

performancea1616

performenta1641

factum1641

coup1791

stunt1904

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 388 (MED) To conferme his accioun, He hath withholde Malebouche.

?c1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr. Ii.3.21) (1886) v. pr. vi. 138 Al thowh þat thow torne thy self bi thi free wyl in to diuerse accions.

1585 R. Lane Let. 12 Aug. in Trans. & Coll. Amer. Antiquarian Soc. (1860) 4 8 Your honor's servaunte hathe carryed him selfe soo honestely and soo industryousely in all occasyones and acciones of thys voyeage.

a1586 R. Maitland Hist. House of Seytoun (1829) 7 In all your actiouns and effairs.

1611 Bible (King James) 1 Sam. ii. 3 The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iv. ii. 3 When our Actions do not, Our feares do make vs Traitors.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding i. iii. 16 I have always thought the Actions of Men the best Interpreters of their thoughts.

1764 C. Churchill Candidate 6 Enough of Wilkes—with good and honest men His actions speak much stronger than my pen.

1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V II. ii. 96 The manner in which he justified this action was still more provoking than the action itself.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. iii. i. 142 An Action, the product and expression of exerted Force.

1895 Argosy Sept. 585/1 Their sayings and actions at such times frequently save them from a deserved chastisement.

1918 R. S. Woodworth Dynamic Psychol. iii. 65 As the individual grows up, his actions are more and more controlled by inner drives.

1974 A. Lurie War between Tates (1977) v. 102 She has declared, not so much verbally, as by her recent actions, that she cannot fight any more.

1991 P. Barker Regeneration i. 8 The throwing away of the medal still struck him as odd. That surely had been the action of a man at the end of his tether.

†3. Scottish. A matter concerning a person; a cause which is espoused or followed; grounds for doing something. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [noun] > reason or ground

achesounc1230

anchesouna1250

reasona1250

groundc1275

matter1340

purposec1350

cause1413

quarrel1476

actiona1500

subject1577

spring of action1583

qualitya1586

inducement1593

place1593

theme1594

instance1597

motive1605

impulsivea1628

justifiera1635

foundation1641

rise1641

plummet1679

mainspring1695

the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > [noun] > business claiming attention > an occupation or affair

charec897

matter?c1225

journeya1352

affairc1390

notea1400

incident1485

concernment1495

actiona1500

business1524

concern1680

job1680

ploya1689

show1797

game1812

caper1839

pigeon dropping1850

shebang1869

hoodoo1876

racket1880

palaver1899

scene1964

a1500 Ratis Raving (Cambr. Kk.1.5) l. 1528 in R. Girvan Ratis Raving & Other Early Scots Poems (1939) 43 Tharfor thar propre accioune With al thar procuracioune Wyll besy thaim.

a1525 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 238 The erll of Huntlie..displayit the kingis banere, and said it was the kingis actioun and he was his luftennend.

c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. xiv. vi. f. 208/1 The paip..decernit y^e scottis to haue iust action of battal in defence of thair liberteis aganis king Edward.

1571 G. Buchanan Admonitioun Trew Lordis sig. B.7 Hauing sa euil ane actioun.., thay prouoik the Quenis Maiestie of Ingland.

1603 in S. Ree Rec. Elgin (1908) II. 111 Being inquerit quhat actioun..scho haid to go..to Spynie.

†4. A proposition, motion, or question for discussion. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > a plan > a proposed plan or a project

propositiona1382

present?a1400

motiona1425

pleaa1500

action1533

propose1568

project1582

proposala1629

projection1633

party1653

projecture1658

scheme1719

ad referendum1753

swim1860

action plan1889

1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1822) ii. 154 Valerius dictator..afore ony accioun wes discussit be the senate, proponit the accioun of the victorius pepill [L. namque Valerius..omnium actionum in senatu primam habuit pro victore populo].

1579 G. Fenton in tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin iii. 141 (note) The Senat of Venice debateth vpon the action of Pysa.

†5. A session of an ecclesiastical council; a transaction or act of such a council. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > church government > council > [noun]

council1125

sene1380

synoda1387

senyiec1425

synody1548

action1567

sanhedrim1653

society > faith > church government > council > [noun] > decision or decree of

synodal1485

action1567

1567 T. Stapleton Counterblast iii. xii. 259 In the sixt Action the Photians appearing agayne, and being moued as well of the whole Synod, as of the Emperour, to repentaunce, they yet perseuered obstinately in their schisme.

a1613 E. Brerewood Enq. Langs. & Relig. (1614) xxi. 153 As we reade in the actions of that Councell.

1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie (1636) i. iii. 197 The 3 tome of the sixt action of the second Councell of Nice.

1693 W. Wotton tr. L. E. Du Pin New Hist. Eccl. Writers (ed. 2) I. 98 The Form of Faith which Julian sent to S. Leo, was nothing else, but the definition of Faith, which is in the Fifth Action of the Council of Chalcedon.

6. Christian Church. A devotional exercise; spec. (chiefly Scottish) the celebration of the Eucharist. Cf. action sermon n. at Compounds 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > worship > observance, ritual > [noun]

usec1400

divine1480

actiona1572

liturgy1593

ritual1620

opus Dei1860

li1912

a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1848) II. 139 The actioun of the Messe.

1597 in S. Ree Rec. Elgin (1908) II. 49 The kirk duiris sall be closit..and remane sa quhill the actioun be endit.

1659 J. Lamont Diary (1830) 148 Mr James himselfe preach[ed] before the action.

1659 A. Hay Diary (1901) 82 After sermon Mr Rob opened the actioun, and served 2 tables.

1843 J. Miley Rome I. ii. xviii. 235 The priest began the canon, or action of the mass—‘infra actionem sacerdotis’.

1855 F. Procter Hist. Bk. Common Prayer 353 The Lord's Prayer also begins the action of thanksgiving [L. actio gratiarum].

1951 F. A. Brunner tr. A. Jungmann Mass of Rom. Rite I. ii. ii. 180 The phrases to be read right after the words of consecration, at the very climax of the whole action.

1999 K. W. Irwin Responses to 101 Questions on Mass xxiv. 49 Sunday Eucharist is the premier liturgical action whereby we renew our baptismal covenant.

7. A military engagement, a battle.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > armed encounter > [noun]

fightc893

coursec1325

stourc1325

acounterc1330

meetingc1330

setc1330

showera1375

brusha1400

semblya1400

hosting1422

poynyec1425

conflictc1440

militancea1460

grate1460

rencounter1471

chaplea1500

flitea1513

concourse?1520

concursion1533

rescounter1543

spurnc1560

rencontrea1572

discourse1573

action1579

combat1582

opposition1598

do1915

1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin iii. 138 In such like actions were consumed by the one and other armie, about three monethes.

1589 R. Lane in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations 747 Hee had in that storme sustained more perill of wracke then in all his former most honourable actions against the Spaniards.

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing i. i. 6 How many gentlemen haue you lost in this action ?

1665 S. Pepys Diary 17 June (1972) VI. 130 His serviceableness in this late great action.

1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V II. iii. 184 They defeated the nobility in several actions.

1798 Ld. Nelson in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) III. 95 During their march they had some actions with the Mamelukes.

1799 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1834) I. 21 More troops being sent out to their aid, a general action ensued.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 437 Between the army of Waldeck and the army of Humieres no general action took place.

1863 Edinb. Rev. Jan. 2 After a bloody action, characterised by circumstances of extreme danger,..the British army had enough to do to maintain itself on the field of battle.

1946 Italica 23 278 Machiavelli..lays stress on the brief share of artillery in general actions.

1998 J. M. Collins Mil. Geogr. for Professionals & Public iii. 41 Small-unit actions by foot troops predominate, control is uncertain, and fluid maneuvers are infeasible.

8. A gesture or movement, esp. one accompanying speech or song.

ΚΠ

a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) v. i. 27 It is an accustom'd action with her, to seeme thus washing her hands.

1699 Royal Sufferer: Man. of Medit. & Devotions 186 Let thy Speech be Sober, Simple, and Harmless,..without Mimical Actions, like a Stage-play.

a1758 J. Ward Syst. Oratory (1759) II. xlix. 357 All finical and trifling actions of the fingers ought to be avoided.

1824 J. D. Cochrane Narr. Pedestrian Journey through Russia v. 102 One of these wanderers I induced to sing; but, though the air was musical enough, its words, as I understood, and the accompanying actions, as I could perceive, were much too obscene.

1834 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 333 Whether this sign shall be a word or an action is for us to choose. If an action, then translation must follow.

1935 J. D. Wilson What happens in Hamlet iv. 106 As he speaks we may imagine him jerking a thumb over his shoulder towards the inner-stage... Words and the action are a direct invitation to the spectators to look in that direction.

1975 J. Pocius Textile Trad. Avalon Penins. 15 Pulling it [sc. wool] apart..with the fingers using a teasing action.

1997 H. H. Tan Foreign Bodies (1998) i. 2 Trust me, you haven't seen something truly Satanic until you've seen your mother belting out ‘Chain Reaction’ complete with Diana Ross hand actions and bum wiggles.

†9. A share in a joint-stock company. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun] > share

action1662

share1689

1662 G. Carew Fraud & Violence Discovered 118 When Sir William Courten set forth his Ships in 1635. and 1636. the Dutch Actions fell far lower, and the English Actions of the old Company did rise 20l. and 30l. in the 100l.

1683 London Gaz. mdcccxv. 4 The Actions of our East-India Company are very much fallen.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 330 The actions sinking on the sudden on the breaking out of a new war.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) To Melt or Liquidate an Action, is to sell, or turn it into Money &c.

1864 J. H. Burton Scot Abroad II. 264 The impetuosity with which the actions rose.

10. Chiefly with the. The event or series of events represented or described in a play, film, novel, or similar work.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > [noun] > plot

plat1589

plot1613

paper-plot1622

bone1647

intrigue1651

action1668

intrigo1672

fable1678

story1679

happy ending1748

storyline1906

plot line1907

1668 J. Dryden Secret-love Pref. sig. a2^v The Queen..seems to stand idle while the great action of the Drama is still depending.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 267. ¶2 This Action [of an Epic] should have three Qualifications in it. First, It should be but one Action. Secondly, It should be an entire Action; and, Thirdly, It should be a great Action.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) The Action of the Iliad..holds but 47 Days.

1826 Times 24 Mar. 3/2 Lord Byron has described with great precision the time and place at which the action of the poem is going on.

1847 Fine Arts Jrnl. 8 May 426/1 The action of the opera proceeded while the bounding billow then spent itself on a shelving shore.

1902 Daily Chron. 26 Feb. 3/5 ‘The Expatriates’ is a novel by Miss Lilian Bell... Its principal characters are rich Americans and titled Parisians, and the action takes place largely in Paris.

1966 H. P. Manoogian Film-maker's Art vi. 219 As the action within the scene proceeds a number of medium shots and close-ups are taken to relate that action.

1994 Guardian (Nexis) 24 Mar. 8 I was invited to a meeting with Steven Spielberg in Cracow, which is where the action of the film takes place.

†11. A theatrical performance, a play. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun]

playeOE

joyc1440

sportc1475

historya1509

drama?1521

stage playa1535

gameplay1560

show1565

device1598

piece1616

auto1670

action1679

natak1826

speakie1921

1679 Tryals & Condemnation Jesuits 47 He was at an Action of ours, a Latine Play.

12.

a. Physics. Originally: †the product of speed and the distance over which it is maintained (obsolete). Later: the product (or a corresponding integral) of momentum and distance; (equivalently) the product (or a corresponding integral) of kinetic energy (or kinetic energy minus potential energy) and time; (also) the integral of the Lagrangian with respect to time. More generally: the integral of the generalized momenta of a system with respect to generalized coordinates. Symbol S. Cf. law (also principle) of least action at least adj., pron., n., and adv. Phrases 7.quantum of action: see quantum n. 5b.

ΚΠ

1814 J. Toplis tr. P. S. de Laplace Treat. Analyt. Mech. ii. 47 Maupertuis..asserted, that in all the changes which take place in the situation of a body, the product of the mass of the body by its velocity and the space which it has passed over is a minimum. This he called the principle of the least action.

1834 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 124 252 The action or accumulated living force of a system..may be regarded as a function of the 6n+1 quantities already mentioned.

1876 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 5th Ser. 2 269 The function A = 2iT, which Marpertius [read Maupertuis] named ‘action’, is (with respect to the source of the energy received) absolutely less in amount at the end of each variation than at its commencement.

1911 Science 27 Jan. 155/2 Other papers read... The Curves of Equal Action for Elliptical Coordinates.

1920 A. S. Eddington Space, Time & Gravitation ix. 147 Action..is a very technical term, and is not to be confused with Newton's ‘Action and Reaction’.

1928 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 120 484 (8) and (9) are the correct electromagnetic equivalents of the action and of the Lagrangian function of a mechanical system.

1964 R. P. Feynman et al. Lect. Physics II. xix. 8 The function that is integrated over time to get the action S is called the Lagrangian.

1988 Nature 7 Jan. 31/1 Max Planck was perhaps the first in the twentieth century..to argue strongly that the action is the most basic quantity in physics.

1995 C. F. Stevens Six Core Theories Mod. Physics ii. 62 The path x(t) that satisfies the Euler–Lagrange equation is also the one that makes the function S, called the action, a minimum.

1998 New Scientist 9 May 44/2 Every conceivable path has a different action, and of all these, the path actually taken has the least.

b. Mathematics. A transformation induced by a group on a set according to some suitably defined rule or rules.

ΚΠ

1936 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 40 29 The surface swept out by qr′ under the action of the group is a twisted strip of index k.

1956 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 42 349 The object of this note is to study principally the action of a finite group on a closed manifold.

2002 S. Lang Algebra (rev. ed.) 25 An operation or an action of G on S is a homomorphism..of G into the group of permutations of S.

II. The process or action of doing.

13. The exertion of force or influence by one thing on another; influence, effect; agency. Cf. reaction n. 2a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > operation upon something > [noun]

workinga1382

impression1390

actiona1398

affection1489

suppressiona1500

operation1525

influence1598

effect1608

manage1608

solicitation1626

attingency1642

influx1644

influency1651

incidence1656

attingence1678

influencing1754

impact1817

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 212 Þat comeþ of accioun and worchyng of perfyt hete.

a1475 Bk. Quinte Essence (1889) 8 Aȝens al maner scharpnes or accioun of visible fier.

1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 121 Medicines many times haue an action of heate, yet of their potentiall power they doe ouercoole and infrese the body.

1656 T. Hobbes Elem. Philos. iii. xxii. 248 When..one Body having opposite Endeavour to another Body, moveth the same, and that moveth a third, and so on, I call that action Propagation of Motion.

1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 29 He exposed them to the action of the Sun.

1726 A. Monro Anat. Humane Bones ii. 201 The two superior of these four [superior Dorsal vertebræ]..are flatned..by the Action of the Musculi longi colli.

1745 R. James Medicinal Dict. II. at Cathartica This may possibly have been a particular Preparation of Hellebore corrected, in order to render its Action less violent.

1763 J. Smeaton Reports (1812) I. 103 An immense quantity of flint, pebbles, or broken flints, rounded by the action of the sea.

1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. xv. 149 The action, or the attractive force, of the Sun and Moon, on such protuberance.

1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 117 Submit the whole to the action of a slow fire.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. §2, 17 Observed upon the rocks and mountains the action of ancient glaciers.

1864 A. B. Garrod Essentials Materia Medica (ed. 2) 292 Canada balsam resembles the other turpentines in its action.

1927 N. V. Sidgwick Electronic Theory of Valency i. 10 Exposure under suitable conditions to the action of light, heat, or electricity.

1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) l. 521 Potassium hypobromite is formed by the action of bromine on cold dilute aqueous potassium hydroxide.

1941 Chem. Abstr. 35 3596 The mechanism of the bactericidal action of Zephirol.

2007 Brit. Archaeol. Sept. 9/1 Material churned up by former glacial action.

14. Law. The taking of legal steps to establish a claim or obtain judicial remedy; the right to institute such a legal process. Cf. property in action n. at property n. Phrases and to take action at Phrases 2.

ΚΠ

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 196 Whilk of vs is doun & mad is recreant, Cleyme & accioun he lese.

c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. ii. l. 94 Kynges..shoulde..holde with hym and with hure þat han triwe accion.

?a1475 (?a1425) in tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1882) VIII. App. 503 (MED) The heires..scholde not reioyce eny of theire londes..but thay scholde be excluded for ever from eny accion to hyt or theyme or eny other clayme.

a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 157 I may have noon accion ayenst the.

1595 W. Allen et al. Conf. Next Succession Crowne of Ingland sig. * ^v Such as may haue clayme or action to the crowne of Ingland at this day.

1641 Rastell's Termes de la Ley (new ed.) f. 59 The King himselfe cannot grant his thing in Action, which is uncertain.

1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. i. 45 Liable to the action of every Man.

1772 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra I. Pref. p. xiv A double remedy is open to them, by action and indictment.

1809 T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict. I. D/2 If one calls a merchant bankrupt, action lies.

1895 Yale Law Jrnl. 5 45 The right of action for breach of contract forms the subject of the last chapter.

1921 Harvard Law Rev. 34 776 Action which is due, reasonable, appropriate to the circumstances, is called for.

2002 Guardian (Nexis) 31 Oct. 6 Lawyers have threatened action on behalf of clients including dealers and private collectors, who believe they lost millions through the collusion.

15.

a. With reference to a thing (material or abstract): the exertion of energy or influence; working, operation (as opposed to inaction or repose).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > [noun]

workOE

operationa1393

workmanshipc1400

actionc1405

act?a1425

workinga1425

activityc1485

executiona1530

play1548

workfulness1570

inworking1587

acting1605

agency1606

operancea1625

transaction1663

operancyc1811

outworking1846

mediacy1854

functioning1856

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) §8 In how manye maneres been the accions or werkynges of penitence.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. xiii Wee need not have recourse unto any starre but the Sunne and the continuity of its action .

1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Reflect. Agric. xvii. 68 in Compl. Gard'ner Every Plant has a peculiar..and infallible Stint or Term, for the Beginning and Duration of its Action.

1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic xi. 293 To avoid all risk of two opposite actions arriving at the same instant at any part of the engine.

1850 W. R. Grove On Correlation Physical Forces (ed. 2) 77 If gold be immersed in hydrochloric acid, no chemical action takes place.

1869 J. Phillips Vesuvius iv. 124 The intervals of action and repose were irregular.

1869 F. A. G. Ouseley Treat. Counterpoint xiv. 83 Until the additional parts recommence their action.

1910 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 67/1 If in a pipe through which water is flowing a sluice is suddenly closed..there is a rise of pressure... This action is termed water hammer.

1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. (new ed.) xii. 516/2 Special ‘slots’..reject the tip of the screwdriver when the action is reversed in an attempt to remove the screw.

b. With reference to a person or other entity regarded as capable of acting in an intentional manner: the performance of some activity or deed, typically to achieve an objective; acting, activity (as opposed to passivity or contemplation).man of action: see man n.¹ Phrases 2l. Also with modifying word, as affirmative, mass, social action, etc. (see the first element).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > doing > [noun]

workingOE

deedc1000

makinglOE

gestsa1340

doing1372

makea1400

workmanshipc1400

faction1447

action1483

performancec1487

performation1504

performent1527

fact1548

practice1553

agitation1573

practisy1573

function1578

affair1598

acture1609

perpetrationa1631

employing1707

1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) ii. lx. f. xlvj Thyne was the action, and I nought but abyl for to suffre whether I wold or no.

a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) viii. l. 614 He gave wp all hys actyown.

1586 Let. to Earl of Leycester 26 In case he failed in the action of her deliuery.

a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iv. i. 133 Certainely a Womans thought runs before her actions .

1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler i. 15 Is not yet resolved whether contemplation or Action be the chiefest thing.

1696 R. Bentley Of Revel. & Messias 8 The human soul is vitally united to the Body by a reciprocal commerce of action and passion.

1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 184. ⁋10 It is necessary to act, but impossible to know the consequences of action.

1756 E. Burke Vindic. Nat. Society 16 Millions, who know no common Principle of Action.

1828 D. Stewart Wks. VI. 121 The word action is properly applied to those exertions which are consequent on volition.

1895 Argosy Sept. 581/2 There are many men who will do brave deeds that require the dash and daring of quick action.

1937 Discovery July 226/1 The outdoor man of action and the indoor man of thought.

1953 W. S. Churchill Let. 12 June in W. S. Churchill & D. Eisenhower Corr. (1990) 71 Dictator Naguib is emboldened to translate his threats into action.

1976 Daily Mirror 16 July 2/3 Next Tuesday's announcement of the monthly jobless total will add to the urgency for action.

1990 J. K. Galbraith Short Hist. Financial Euphoria vi. 62 It was thought that by reassuring statement and action all could again be made as before.

c. With reference to a narrative work, period of time, etc.: the occurrence of events and activity, (now esp.) of a dynamic, exciting, or energetic nature; happenings, incidents; eventfulness.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [noun] > occurrence or event > events

fare1340

happening1561

action1651

1651 N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. 223 Nor [are] they good Historians, that will tell you the bare journall of Action, without the Series of occasion.

1663 J. Spencer Disc. Prodigies ii. 23 That impressiveness of spirit which times of action and change..are generally attended with.

1730 S. Shuckford Sacred & Profane Hist. World Connected II. vi. 50 The Ages in which these Ancients lived were full of Action.

1796 C. Burney tr. P. Metastasio Let. in Mem. Life Metastasio I. 408 This pleasing composition, besides the vivacity of style, is full of action and incidents, which entertain and seduce the reader.

1848 Fraser's Mag. Sept. 322/2 There is not much action; the actual incidents are neither numerous nor startling; and the narrative flows on with surprising quietness.

1940 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 19 Nov. 23/3 The crowd roared at the action on the field below.

1983 E. G. Speare Sign of Beaver 68 Robinson Crusoe had come to an end. Matt had skipped more than half of it, choosing only the pages where there was plenty of action.

2009 Townsville (Queensland) Bull. (Nexis) 7 May (Guide section) 26 Defiance is a worthy addition to a bulging genre, containing enough of everything—action, drama, suspense—to please most moviegoers.

16. Grammar. The act, process, or state expressed by a verb.In early use only with reference to verbs of acting, and opposed to passion; in later use encompassing anything expressed by a verb.

ΚΠ

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 111 Verbes meanes..betoken neyther action nor passion.

1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. iii. i. 303 That kind of word..adjoyned to a Verb, to signifie the quality and affection of the Action or Passion, is stiled an Adverb.

1773 Court Let. Writer 17 The Indicative mood, Which affirms or expresses the action of a verb, as I dance, I sing, I run.

1850 E. Robinson Greek & Eng. Lexicon of New Test. (rev. ed.) 495/1 The idea of verbal action still remains in the participle, corresponding in Engl. to he who, those who, or the like.

1868 N. Amer. Rev. July 341 There are certain external relations..which serve to individualize still further the action of the verb, or limit to a particular time, place, &c.

1930 B. Trnka Syntax Eng. Verb 32 The former [aspects]..express the ingressive, continuative and terminative stages of the verbal action.

1991 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 36 355 A frequent characterization of fεla as an auxiliary verb is that it indicates completion of the verbal action.

1996 Eng. Jrnl. 85 73 A noun or substantive that receives or is affected by the action of a verb within a sentence.

†17. Dramatic performance; acting. Obsolete.In quot. 1629 with punning allusion to sense 18a.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > [noun]

action1540

acting1590

stage-playing1597

interluding1612

play-acting1633

histrionisma1682

theatrics1807

histrionics1824

mumming1861

histrionicism1870

stage play1872

Thespianism1914

1540 J. Palsgrave tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus sig. Bbiii There is noo secrete sence or intent, whych here lyeth hydden in couert, vnder our playeng action.

1602 B. Jonson Poetaster iii. iv. sig. F2 Wee haue as much Ribaldry in our Plaies, as can bee, as you would wish, Captaine: All the sinners..come, and applaud our Action, daily.

1612 J. Webster White Divel sig. M2 ^v For the action of the play, twas generally well, and I dare affirme..the best that euer became them.

1629 P. Massinger Roman Actor iv. ii. sig. I2 As thou didst liue Romes brauest Actor, 'twas my plot that thou Shouldst dye in action.

1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 3. ⁋1 This Evening the Comedy..was acted for the Benefit of Mrs. Bignall..Through the whole Action, she made a very pretty Figure.

1741 S. Richardson Lett. Particular Friends clix. 236 I was greatly moved with the Play, and pleased with the Action. But the low Scenes of Harlequinery that were exhibited afterwards, filled me with high Disgust.

18.

a. Engagement with the enemy; armed conflict, fighting. Frequently in in action: engaging in armed conflict. Cf. missing in action at missing adj. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > war > [noun] > action in war

stroke of battle1525

action1579

the smell (also stink) of powder1786

baptism of fire1857

1579 T. Churchyard Gen. Rehearsall Warres sig. Tj Their footemen that had been so long in action with vs, seyng their retraite prepared for, and their tyme come without sounde of Drumme, stale awaie ouer twoo or three cloases.

1590 R. Williams Briefe Disc. Warre 26 I serued vnder the Ensignes of the M. del Campo, Iulian Remero 22 moneths, and Mondragon 18 moneths, with the domestiques of the braue Don Iohn de Austria eight months, always in action.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. iii. 179 Would in action glorious, I had lost These legges.

1684 Scanderbeg Redivivus v. 115 His Majesty with a Natural Air of Gallantry usual to him in time of Action.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 167 Retire into a peasant's house, near the scene of action.

1805 in Ld. Nelson Dispatches & Lett. (1846) VII. 167 Bore up, and made all sail, forming in two divisions—cleared Ship for Action.

1861 J. H. Macdonald Evol. of Battalion 7 Column formations again, in the British army, are for motion, and not for action, understanding the word action to mean, as in military parlance, engaging the enemy.

1909 Daily Chron. 23 Feb. 1/5 The foremost of the after turrets is raised in such a way as to obtain greater astern fire, and develop all-round fire, which is so important for a ship in action.

1976 R. Massey When I was Young xiii. 108 Major Ringwood was killed in action in 1918.

2004 Belleville (Illinois) News-Democrat (Nexis) 23 Aug. 4 Our military do pretty well with salary, benefits, housing and perks. Most of them never see action.

b. Used as a command given to an artillery unit to indicate the direction in which fighting will take place; spec. (a) action front (also rear)!: ‘prepare for action in front of (or behind) the line of guns’; (b) action left (also right)!: ‘prepare for action to the left (or right)’.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military organization > orders > order [interjection] > artillery orders

action front (also rear)!1845

1845 Instr. Field Artillery 116 When the cannoneers are mounted on the ammunition chests, they dismount and run to their posts at the command Action Front.

1845 Instr. Field Artillery 132 When a battery is halted or marching in a flank direction, it may be formed into battery to the right or left, by the command Action Right or Action Left.

1866 J. E. Cooke Surry of Eagle's-nest xcviii. 350 ‘Action rear!’ Pelham shouted, darting to his guns.

1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 37 But 'e swung 'is 'orses 'andsome when it came to ‘Action Front!’

1902 Field Artill. Training v. 161 Guns..may be brought into action..by the command ‘Action rear’, so as to save unnecessary labour and delay.

1908 G. W. Cable Kincaid's Battery lvii. 313 ‘Battery, trot, walk. Forward into battery! Action front!’ It was at that word that Kincaid's horse went down.

1999 A. Vernon Eyes of Orion ii. 99 When contact with the enemy is made or immediately expected, the platoon leader issues a battle drill command: action front, action right, action left, or action rear.

19.

a. Manner of acting; gesture, esp. in oratory or dramatic performance; (also) gesture or attitude depicted in a sculpture or painting.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun] > in oratory

rhetoric1569

action1579

chironomy1670

1579 S. Gosson Apol. Schoole of Abuse in Ephemerides Phialo f. 85 Players action, doeth answere to their partes.

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 55 The phrase, utterance, and action of those that exercise to make speeches.

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. ii. 17 Sute the action to the word, the word to the action.

1722 J. Richardson Acct. Statues Italy 148 [A sculpture of] Augustus Cæsar on Horseback, the same Action as the Marcus Aurelius, and rather a finer Figure.

1760 S. Johnson Idler 5 Jan. 1 In the Pulpit little Action can be proper.

1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod ii. i. 64 The representation of an archer with his bow in the action of shooting.

1858 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire VI. liv. 227 It was not the mere trick of action, or knack of speaking, that he was to acquire.

1858 C. Patmore Espousals ii, in Angel in House (ed. 2) II. 188 She told her words, and mark'd their sense, By action.

1902 W. B. Yeats Let. 12 Apr. (1994) III. 171 An amateur actor..delights..in what is called ‘business’, in gesture and action of all kinds that are not set down in the text.

1975 Philadelphia Mus. Art Bull. 70 31/1 The action of this figure, with the feet drawn up under the chair and the body twisted and the arm thrown up to shield the face..is a peculiarly complex and difficult one.

1998 New Theatre Q. 14 17/1 Chekhov in his four major plays provides little scope for expressive action or speech at moments of greatest emotion.

b. With reference to an animal, esp. a horse: the management of the body or limbs in movement.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > bodily movement > [noun] > management of

governmentc1485

actiona1616

the world > animals > by habits or actions > habits and actions > [noun] > movement of body

actiona1616

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > special movements performed by trained horse > [noun]

manage1577

air1607

manège1768

action1805

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. i. 6 Imitate the action of the Tyger.

1726 N. B. Farrier's & Horseman's Dict. 53/2 He trots like a Cow, and gallops low; and no Action in any of those Actions.

1805 J. Adams Anal. Horsemanship (new ed.) III. 11 Foreign horses are much admired and selected for the manege, some for their grandeur of figure, others for their fine and brilliant action.

a1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1862) iii. 28 He trotted after, a hundred feet behind the hindmost, with large and liberal action.

1921 Times 17 Aug. 11/4 A horse without action is useless, but the show-ring action, of which so much is made.., is quite as useless as action without a horse.

1968 Observer's Bk. Horses & Ponies (rev. ed.) 113 The Groningen..is also an excellent carriage horse, showing speedy, responsive and stylish action.

2000 M. T. Saastamoinen & E. Barrey in A. T. Bowling & A. Ruvinsky Genetics of Horse (2004) xvi. 453 Good action..is determined largely by leg and feet stances, slope of the shoulders and pasterns, and some other conformation details.

c. Sport. The way in which a person performs a specific activity or movement, such as throwing or striking a ball, running, swimming, etc.; (Cricket) = bowling action n. at bowling n. Additions.

ΚΠ

1828 Morning Post 17 Sept. Great Foot-race... From the soundness of wind and the easy action which Stevenson exhibited, he immediately became the favourite.

1837 Brighton Patriot 25 July This man has a completely original method of bowling, and his action previous the delivery of the ball is so grotesque, that he has obtained the elegant appellation of ‘Jim Crow’.

1858 Times 10 Nov. 12/5 Boat Race... White..got away with a lead of nearly half a length, his action possessing its peculiar and well-acknowledged rapidity.

1897 K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket iii. 81 With some bowlers it either ‘hangs’ or more often comes fast off the pitch owing to something in their regular action.

1908 Baily's Mag. Aug. 147/2 Daniels has a rather peculiar action in the water. His arm stroke seems to be particularly leisurely for a fast swimmer.

1991 Hindu (Madras) 6 Dec. 14/3 Young Cummins is a lean man with a whippy action who bowls at a very lively pace.

2002 D. Leadbetter 100% Golf iii. 85 If a player is hitting those clubs well, he or she can be pretty confident they have a good action going.

d. The way in which an instrument or mechanism, esp. a firearm, acts; the means by which this is effected. Frequently with preceding modifying word.breech, electric, hammer, Mauser, pump, slide action, etc.: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > [noun] > action of

action1845

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > [noun] > action of > arrangement by which action is effected

action1864

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > mechanism > [noun]

mechanic1605

mechanism1758

machinery1803

mechanicism1856

action1864

1845 Lond. Univ. Cal. Exam. Papers 219 Explain the action (1) of the siphon, (2) of the air-pump.

1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. ii. 5 The grand pianoforte with the new action.

1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 195 This lever is secured in position by the screw and washer to a pivot passing through the lever, the said pivot being solid with the action.

1910 Times 16 Dec. 13/5 To have the organ taken down with the substitution of pneumatic action for the old ‘tracker’ action.

1938 E. G. Richardson Physical Sci. Mod. Life viii. 161 The action of the valve may be imitated by shining a torch between the blades of a pair of scissors.

1945 C. E. Balleisen Princ. Firearms v. 51 A delayed-inertia gun in which the action is unlocked by the gas pressure.

2007 Personal Computer World Winter 39/2 You won't want your portable workslate to do that, any more than you want your sander to have a hammer action.

20. colloquial (originally U.S.).

a. Gambling activity.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > betting > [noun] > activity considered important

action1887

1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 145 That's my kind [of game]... You get ‘action’ there every turn. No waiting for the durned cards to come up.

1929 M. Connelly Green Pastures i. vii. 58 Come on, gamblers, see kin you gimme a little action. Who wants any part of dat dollar?

a1953 E. O'Neill Hughie (1959) 36 Hell, I once win twenty grand on a single race. That's action! A good crap game is action, too.

1995 T. Ferguson Fire Line iii. 95 On a second foray through the gaming rooms Ferenc Van Loon scanned the action at the other blackjack counter.

2003 London Rev. Bks. 21 Aug. 3/2 A professional gambler until his death at 27. Poker. High-low was his action.

b. gen. Exciting, important, or notable activity. Cf. Phrases 5.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > that which is important > other

a great speak1587

livera1616

event1794

strategic point1861

action1927

1927 D. Hammett $106,000 Blood Money ii. viii. 104 ‘So meet me at Van Ness and Geary before eleven o'clock.’ ‘Action?’.. ‘Maybe... Bring your little pop-gun along.’

1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed xiv. 90 ‘What happens then?.. Pal, I got to get action some place.’.. ‘Action is the magic word. At six bucks a cap, ten caps a day, a guy has to hustle some.’

1978 S. Brill Teamsters vi. 213 The real action for Dorfman at the pension fund didn't come until March 1967.

1985 Times 2 Jan. 17/4 J Hepworth saw plenty of action on Monday, the share price zipping along from 174p to 191p at one stage.

1993 P. Ackroyd House of Dr. Dee (1994) v. 170 ‘Where are you going now?’ ‘Nowhere. Just looking for some action.’

c. Sexual activity.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > [noun]

playOE

loveOE

toucha1400

chamber workc1450

venery1497

bed-glee1582

bed-game1596

fiddling1622

twatting1893

sexual relations1897

fun time1905

massage1906

sex play1922

actionc1930

hanky-panky1939

making-out1957

lumber1966

c1930 Confessions of Virtuous Wife iv. 42 Ye Gods! what action! [sic] Ah, oh! darling boy, give it me all, now, now, now!

1958 A. Laurents West Side Story i. vi. 71 How's the action on your mother's mattress, Action?

1967 H. S. Thompson Hell's Angels 192 Rape's no fun, anyway..and we get all the action we can handle just standing around.

1971 N.Y. Times Mag. 28 Nov. 92 Only action he get is with his hand.

2002 I. Knight Don't you want Me? v. 58 Try as I might, I really can't fancy the idea of hot lezzo action much at all.

2006 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 12 Mar. xiii. 2/4 Coffee drinkers reported more robust romance, with two-thirds of respondents saying they had sex once a week or more. Only 58 percent of non-coffee drinkers reported as much action.

d. In weakened use, with modifying noun: attributes associated with the thing denoted by the preceding word; experience (esp. of a notable or exciting quality) of the thing denoted by the preceding word.

ΚΠ

1980 L. Birnbach et al. Official Preppy Handbk. 220/1 Heavy —— action n. Whatever one does a lot. ‘Heavy tanning action.’

1992 TransWorld Skateboarding Mar. 23/2 Best song now goes to the tune ‘Infectious Grooves’, a slammin' number with some groove action that has to be heard.

2000 Houston Press (Nexis) 6 Jan. He wears the rap-mogul uniform... Although he is quick to say he's not rolling in the dough (‘yet’), he does have some bling-bling action going on.

2002 D. J. MacHale Merchant of Death 53 There was going to be some major league rash action going on here and they probably didn't have talcum powder.

2003 National Post (Canada) 8 Apr. al3/3 [He] was..bent on demonstrating his general, all-round hipness by saying things like, ‘Oh, look who we have here—we got a little Justin Trudeau action!’

2004 K. Wells Trav. with Barley xvii. 260 This day was starting out as a good lager day... Yet I'd found surprisingly little beer action.

2005 D. Palmerlee et al. Argentina (Lonely Planet) (ed. 5) 156 There's some serious 70s action going on in the lobby here, but it fades rapidly as you approach the rooms.

21. Organized protest by workers or employees over issues such as pay or working conditions, typically in the form of strikes, demonstrations, working to rule, etc.; a protest of this type.direct, industrial, job, strike action: see the first element.

ΚΠ

1891 S. Webb & H. Cox Eight Hours Day 176 We suggest that Trade Union action is an objectionable method of obtaining the Eight Hours Day even in cases where it might possibly prove successful.

1903 Moberly (Missouri) Evening Democrat 16 Oct. 1/3 (heading) Pacific Express employes strike. Action follows refusal of company to grant 10 per cent increase.

1917 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 25 193 (note) On two occasions, when joint action of all the metal trades took place, it was discovered shortly after the strike occurred that a majority of the unions involved were unable to pay strike benefits to their members.

1919 Times 10 Dec. 14/7 The Trades Union Congress had its genesis in a minatory resolution..which called on the Government to nationalize the mines and foreshadowed ‘action’ intended to compel the Government to take that course.

1963 Pittsburgh Courier 21 Sept. 5/2 The Donora action was called off by the union after reports that a ‘reception committee’ had been formed [for the demonstrators].

1976 Daily Tel. 20 July 2 (heading) Junior doctors begin action on holiday pay.

1991 K. Laybourn Brit. Trade Unionism 187 SOGAT and the other print unions decided to call off the action.

22. A film director's command to begin a scene.Cf. lights, camera, action! at light n.¹ Phrases 9.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > filming > [noun] > directing film > director's word of command

action1923

1914 J. B. Rathbun Motion Picture Making iii. 68 At the word ‘Ready’, given by the producer, the camera man starts cranking the machine and the actors stand alert... An instant after follows the order, ‘Start your action’.]

1923 F. A. Talbot Moving Pictures xiv. 218 Ready! Action! Camera!!! Go!!!!

1936 N. Streatfeild Ballet Shoes xvi. 260 There was a moment's pause and then Mr. Sholsky said ‘Action’, which meant Pauline had to start.

1982 E. Barr Acting for Camera xxvi. 186 You must never start until the director says ‘Action’.

2002 Fangoria Mar. 23/1 As director Guillermo del Toro gleefully calls ‘Action’, the ‘victim’ explodes in a geyser of dried blood 'n' rubber guts.

Phrases

P1.

a. into action: into an active or working state; into practical or effective operation.

ΚΠ

1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin x. 590 To meete with these pretences affore they burst out into action..there was no other helpe then the remedie of peace.

1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xii. 203 Courageously themselues they into action put.

1673 Bp. S. Parker Reproof Rehearsal Transprosed 393 These..are the Materials and common Principles of all Rebellion, but they never or very rarely come into action.

1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 244 The impatience natural to the pleasure soon drove us into action.

1793 W. Godwin Enq. Polit. Justice iv. viii. 351 A sensation of pain was the initiative, and put my intellectual powers into action.

1826 E. Irving Babylon II. viii. 312 The Church hath been set into action to prepare the seed-bed of the truth over the earth.

1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea II. 249 Now at length, and after long expectance, they indeed would go into action.

1907 Practitioner Nov. 692 The augmentor nerve is..called into action.

2002 M. Greenhough in Writing Wrongs 79 The commercial grapevine duly sprang into action, showering the newest member of the community with voluminous and combustible offers and advice.

b. in action: in a state of activity, at work; in practical or effective operation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > in operation [phrase]

aworka1398

at work1549

in action1584

on foot1586

in motion1598

in operation1878

the world > action or operation > doing > in action [phrase]

in action1584

on the stir1805

up and about, around1893

1584 J. Rainolds & J. Hart Summe of Conf. viii. 492 They..were called Essees: which was a sect of Iewes, of whom some liued in action, and some in contemplation.

1594 W. Jones tr. J. Lipsius Sixe Bks. Politickes xii. 112 It is not an easie matter to set light by, or assaile him that is sober..; nor one that is wakefull, and alwayes in action.

1619 A. Gorges tr. F. Bacon Wisedome Ancients xxvi. 130 They are euer in action, seeking alwaies to finde out new inuentions.

1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea sig. Aaaa3 To Reader, The Republick maintein's continually in action a great number of ships, gallies and galliots.

1714 J. Swift Some Free Thoughts upon Present State Affairs (1741) 22 The Bulk of those who are now most in Action, either at Court, in Parliament, or Publick Offices, were then Boys at School.

1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 90 He that sold His country, or was slack when she required His every nerve in action and at stretch.

1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. iii. 166 Schemes..were put in action against her life.

1883 J. Nasmyth Autobiogr. 396 Four years ago I saw the same arrangement in action at a dentist's operating-room.

1939 War Illustr. 28 Oct. 217/1 Germany is the modern exemplification of the ‘police state’ in action.

1955 D. B. Fry in B. I. Evans Stud. in Communication 156 The development of the tomogram technique has enabled Ardram and Kemp to obtain remarkable pictures of the larynx in action.

2003 Observer 26 Oct. (Body Uncovered Suppl.) 45/2 It promises to be practically painlessly and patients should be back in action within days.

c. out of action: in a state of inactivity or ineffectuality; unable to work or function.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > inaction > in a state of inactivity [phrase] > out of action

out of order1530

out of commission1533

on the shelfa1577

out of action1703

out of blast1832

1703 tr. P. Dionis Anat. Humane Bodies Improv'd 105 Because they [sc. hibernating animals] being out of action, there is little Dissipation of Humours.

1826 E. Galloway Hist. Steam Engine vii. 191 When it is required to stop the engine, it is only necessary to put the forcing pump out of action.

1853 Times 13 Dec. 6/6 The apparatus which regulates the pressure at out works was suddenly thrown out of action about 9pm.

1919 G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House Pref. in Heartbreak House, Great Catherine, & Playlets of War p. xxxix The Higher Drama put out of action. The effect of the war on the London theatres may now be imagined.

1961 T. Coffin Not to Swift (1962) xviii. 201 Trig and a very black colored boy from Detroit had killed or put out of action ten guerrillas by grenades and hand-to-hand fighting.

1995 Leisure Managem. May 73/1 The club is expected to be out of action for the next six months as damage to the sauna, steamroom, pool, spa, sunbed and changing rooms is repaired.

P2. to take action: to instigate legal proceedings; (more generally) to take steps in regard to any matter, to act.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > doing > act or do [verb (intransitive)] > take action or act towards a result

to make moyen (also moyens)1449

not to lift a finger1529

to take action?1551

solicitate1572

to make a step or stepsa1628

to take a step or stepsa1628

?1551 Sessions against Gardiner in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1563) 849/1 He would not suffer thys Deponent to take action against any of the..tenauntes.

1842 Rep. Senate Commonw. of Mass Feb. No. 63. 5 If any shall object to taking action upon this subject because custom contrary to law will not be unnoticed by our courts of justice [etc.].

1864 S. B. Warner Old Helmet I. vii. 140 Eleanor was young and untried, but her mind had a tolerable back-bone of stiffness when once aroused to take action.

1880 F. G. Lee Church under Q. Elizabeth I. v. 279 Her Majesty's advisers, therefore, lost no time in taking fresh action consequent upon the publication of this Bull.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 301 So Joe starts telling the citizen about..taking action in the matter.

1961 Times 12 May 21/1 Did anybody, or a friendly Power, at any time..suggest that this man was a suspect,..and if so, what action was taken?

2002 Metro 20 Sept. (London ed.) 9/1 Finally, Microsoft is taking action to cut down spam bombarding its Hotmail e-mail addresses.

P3.

action at a distance n. Physics the action of one object on another regardless of the presence or absence of an intervening medium, as in the Newtonian concept of gravitation and classical magnetism; influence without a physical intermediary; = actio in distans n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [noun] > exertion of force from a distance

action at a distance1662

actio in distans1717

1660 H. More Explan. Grand Myst. Godliness iii. vi. 71 The Rayes of things, burning out from all Bodies that act at a distance.]

1662 J. Chandler tr. J. B. van Helmont Oriatrike lxxxiii. 614 That cannot but be done by an action at a distance: To wit, if the Wine be troubled in a Cellar under ground, whereunto no Vine perhaps is near for some Miles, neither is there any discourse of the air under the Earth with the Flower of the absent Vine.

1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature IV. 90 Material action, at a distance, is repugnant to reason.

1834 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 124 237 (heading) Laws of electrical action at a distance.

1838 M. Faraday in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 128 3 That would be a natural result of the action of contiguous particles, but I think utterly incompatible with action at a distance, as assumed by received theories.

1969 Physical Rev. 177 2051/2 The equations of motion were expressible in terms of retarded action at a distance.

2001 Science 14 Sept. 2026/3 The most famous incarnation of entanglement is Einstein's ‘spooky action at a distance’, in which, if one entangled atom is poked, its entangled twin feels the prod, even if it's halfway across the universe.

P4. Proverb. actions speak louder than words: a person's actions are a better indicator of character than what he or she says.

ΚΠ

1628 J. Pym Deb. King's Message to hasten Supply 4 Apr. in Hansard's Parl. Hist. Eng. (1807) II. 274/2 ‘A word spoken in season is like an Apple of Gold set in Pictures of Silver,’ and actions are more precious than words.]

a1730 M. Hole Pract. Expos. Church-Catechism (1732) II. 762 Actions speak louder than Words, and 'tis in vain to be Professors of Piety, if at the same time we are Workers of Iniquity.

1758 J. Bellamy Serm. 197 Words do not answer the End. But Actions speak louder than Words, and will work a thoro' Conviction.

1845 Knickerbocker 25 106 He had heard that ‘actions speak louder than words’, and he acted.

1856 A. Lincoln Coll. Wks. (1953) II. 352 ‘Actions speak louder than words’ is the maxim.

1906 F. McCullagh With Cossacks 178 The gallant foreigner, who could not tell them how he sympathized with them, but whose actions spoke louder than words.

1979 T. Sharpe Wilt Alternative xxiii. 211 ‘Of course I do... How many times do I have to tell you?’‘Actions speak louder than words,’ retorted Eva.

1995 Washington Times 21 May b3 Actions speak louder than words, especially when individual property rights are at stake.

P5. colloquial (originally U.S.). Cf. sense 20.

a. a piece (also share) of the action: involvement in some lucrative or desirable activity.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > financial interest or share

subscription1671

concern1748

piece1900

a piece (also share) of the action1938

the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > [noun] > fact or action of being concerned with

meddlingc1390

implicationc1430

mellingc1440

intermeddling1531

participation1582

mashing1607

trucka1625

concern1643

involvedness1654

interest1660

involvement1706

business1759

immixture1859

involution1886

a piece (also share) of the action1938

1938 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 13 Jan. 23/2 His work down court..[has] earned him the starting berth over Bob Zonne, who, nevertheless, will get in for quite a piece of the action.

1958 H. Gardner Piece of Action 12 A piece of the action on one good retail product and I'll get my own studio and my hours will belong to me.

1966 Maclean's 4 June 1 And last year mink breeders from Scandinavia to California were falling over themselves to buy a piece of the action.

1988 R. Wesson Coping with Lat. Amer. Debt 2 Roughly half of the debt owed to nonofficial bodies is held..secondarily by hundreds of smaller banks that were once eager for a share of the action.

1998 Y.-M. Ooi Flame Tree (1999) vi. 82 There'll be plenty of property developers looking to get a piece of the action.

b. where the action is: where some noteworthy or exciting activity is taking place; where the centre of activity is.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > place of amusement or entertainment > [phrase]

where the action is1960

the world > space > relative position > central condition or position > [phrase] > centre of activity

where it's (he's, she's) at1903

where the action is1960

1960 Mad Sept. 20 That cat who's always looking for a party to go to, and who keeps bugging you to clue him in on where the action is.

1964 Look 15 Dec. 37/1 Nightclub proprietors, by installing record players to replace live bands and adopting the French name ‘discothèque’, have created the legend that this is where the action is.

1973 C. Sagan Cosmic Connection (1974) vii. 52 We [sc. mankind] are in the galactic boondocks, where the action isn't.

1981 ‘A. Cross’ Death in Faculty (1988) 9 Back in the 1950s seventeenth-century poetry had been where the action was.

2002 M. Crichton Prey 30 She's spending a lot of time out at the fab complex. That's where the action is now..because of the new fabrication processes.

Compounds

C1.

action art n. (a) painting or sculpture characterized by the depiction of action or activity; (b) a style of art originating in the abstract expressionist movement, emphasizing the expressive power of the physical act or process of creation over the finished work itself; spec. = action painting n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > action painting or tachism

abstract expressionism1922

action art1930

action painting1952

tachism1956

art autre1957

1930 J. H. Sorrells Working Press 51 Action art is the best art—a picture of somebody doing something.

1958 M. Brion in Art since 1945 46 This Tachiste technique is similar to a technique much favored in the United States, where it is sometimes called ‘action art’.

1992 B. W. Dippie in J. D. Prown et al. Discovered Lands, Invented Pasts iii. 94 Western art is ordinarily thought of as action art... People, animals, and the very landscape seem poised on the brink of something about to happen.

2006 Sevenoaks Chron. (Nexis) 31 Aug. 6 The theme of the day was Action Art and the Jackson Pollock-esque end product was created by flicking colour onto the paper with mops, water pistols and even parts of artists' bodies.

action comedy n. a film or television programme which blends comedy with a lively plot and fast-paced action; cf. action film n., situation comedy n. at situation n. Compounds.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > type of programme

dramedy1905

news film1912

sex comedy1915

television adaptation1935

action comedy1936

sportcast1939

teleshopper1949

telethon1949

special1952

television special1952

TV special1952

science-fictioner1953

spectacular1954

promo1955

sitcom1956

spec1959

spin-off1959

reality programming1962

teleroman1964

mockumentary1965

serialization1965

talk show1965

laugh-in1967

novela1968

reality show1968

breakfast television1971

spy series1975

reality television1978

reality TV1980

series1988

shockumentary1988

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > other types

romantic comedy1748

epic1785

pre-release1871

foreign film1899

frivol1903

dramedy1905

film loop1906

first run1910

detective film1911

colour film1912

news film1912

topical1912

cinemicrograph1913

scenic1913

sport1913

newsreel1914

serial1914

sex comedy1915

war picture1915

telefilm1919

comic1920

true crime1923

art house1925

quickie1926

turkey1927

two-reeler1928

smellie1929

disaster film1930

musical1930

feelie1931

sticky1934

action comedy1936

quota quickie1936

re-release1936

screwball comedy1937

telemovie1937

pickup1939

video film1939

actioner1940

space opera1941

telepic1944

biopic1947

kinescope1949

TV movie1949

pièce noire1951

pièce rose1951

deepie1953

misterioso1953

film noir1956

policier1956

psychodrama1956

free film1958

prequel1958

co-production1959

glossy1960

sexploiter1960

sci-fier1961

tie-in1962

chanchada1963

romcom1963

wuxia1963

chick flick1964

showreel1964

mockumentary1965

sword-and-sandal1965

schlockbuster1966

mondo1967

peplum1968

thriller1968

whydunit1968

schlocker1969

buddy-buddy movie1972

buddy-buddy film1974

buddy film1974

science-fictioner1974

screwball1974

buddy movie1975

slasher movie1975

swashbuckler1975

filmi1976

triptych1976

autobiopic1977

Britcom1977

kidflick1977

noir1977

bodice-ripper1979

chopsocky1981

date movie1983

kaiju eiga1984

screener1986

neo-noir1987

indie1990

bromance2001

hack-and-slash2002

mumblecore2005

dark fantasy2007

hack-and-slay2007

gorefest2012

kidult-

1936 Washington Post 15 Feb. 16/4 From marine biologist to first-grade milkman is the metamorphosis undergone by Allan Lane in ‘Certified’, action comedy in which the former gridiron star appears opposite Joan Fontaine.

1959 Amarillo (Texas) Sunday News-Globe 8 Feb. 5 c/1 (advt.) Colonel Flack... Funniest and most exciting action comedy on television.

2014 Radio Times 18 Jan. (South/West ed.) 118/2 Mildly diverting action comedy about a sassy private investigator who infiltrates a college sorority house.

action committee n. a committee formed in order to take active steps regarding some issue or situation; cf. political action committee n. at political adj. and n. Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > committee > other types of committee

committee1571

council of war1590

special committee1606

standing committeea1632

Committee of Safety1642

working party1744

finance committee1783

Board (also Court) of county commissioners1806

business committee1825

national committee1826

watch committee1835

working group1888

Central Committee1917

action committee1918

action group1927

ombuds-committee1964

PESC1969

1918 Times 1 July 7/3 Signor Orlando has sent a message to the Disabled Soldiers and the Action Committee, in which he pays an eloquent tribute to Serbia.

1949 Britannica Bk. of Year 686/1 Action committee, a Communist committee appointed to purge societies and organizations of all non-Communist elements, as a means of consolidating a communistic revolution.

2001 S. W. Littlejohn & K. Domenici Engaging Communication in Confl. i. 22 Within a short time, action committees were formed to translate the ideas generated at the summit conference into concrete action.

action current n. Physiology the electrical current produced in nerve fibres or other living tissue during activity.

ΚΠ

1883 J. B. Sanderson in Philos. Trans. 1882 (Royal Soc.) 173 55 Of the nature of this preliminary disturbance (to which alone the term excitatory variation ought to be applied, it alone being the analogue of the ‘action current’ of animal physiology) we know nothing.

1914 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. 34 425 The action-current is the only known change accompanying excitation in nerve which is competent to stimulate an adjoining nerve.

1952 J. A. Ramsay Physiol. Approach Lower Animals v. 74 The passage of a nerve impulse is not a purely electrical phenomenon like the passage of current along a wire, although it is invariably accompanied by an action current.

2007 Neuron 55 476/1 Inward deflections were counted as putative T-currents if their amplitude exceeded one-tenth average action current height for more than 10 ms.

action figure n. (a) Art a depiction of a figure in motion; (b) originally North American a toy figure with movable parts, usually representing a fictional or generic character associated with adventurous or heroic action (cf. Action Man n.).

ΚΠ

1920 Waterloo (Iowa) Times-Tribune 11 Jan. 18/4 Third grade boys and girls are greatly interested in making action figures in their art work this week representing out of door sports.

1956 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 12 Nov. 14 (advt.) Lido Frontier Action Figures..20 pieces that move and turn. Cowboys, Indians, horses and fence sections.

1989 Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. 93 68/1 That Kritios and Nesiotes were noted for their action figures is also no reason to discount a link with the quiet Kritios boy: at least one of their six signed bases on the Acropolis supported a figure..standing at rest.

2002 ‘H. Hill’ Flight from Deathrow xxxiii. 188 Of course, there would be the usual tie-ins: action figures, trading cards, a real-life film version of the cartoons, a musical and hopefully an ice show.

action film n. (a) a cinematographic film, a movie; = motion picture n. 1 (now disused); (b) such a film featuring fast-moving action; = action movie at Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > [noun]

living picture1851

kineograph1891

motion picture1891

picture1894

animatograph1896

cinematograph1896

moving picture1896

kinetogram1897

film1899

bioscope1902

action film1909

cinema1909

movie1910

photodrama1910

photoplay1910

movie picture1913

pic1913

screenplay1913

photonovel1916

flick1926

moom pitcher1929

1909 Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat 20 May Those who saw the moving pictures of the Burns-Johnson fight..viewed as good a set of action films as were ever produced.

1921 Des Moines (Iowa) News 30 July (heading) Adventure and action films galore.

1935 Times 1 Mar. 6/1 The..proposal that lawn tennis amateurs be allowed to accept payment for appearing in action films.

1999 A. Hadley Tough Choices 109 She also enjoys action films and going out for meals.

action group n. a group formed to take action on some issue or situation, esp. in local or national politics.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > committee > other types of committee

committee1571

council of war1590

special committee1606

standing committeea1632

Committee of Safety1642

working party1744

finance committee1783

Board (also Court) of county commissioners1806

business committee1825

national committee1826

watch committee1835

working group1888

Central Committee1917

action committee1918

action group1927

ombuds-committee1964

PESC1969

1927 Times 23 Nov. 16/4 The Police of Mexico City have arrested three members of the self-styled ‘action group’ of the League for the Defence of Religious Freedom.

1991 Which? Aug. 438/2 In various recent cases, investors who've lost out have got together to form ‘action groups’.

action line n. (the name of) a telephone helpline or similar service offering practical assistance, intervention, or advice, esp. one operated by a newspaper or other media outlet.

ΚΠ

1966 National Observer (U.S.) 18 July 7/3 Action Line to the rescue.

1971 Times 27 July 12/3 The awkwardness of the dozen letters a week which the Daily Express' Action Line passes on to him from irate customers.

1997 Big Issue 29 Sept. (Student Suppl.) 27/4 If your landlord's being cagey, call the Gas Safety Action Line listed below.

Action Man n. (also with lower-case initials) originally and chiefly British (a proprietary name for) a type of male doll in combat dress; (also) a man likened to such a doll in being brave, strong, etc. (often ironic); frequently attributive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > other

smalleOE

lightc1230

round1402

side-necked1430

wanton1489

Spanish1530

tucked1530

lustya1555

civil1582

open-breasted1598

full1601

everlasting1607

sheeten1611

nothinga1616

burly1651

pin-up1677

slouching1691

double-breasted1701

negligée1718

translated1727

uniform1746

undress1777

single-breasted1796

unworn1798

mamalone1799

costumic1801

safeguard1822

Tom and Jerry1830

lightweight1837

fancy dress1844

wrap-1845

hen-skin1846

Mary Stuart1846

well-cut1849

mousquetaire1851

empire1852

costumary1853

solid1859

spring weight1869

Henri II1870

western1881

hard-boiled1882

man-of-war1883

Henley1886

demi-season1890

Gretchen1890

toreador1892

crossover1893

French cut1896

drifty1897

boxy1898

Buster Brown1902

Romney1903

modistic1907

Peter Pan1908

classic1909

Fauntleroy1911

baby doll1912

flared1928

flare1929

tuck-in1929

unpressed1932

Edwardian1934

swingy1937

topless1937

wraparound1937

dressed-down1939

cover-up1942

Sun Yat-sen1942

utility1942

non-utility1948

sudsable1951

off-the-shoulder1953

peasant1953

flareless1954

A-line1955

matador1955

stretch1956

wash-and-wear1959

layered1962

Tom Jones1964

Carnaby Street1965

Action Man1966

Mao-style1967

wear-dated1968

thermal1970

bondage1980

swaggery1980

hoochie1990

mitumba1990

kinderwhore1994

society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > doll > [noun] > other dolls

aglet babya1616

Flanders baby1782

wax doll1786

Flanders doll1801

paper doll1843

golliwog1895

Jumeau1897

voodoo doll1906

kewpie1909

Barbie1959

Barbie doll1961

Gonk1964

Ookpik1964

Action Man1966

kachina doll1968

society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > doll > [adjective] > attributes of dolls

walkie-talkie1943

Action Man1966

undressable1972

the mind > emotion > courage > heroism > [noun] > brave warrior > young brave

butch1873

lion's whelp1922

Action Man1988

1966 Trade Marks Jrnl. 3 Aug. 1130/2 Palitoy Action Man... Dolls in the form of men, incorporating means of performing movements.

1976 Oadby & Wigston (Leics.) Advertiser 26 Nov. 7/1 (caption) Adventure clothes based on the Action Man theme, with knitted sweater, cotton drill trousers, maroon beret with badge, and belt with press stud pocket.

1982 A. Barr & P. York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 47/2 The Action Man sweater, the Army standard. Olive green—or navy—with cotton patches on shoulders and elbows.

1988 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 25 Sept. 4/2 Action man Michael..became the Princess of Wales' driver.

1999 Guardian 6 Feb. i. 4/5 He enjoyed his action-man image and his personal bravery was often striking.

2001 Sleazenation Dec. 14/2 Action Man isn't what he used to be. First it was suedehead with eagle eyes, then the gripping hands took hold.

action noun n. Grammar a noun expressing action.

ΚΠ

1836 A. Allen Etymol. Anal. Lat. Verbs 216 The action-nouns in tion in Latin and σι in Greek..should also be compared.

1928 Proc. Brit. Acad. 14 366 The monosyllabic action-nouns which are identical in form with the infinitive of the verb for the instantaneous act and a longer form for continued action.

1996 Afr. Lang. & Cultures Suppl. No. 3. 90 Hojis is the action noun of a verb that means ‘to halt on its feet’.

action pack n. a collection of informative or educational materials relating to a particular activity, issue, or course of action.In quot. 1965 denoting a pack of cards describing different physical actions.

ΚΠ

1965 Tulane Drama Rev. 10 35 An ‘action pack’ of about 1,200 cards containing stage directions..were given to the performers.

1974 Family Planning Perspectives 6 160/2 As I opened the packet, tantalizingly labeled Action Pack, a veritable nest of visual goodies fell into my lap: five posters, eight postcards, a page of stickers, a wall chart, a newspaper and a special issue of the New Internationalist magazine.

1991 Which? Aug. (Books Suppl.) 2/1 This Action Pack explains in simple, everyday language the procedures involved in sorting out someone's will.

2003 P. Mitchel Evangelicalism & National Identity in Ulster, 1921–98 viii. 262 A series of Action Packs..were produced for Church groups reflecting on the challenges of Christian discipleship in a divided community.

action-packed adj. full of action or excitement.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > excitement > [adjective] > full of excitement

action-packed1924

the world > action or operation > doing > [adjective] > active as opposed to contemplative > full of action or deeds

deedful1834

action-packed1924

hellzapoppin'1945

deedy1959

1924 Daily Constit. (Chillicothe, Missouri) 5 Dec. 4/6 (advt.) An action packed romance of the plains that travels at machine gun speed.

1983 Listener 10 Feb. 40/1 (advt.) An action-packed novel by John Brasow linked with the BBC 1 serial.

1999 M. Sawyer Park & Ride (2000) xviii. 301 I spent an action-packed weekend queuing to hire bikes and paying extra to scrap with Competitive Dads.

action painter n. an artist who creates action paintings.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > action painting or tachism > artist

abstract expressionist1929

action painter1952

tachist1954

1952 H. Rosenberg in Art News 22 (title) The American action painters.

1958 Times 24 June 6/4 As an Action painter his contemplation results in an eruption of black and scarlet blunt-edged squares.

1999 R. Smith Starr Bright will be with you Soon iii. x. 233 Rob..was an action painter in the Pollock mode, thus expected to be absentminded, or temperamental.

action painting n. originally U.S. a type of abstract expressionist art in which paint is applied to the canvas by the artist's spontaneous or random movements; a painting created in this way.Particularly associated with Jackson Pollock (1912–56), who would work by dripping, pouring, and throwing paint on a horizontal canvas.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > action painting or tachism

abstract expressionism1922

action art1930

action painting1952

tachism1956

art autre1957

1952 H. Rosenberg in Art News 49/1 Action painting is painting in the medium of difficulties.

1963 S. Spender Struggle of Mod. iv. i. 203 Statements..of painters themselves about their action paintings add to the impression that these works are events which add to the world objects.

2007 Independent 26 Feb. 42/3 An abreactive folk art which bore a vague resemblance to American action painting, all violence spent on bright colours, strident brushwork and distorted figures.

action pattern n. Psychology and Zoology a behaviour or sequence of behaviours elicited in response to a particular stimulus or situation; spec. (more fully fixed action pattern, modal action pattern) a rigid sequence of such behaviours which is innate, highly stimulus-dependent, and runs to completion once elicited.

ΚΠ

1920 Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. 14 420 This conforms..to the further use of a similar term ‘action pattern’ by a psychophysiologist like W. B. Cannon.

1953 Behaviour 6 22 In the amphibia it [sc. swimming] approximates to a ‘fixed action pattern’.

1982 R. Hinde Ethology (1986) ii. §iii. 44 Barlow (1977) pointed out that close measurement reveals some variability in even the most apparently stereotyped movements, and suggested that the term [fixed action pattern] be replaced by ‘modal action pattern.’

2007 J. L. Gould & C. G. Gould Animal Architects i. 7 Lorenz and Tinbergen called the behavior that this presumed circuit produced a fixed-action pattern; today it is more often called a motor program.

action photograph n. a photograph representing the subject in motion.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > [noun] > photograph by style or subject

high key1849

carte1861

carte-de-visite1861

wedding group1861

vignette1862

studio portrait1869

press photograph1873

cameo-type1874

war picture1883

mug1887

panel1888

snapshot1890

fuzz-type1893

stickyback1903

action photograph1904

action picture1904

scenic1913

still1916

passport photo1919

mosaic1920

press photo1923

oblique1925

action shot1927

passport photograph1927

profile shot1928

smudgea1931

glossy1931

photomontage1931

photomural1931

head shot1936

pin-up1943

mug shot1950

wedding photograph1956

wedding photo1966

full-frontal1970

photofit1970

split beaver1972

upskirt1994

selfie2002

1904 G. W. Beldam Great Golfers (title page) Illustrated by 268 action-photographs.

1994 R. Preston Hot Zone 226 Just my luck to be the one looking like a dork in the action photographs.

action photography n. photography representing the subject in motion.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > [noun] > types or methods generally

microphotography1857

pistolgraphy1860

portrait photography1864

pistolography1866

photochronography1887

snap-work1889

gallery-practice1891

photoreproduction1892

telephotography1892

Kodakry1893

fuzzyism1894

mugging1899

action photography1905

press photography1910

trick photography1913

Kodachrome1915

panchromatism1919

photo reporting1935

photojournalism1938

photo-reportage1939

strobe1949

streak photography1950

satellite photography1954

digital photography1972

time-lapse1975

1905 G. W. Beldam & C. B. Fry Great Batsmen p. xi The book is founded upon Action-Photography and Actual Experience.

2007 P. Skinner Sports Photogr. x. 130 If you aspire to be an outstanding sports photographer, don't narrow your outlook to just action photography.

action picture n. (a) = action photograph n.; (b) a film featuring fast-moving action; = action movie at Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > [noun] > photograph by style or subject

high key1849

carte1861

carte-de-visite1861

wedding group1861

vignette1862

studio portrait1869

press photograph1873

cameo-type1874

war picture1883

mug1887

panel1888

snapshot1890

fuzz-type1893

stickyback1903

action photograph1904

action picture1904

scenic1913

still1916

passport photo1919

mosaic1920

press photo1923

oblique1925

action shot1927

passport photograph1927

profile shot1928

smudgea1931

glossy1931

photomontage1931

photomural1931

head shot1936

pin-up1943

mug shot1950

wedding photograph1956

wedding photo1966

full-frontal1970

photofit1970

split beaver1972

upskirt1994

selfie2002

1904 Los Angeles Daily Times 11 Aug. ii. 3/4 Photographers after ‘action pictures’ concentrated around the Los Angeles goal.

1927 Washington Post 13 Feb. s13/8 (heading) Feature comedies favored as movies by American tars. Strong action pictures second choice.

1991 Photo Answers May 17/2 Peter Upton took a scorching action picture of a speeding trikist.

1993 Empire Aug. 59/1 Joel Silver is synonymous with wham-bam in-your-face action pictures.

action plan n. a proposed strategy or course of implementation.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > a plan > a proposed plan or a project

propositiona1382

present?a1400

motiona1425

pleaa1500

action1533

propose1568

project1582

proposala1629

projection1633

party1653

projecture1658

scheme1719

ad referendum1753

swim1860

action plan1889

the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > planning a course of action > plan of intended course of action

plan of campaign1780

route map1816

action plan1889

end run1902

strategy1944

game plan1957

scenario1962

1889 Chron. (N.Y.) 9 May 221/1 Now where is the future in profits under your new and glittering Double Back Action Plan?

1942 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 220 57/2 Under the conditions under which a Naval force must operate,..all action plans must necessarily be secret.

1983 N.Y. Times 18 Sept. i. 29/5 These results add reasons to move vigorously in New York with our action plan to improve elementary and secondary education.

2006 P. Williams Rise & Fall Yummy Mummy lxviii. 314 ‘Right. What's your action plan?’ ‘Action plan?’ Other people just live their lives. I lurch between action plans.

action point n. a specific proposal for action, arising from a meeting, discussion, conference, etc.; an issue on which it is agreed that some action should be taken.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > [noun] > an undertaking > thing(s) to be done > list of > issue on which action to be taken

action point1960

1960 Times 10 Aug. 5/2 The document concludes with the following ‘summary of action points’ [etc.].

1982 Industry Week 22 Feb. 52 His predecessor..relied on a decentralized style of management that delegated responsibility to the ‘lowest possible level where action points resided’.

2004 R. Jay & R. Templar Fast Thinking Manager's Man. (ed. 2) 246 At the end of it [sc. the discussion] you should make a decision or agree an action point to take the matter further.

action potential n. Physiology a wave of electrical activity which is propagated through a nerve fibre or other excitable cell by the successive temporary depolarization of adjacent regions of the membrane.

ΚΠ

1913 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 86 217 Galeotti added the action potential to his observed potential.

1939 W. B. Yapp Introd. Animal Physiol. 187 The action potential and the conduction rate both vary approximately as the area of cross-section of the fibre.

1983 Sci. Amer. Feb. 38/2 The arrival of the action potential causes a rapid discharge of neurotransmitter from the terminal into the synaptic cleft.

2001 P. Wolfe Brain Matters iv. 52 The action potential spreads down the axon as the sodium channels open sequentially, somewhat like falling dominoes.

action replay n. British a (slow motion) playback of an incident in a televised sporting event, esp. just after it has occurred; also in extended use.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > [noun] > action or instance of replaying recording > specific

television replay1954

TV replay1955

action replay1970

instant replay1973

1970 Times 8 Sept. 13/4 Sometimes Alan Badel seemed to be in slow motion, like an action replay.

1973 Listener 22 Nov. 720 To see only the action replays of the Royal Wedding, that long-drawn-out Match of the Day, was no doubt to miss the cumulative effect of an occasion.

1977 J. Laker One-day Cricket 115 The action replay can be of great help..in showing the reason for a batsman's dismissal.

2002 Mirror 18 Mar. 29/3 The curling free kick earned England a place in the World Cup Finals and we were treated to umpteen action replays.

action research n. originally Sociology a form of research in which the researcher analyses a problem and uses the results of the analysis to propose and implement possible solutions.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > study of society > [noun] > theories or methods of analysis

reflexivity1662

social statics1843

social causation1848

sociography1881

functionalism1904

class analysis1919

culturalism1919

mass observation1920

survey1927

participant observation1933

participant observing1933

Verstehen1934

panel technique1938

MO1939

ahistoricism1940

historicism1940

technologism1940

action research1945

metasociology1950

pattern variable1951

structural functionalism1951

structuralism1951

panel analysis1955

cliometrics1960

unilinearism1964

technology assessment1966

symbolic interactionism1969

modernization theory1972

processualism1972

postcolonialism1974

decontextualization1976

decontextualizing1980

structurism1989

1945 Sociometry 8 82 The Commission recognizes these two aims not as separate activities but as two aspects of an integrated process of action-research.

1961 Economist 25 Feb. 741/1 A preliminary report on their project of ‘action-research’ has now been prepared.

2005 A. Mackey & S. M. Gass Second Lang. Res. vii. 218 Action research is often motivated by teachers' curiosity and their wish to understand their classrooms.

action researcher n. a person who carries out action research.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > study of society > [noun] > theories or methods of analysis > one who follows or uses

Tolstoyist1894

functionalist1900

Tolstoyan1901

social Darwinist1903

participant observer1924

Paretian1932

mass observer1937

symbolic interactionist1937

structuralist1947

action researcher1950

structural functionalist1953

cliometrician1966

Paretan1969

critical theorist1970

Lévi-Straussian1980

1950 H. M. Proshansky in L. E. Abt & L. Bellak Projective Psychol. iii. 465 For the action researcher there is an integral relationship between scientific inquiry and social action.

1964 Listener 2 Apr. 563/2 The invasion of a big city by a team of action researchers is something of an enterprise.

1993 Appl. Linguistics 14 137 Institutionalizing action research so as to change school staffs into communities of action researchers.

action school n. (with the) the artistic movement associated with action painting.

ΚΠ

1957 Observer 22 Sept. 13/6 The exhibition of these cunning daubs [by chimpanzees], in a gallery which has hitherto striven to remove misgivings about the ‘action’ or tachiste school, is scarcely calculated to win fresh converts.

2003 G. Cotkin Existential Amer. (2005) vi. 132 Even if the painters of the action school had grown rich..the anxiety that adhered to the created object in the moment of its creation remained for Rosenberg a signal achievement.

action sermon n. now historical (in Scottish Presbyterian Churches) the sermon preached before the administration of the Eucharist; cf. sense 6.

ΚΠ

1694 J. Gordon Diary May (1949) 48 The Lord supported me well in preaching the action sermon & in serving 4 full tables & near a fyft & in closing the action.

1706 J. Scott Diary 26 May in J. Stevenson Two Cent. Life in Down (1920) xii. 350 I heard Mr Jackson lecture on Psa 27 4 verse and Mr Shannon the action sermon on Isai:53:10 last clause.

1863 Glasgow Her. 15 Apr. An interval is now allowed in some congregations between the ‘action sermon’ and the sacramental service.

1994 Compar. Stud. Society & Hist. 36 422 The traditional features of the Scottish communion service—the action sermon, the successive servings at tables, the Monday thanksgiving service—were preserved.

action shot n. a shot (shot n.¹ 7e(b)) representing the subject in motion; cf. action photograph n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > [noun] > photograph by style or subject

high key1849

carte1861

carte-de-visite1861

wedding group1861

vignette1862

studio portrait1869

press photograph1873

cameo-type1874

war picture1883

mug1887

panel1888

snapshot1890

fuzz-type1893

stickyback1903

action photograph1904

action picture1904

scenic1913

still1916

passport photo1919

mosaic1920

press photo1923

oblique1925

action shot1927

passport photograph1927

profile shot1928

smudgea1931

glossy1931

photomontage1931

photomural1931

head shot1936

pin-up1943

mug shot1950

wedding photograph1956

wedding photo1966

full-frontal1970

photofit1970

split beaver1972

upskirt1994

selfie2002

1927 Chilicothe (Missouri) Constit. 7 July 6/2 (caption) This remarkable action shot, showing Lou Gehrig..rounding third on the home run.

1958 Listener 23 Oct. 662/3 The action-shots in this absorbing film seemed to me as remarkable as Disney's ‘Living Desert’.

2005 D. Johnson How to do Everything with your Digital Camera (ed. 4) vi. 138 While your camera might usually blur an action shot in a bad way, panning lets you blur it in a good way.

action song n. a (children's) song involving dramatic movement, esp. of the hands.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > types of song > [noun] > other types of song

roundelaya1475

black sanctus?1533

pastorella1597

orgial1610

balow1613

comic song1718

hunting-song1727

vaudeville1739

apopemptic1753

melologue1820

Orphic1855

wren song1855

air de cour1878

Kunstlied1880

action song1883

come-all-you1887

marching song1894

party song1911

theme song1929

honky-tonker1950

protest song1953

sing-along1959

slow jam1961

talking blues1969

rap1979

1883 Athens (Ohio) Messenger 19 Apr. 5/5 An action song entitled the ‘Song of the Clock’, was then sung by a half dozen little Misses whose movements were in graceful and harmonious unison.

1908 M. Steele (title) Children's Action Songs.

1985 National Educ. (N.Z.) Nov. 198/2 The school has already given a performance of Maori action songs, hakas and poi.

2005 P. Tassoni & K. Hucker Planning Play & Early Years (ed. 2) vi. 129 Finger rhymes and action songs help babies and toddlers become aware of their bodies.

action spectrum n. Biology a graphical representation of the effectiveness of a range of electromagnetic wavelengths in producing a given biochemical or physiological response in an organism.

ΚΠ

1937 Jrnl. Gen. Physiol. 21 72 The action spectrum for CO₂ assimilation has bands that correspond in position only to those of the bacteriochlorophyll.

1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) XIV. 188/2 When the bactericidal effectiveness of each of a series of wavelengths is plotted against the wavelength, the resulting curve is an action spectrum for the bactericidal effect.

2006 BioSystems 86 13/1 Hydra's behavioral action spectrum has been elucidated, indicating red blindness.

action sport n. (a) a sport involving vigorous physical activity; (b) = extreme sport at extreme adj., adv., and n. Additions.

ΚΠ

1936 Washington Post 17 Dec. 23/4 Engaging in football and other action sports helps develop the boy into the man.

1969 Pop. Sci. Jan. 195/1 Johnny called it [sc. skydiving] ‘probably the biggest thrill of my life’. It was an endorsement for one of the most exciting and fastest growing action sports around today.

1992 Toronto Star (Nexis) 10 May g6 Those of us who sweat when we play sports relish the heart-pounding fury of action sports such as tennis, hockey, football, rugby.

2008 Best Life Feb. 62/1 The risk that someone might be injured doing an action sport is very real. But I personally don't believe the risk is any greater than the risk of being injured playing football or basketball, and I certainly won't be the dad breaking the skateboard in half.

action stations n. the positions taken up by military personnel in preparation for action; also used as a command or signal to prepare for action; also in singular and in extended use.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military organization > signals > [noun] > signal to action stations

battle stations1898

action stations1914

society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > military position > [noun] > action station

action stations1914

1914 B. Ramsay Diary 25 Aug. in W. S. Chalmers Full Cycle (1959) 20 On being asked why he was not at his action station, the marine replied..that he was ‘duty servant’.

1916 Times 12 June 4/3 At 3.45 on May 31 action stations were sounded off by the buglers.

1923 Man. Seamanship (H.M.S.O.) ii. 46 The custom is—Mondays—Fleet, squadron or ship drill..Fridays—Action stations.

1985 W. Smith Burning Shore 181 Horsthauzen dropped down the tower, jumped off the ladder and took up his action station at the attack table.

1989 Big Comic Fortn. 16 Sept. 21/1 Joker's coming, mates..and he's loaded with jokes to play on us! Action stations! Up to the flat roof!

1996 Sainsbury's Mag. Jan. 43/4 Once a man becomes sexually aroused, it's action stations for his internal reproductive system.

† action-taking adj. Obsolete rare prone to taking legal action; litigious.

ΚΠ

1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear vii. 15 A lilly lyuer'd action taking knaue.

action time n. Physiology and Psychology the period during which a stimulus must act in order to produce a sensation.

ΚΠ

1904 W. McDougall in Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 1 152 We must first ascertain the least time during which a light of given intensity must act upon the retina in order to produce its full effect in sensation... This time I proposed for the sake of brevity to refer to hereafter as the ‘action-time’ of the light-stimulus.

1930 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 16 4 M, the ‘action time’, may be mechanical, but is of unknown nature.

1983 Science 28 Jan. 413/1 It confirms previous suggestions that only a small part of human taste reaction time is attributable to a necessary input or action time.

action verb n. a verb which expresses action, esp. as opposed to a linking verb, modal verb, etc.In quot. 1877 perhaps denoting an active (as opposed to a passive) verb.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > verb > [noun] > other specific types of verb

vocative verbc1414

activec1450

passivec1450

substantive verba1475

neuter1530

gesture1612

nominal1666

quiescent1720

reduplicative1756

dative verb1844

factitive1845

preterite-present1859

compound verb1863

pro-verb1868

preterito-presentia1870

preteritive present1872

action verb1877

verbid1914

inversive1931

eventive1946

hypothetical1957

non-factive1970

commonization1973

contrafactive1985

1877 A. H. Sayce Lect. Assyrian Lang. vii. 81 The insertion of r and l in a root, proceeding from the action verb.

1902 E. H. Lewis Text-bk. Appl. Eng. Gram. 172 Action verbs and link-verbs. Most verbs assert action, or what seems like action: burns, does, runs, thinks.

1991 B. A. Garner in Scribes Jrnl. Legal Writing 2 19 Verbs bring prose to life, or life to prose. But only action verbs do this—verbs such as snatch, stop, grasp, run, urge, plead.

2003 L. E. Rozakis Compl. Idiot's Guide Gram. & Style 106 Sticky situations arise with verbs that sometimes function as linking verbs but other times function as action verbs.

action word n. a word, esp. a verb or verbal noun, used to express action.

ΚΠ

1856 E. Woodford in Minutes Comm. Council Educ. 1855–6 649 The application of the term doing word or action word may be brought out by requiring them to observe or remember different actions.

1909 Elem. School Teacher 9 414 What is mistaken for verbs are the numerous ‘action words’, or verbal nouns.

1934 J. J. Logan Outl. Eng. Philol. 110 Verbs are essentially action-words.

1994 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 8 Jan. d6/5 [He] says skyrocket and spearhead ‘are non-verbs which should be tossed onto the junk heap.’ Every dictionary on the market today accepts both of these highly descriptive action words as verbs.

C2. attributive. Designating a film (or television programme) featuring a great deal of fast-moving action, esp. involving violence, as action feature, action movie, etc. Also: of or relating to a film or filmed action of this type, as action hero, action sequence, etc.Recorded earliest in action film n. (b) at Compounds 1. See also action picture n. (b) at Compounds 1.

ΚΠ

1921 [see action film n. at Compounds 1].

1924 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 27 Sept. 12/2 Fred Thomson..wins a place further in the hearts of action movie fans, by his slam-bang portrayal of a rugged two-fisted son of the out-doors.

1936 N.Y. Times 13 July 11/5 A series of six action features and four color shorts.

1963 Movie July 5/1 Only two of the ‘action sequences’ have any real value as film.

1967 Times 23 Nov. 8/7 The action scenes..do a lot to make up for a slow and talky opening.

1981 J. Monaco How to read Film (rev. ed.) iv. 293 Shaft..was the founding example of the Black action genre that was commercially so popular in the early seventies.

1985 T.V. Times 31 Aug. 25/2 This is ITV's British-made crash-bang-wallop action series.

1989 Blitz Jan. 29/1 Willis proves a compelling leading action hero.

2005 DVD Rev. No. 73. 98/3 A poor knock-off from many a great Hong Kong action flick.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	action
释义	actionn. Brit. /ˈakʃn/, U.S. /ˈækʃən/ Forms: Middle English accioun, Middle English accyoun, Middle English accyoune, Middle English acsyon, Middle English actione (in a late copy), Middle English actioun, Middle English axion, Middle English axyon, Middle English–1500s accione, Middle English–1500s accyon, Middle English–1600s accion, Middle English– action, 1500s actyon, 1500s excyon, 1500s–1600s accon, 1600s acon, 1600s acsion, 1900s– akshun (Caribbean); Scottish pre-1700 acceine, pre-1700 accion, pre-1700 accione, pre-1700 accioun, pre-1700 accioune, pre-1700 accyon, pre-1700 actioun, pre-1700 actioune, pre-1700 actiown, pre-1700 actiowne, pre-1700 actyoun, pre-1700 actyown, pre-1700 actyowne, pre-1700 akcion, pre-1700 akseoun, pre-1700 aksion, pre-1700 1700s actione, pre-1700 1700s– action. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French action; Latin actiōn-, āctiō. Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman accioun, acciun, actione, actioun, Anglo-Norman and Middle French accion, Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French action (of a person) performance of deeds, activity (1223 in Old French), exercise of a claim before a judge, pursual of a lawsuit, legal proceedings (1260), way of proceeding (14th cent.), effect, influence (1426), public discourse (a1564), (in drama or oratory) gesture (a1592), operation of a physical or immaterial agent (1646), events occurring in a play (1660), financial title representing a share of capital (1669; 12th cent. in Old French as acciun ), in Anglo-Norman also (in law) matter in dispute (13th cent.), right to bring a legal action (first half of the 14th cent.), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin actiōn-, āctiō activity, doing, act, deed, dramatic incident, proposal, measure, policy, (of an orator) delivery, speech, speaking, legal process, suit, right to bring a suit, plea, statement of claim, in post-classical Latin also conduct (6th cent.), canon of the Mass (7th cent.), thanksgiving (from 8th cent. in British sources in actio gratiarum ; also 1244 in a British source as actio ), mystery play (c1225 in a British source), record of proceedings (16th cent. in a British source) < āct- past participial stem of agere to do (see act v.) + -iō -ion suffix¹. Compare Old Occitan accion, acihon (1385), Catalan acció (14th cent.), Spanish acción (c1250), Portuguese ação (1257), Italian azione (a1306).In sense 3 after classical Latin cāsus bellī casus belli n. In sense 9 perhaps immediately after Dutch aktie share in a joint-stock company (early 17th cent. in this sense). In sense 12a after French quantité d'action (Moreau de Maupertuis 1748, in Hist. de l'Acad. Royale des Sci. 1744 423). I. Something that is done. 1. Law. A legal process, a lawsuit. (figurative in quot. c1430.)class, derivative, possessory, witness action, etc.: see the first element; action of debt, action of ejectment, action of trover, etc.: see the final element. ΘΚΠ society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [noun] > a lawsuit speechc897 mootc1225 pleadingc1275 pleac1300 actiona1325 quarrela1325 suit1348 pursuit1380 sokena1387 process1395 plead1455 pleament1480 suit in law1530 ployc1600 suit in equity1604 suit in chancery1621 lawsuit1624 instance1654 legal action1656 lis1932 a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) v. 14 Ant ȝif þe lord biþinne þulke tuo ȝer ne marie hoem noȝt, þanne hoe habbeth accion for te recoueren hoere eritage quitliche. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 141 (MED) Hir husband sall hafe his actioun agaynes him before þe iusticez. c1430 (c1370) G. Chaucer A.B.C. (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1878) l. 20 Myn synne & myn confusioun..Han takyn on me a g[r]euous accioun. 1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 431/3 Doubtyng that the stryf accions and pletynges of the poure shold come onely to the presence and knowlege of hys counceyllours. 1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng vi. f. 6^v The lorde maye haue an actyon of Trespace agaynst any man. 1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. i. 2 Master Phang, haue you entred the action ? View more context for this quotation a1601 W. Lambarde Archion (1635) 114 In all other Actions personalls or reals, we have power to yeeld..such Judgements as doe appertaine. 1690 W. Walker Idiomatologia Anglo-Lat. 9 I'le clap an action on your back. 1712 Boston News-let. 9 June 2/1 We were so happy to have almost as many Actions Tryed of late in a little Time, as had been at the Supreme Court, since the Province happily fell under her Majesties immediate Government. 1739 H. Purefoy Let. 20 June in G. Eland Purefoy Lett. (1931) I. vii. 170 If hee don't come & take the mare again & refund the money, my mother will lay an action against him. 1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 216 Actions of ejectment were commenced in the courts at Albany. 1809 T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict. I. D/1 A man attainted of treason..cannot bring an action. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 179 All actions for mesne profits were effectually barred by the general amnesty. 1924 Amer. Mercury Sept. 103/1 The clerks then manage the action, and so they come to regard lawyers as rivals and nuisances. 1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet iv. 290 The two actions..were accorded a change of venue by mutual agreement and arrangement among the litigants. 1992 Daily Tel. 4 Sept. 11/8 The province accepted the legality of homosexual marriages after a government lawyer brought an action against his employer so his partner could share his pension and insurance benefits. 2. Something done or performed, a deed, an act; (in plural) habitual or ordinary deeds, conduct.Sometimes distinguished from act in being viewed as occupying some time in being done. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun] tightc888 workOE laitsc1225 rule?c1225 guise1303 conditionsc1374 actiona1393 governancea1393 governailc1425 port?a1439 fashion1447 dressa1450 governinga1450 walkingc1450 abearing?1454 deport1474 behaving1482 dealing1484 guidinga1500 demeanoura1513 behaviour?1521 walk?1567 daps1582 courses1592 deportment1601 behave?1615 deportation1616 containment1619 conduct1673 haviour1752 daddyism1984 the world > action or operation > doing > [noun] > an act or deed deedc825 i-wurhtc888 workOE casec1325 acta1393 actiona1393 operationc1395 featc1420 exploitc1425 commissionc1475 factc1487 practice1547 part1561 practisement1581 issuea1616 performancea1616 performenta1641 factum1641 coup1791 stunt1904 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 388 (MED) To conferme his accioun, He hath withholde Malebouche. ?c1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr. Ii.3.21) (1886) v. pr. vi. 138 Al thowh þat thow torne thy self bi thi free wyl in to diuerse accions. 1585 R. Lane Let. 12 Aug. in Trans. & Coll. Amer. Antiquarian Soc. (1860) 4 8 Your honor's servaunte hathe carryed him selfe soo honestely and soo industryousely in all occasyones and acciones of thys voyeage. a1586 R. Maitland Hist. House of Seytoun (1829) 7 In all your actiouns and effairs. 1611 Bible (King James) 1 Sam. ii. 3 The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) iv. ii. 3 When our Actions do not, Our feares do make vs Traitors. View more context for this quotation 1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding i. iii. 16 I have always thought the Actions of Men the best Interpreters of their thoughts. 1764 C. Churchill Candidate 6 Enough of Wilkes—with good and honest men His actions speak much stronger than my pen. 1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V II. ii. 96 The manner in which he justified this action was still more provoking than the action itself. 1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. iii. i. 142 An Action, the product and expression of exerted Force. 1895 Argosy Sept. 585/1 Their sayings and actions at such times frequently save them from a deserved chastisement. 1918 R. S. Woodworth Dynamic Psychol. iii. 65 As the individual grows up, his actions are more and more controlled by inner drives. 1974 A. Lurie War between Tates (1977) v. 102 She has declared, not so much verbally, as by her recent actions, that she cannot fight any more. 1991 P. Barker Regeneration i. 8 The throwing away of the medal still struck him as odd. That surely had been the action of a man at the end of his tether. †3. Scottish. A matter concerning a person; a cause which is espoused or followed; grounds for doing something. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [noun] > reason or ground achesounc1230 anchesouna1250 reasona1250 groundc1275 matter1340 purposec1350 cause1413 quarrel1476 actiona1500 subject1577 spring of action1583 qualitya1586 inducement1593 place1593 theme1594 instance1597 motive1605 impulsivea1628 justifiera1635 foundation1641 rise1641 plummet1679 mainspring1695 the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > [noun] > business claiming attention > an occupation or affair charec897 matter?c1225 journeya1352 affairc1390 notea1400 incident1485 concernment1495 actiona1500 business1524 concern1680 job1680 ploya1689 show1797 game1812 caper1839 pigeon dropping1850 shebang1869 hoodoo1876 racket1880 palaver1899 scene1964 a1500 Ratis Raving (Cambr. Kk.1.5) l. 1528 in R. Girvan Ratis Raving & Other Early Scots Poems (1939) 43 Tharfor thar propre accioune With al thar procuracioune Wyll besy thaim. a1525 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 238 The erll of Huntlie..displayit the kingis banere, and said it was the kingis actioun and he was his luftennend. c1540 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. xiv. vi. f. 208/1 The paip..decernit y^e scottis to haue iust action of battal in defence of thair liberteis aganis king Edward. 1571 G. Buchanan Admonitioun Trew Lordis sig. B.7 Hauing sa euil ane actioun.., thay prouoik the Quenis Maiestie of Ingland. 1603 in S. Ree Rec. Elgin (1908) II. 111 Being inquerit quhat actioun..scho haid to go..to Spynie. †4. A proposition, motion, or question for discussion. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > a plan > a proposed plan or a project propositiona1382 present?a1400 motiona1425 pleaa1500 action1533 propose1568 project1582 proposala1629 projection1633 party1653 projecture1658 scheme1719 ad referendum1753 swim1860 action plan1889 1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1822) ii. 154 Valerius dictator..afore ony accioun wes discussit be the senate, proponit the accioun of the victorius pepill [L. namque Valerius..omnium actionum in senatu primam habuit pro victore populo]. 1579 G. Fenton in tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin iii. 141 (note) The Senat of Venice debateth vpon the action of Pysa. †5. A session of an ecclesiastical council; a transaction or act of such a council. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > faith > church government > council > [noun] council1125 sene1380 synoda1387 senyiec1425 synody1548 action1567 sanhedrim1653 society > faith > church government > council > [noun] > decision or decree of synodal1485 action1567 1567 T. Stapleton Counterblast iii. xii. 259 In the sixt Action the Photians appearing agayne, and being moued as well of the whole Synod, as of the Emperour, to repentaunce, they yet perseuered obstinately in their schisme. a1613 E. Brerewood Enq. Langs. & Relig. (1614) xxi. 153 As we reade in the actions of that Councell. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie (1636) i. iii. 197 The 3 tome of the sixt action of the second Councell of Nice. 1693 W. Wotton tr. L. E. Du Pin New Hist. Eccl. Writers (ed. 2) I. 98 The Form of Faith which Julian sent to S. Leo, was nothing else, but the definition of Faith, which is in the Fifth Action of the Council of Chalcedon. 6. Christian Church. A devotional exercise; spec. (chiefly Scottish) the celebration of the Eucharist. Cf. action sermon n. at Compounds 1. ΘΚΠ society > faith > worship > observance, ritual > [noun] usec1400 divine1480 actiona1572 liturgy1593 ritual1620 opus Dei1860 li1912 a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1848) II. 139 The actioun of the Messe. 1597 in S. Ree Rec. Elgin (1908) II. 49 The kirk duiris sall be closit..and remane sa quhill the actioun be endit. 1659 J. Lamont Diary (1830) 148 Mr James himselfe preach[ed] before the action. 1659 A. Hay Diary (1901) 82 After sermon Mr Rob opened the actioun, and served 2 tables. 1843 J. Miley Rome I. ii. xviii. 235 The priest began the canon, or action of the mass—‘infra actionem sacerdotis’. 1855 F. Procter Hist. Bk. Common Prayer 353 The Lord's Prayer also begins the action of thanksgiving [L. actio gratiarum]. 1951 F. A. Brunner tr. A. Jungmann Mass of Rom. Rite I. ii. ii. 180 The phrases to be read right after the words of consecration, at the very climax of the whole action. 1999 K. W. Irwin Responses to 101 Questions on Mass xxiv. 49 Sunday Eucharist is the premier liturgical action whereby we renew our baptismal covenant. 7. A military engagement, a battle. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > armed encounter > [noun] fightc893 coursec1325 stourc1325 acounterc1330 meetingc1330 setc1330 showera1375 brusha1400 semblya1400 hosting1422 poynyec1425 conflictc1440 militancea1460 grate1460 rencounter1471 chaplea1500 flitea1513 concourse?1520 concursion1533 rescounter1543 spurnc1560 rencontrea1572 discourse1573 action1579 combat1582 opposition1598 do1915 1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin iii. 138 In such like actions were consumed by the one and other armie, about three monethes. 1589 R. Lane in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations 747 Hee had in that storme sustained more perill of wracke then in all his former most honourable actions against the Spaniards. 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing i. i. 6 How many gentlemen haue you lost in this action ? View more context for this quotation 1665 S. Pepys Diary 17 June (1972) VI. 130 His serviceableness in this late great action. 1769 W. Robertson Hist. Charles V II. iii. 184 They defeated the nobility in several actions. 1798 Ld. Nelson in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) III. 95 During their march they had some actions with the Mamelukes. 1799 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1834) I. 21 More troops being sent out to their aid, a general action ensued. 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 437 Between the army of Waldeck and the army of Humieres no general action took place. 1863 Edinb. Rev. Jan. 2 After a bloody action, characterised by circumstances of extreme danger,..the British army had enough to do to maintain itself on the field of battle. 1946 Italica 23 278 Machiavelli..lays stress on the brief share of artillery in general actions. 1998 J. M. Collins Mil. Geogr. for Professionals & Public iii. 41 Small-unit actions by foot troops predominate, control is uncertain, and fluid maneuvers are infeasible. 8. A gesture or movement, esp. one accompanying speech or song. ΚΠ a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) v. i. 27 It is an accustom'd action with her, to seeme thus washing her hands. View more context for this quotation 1699 Royal Sufferer: Man. of Medit. & Devotions 186 Let thy Speech be Sober, Simple, and Harmless,..without Mimical Actions, like a Stage-play. a1758 J. Ward Syst. Oratory (1759) II. xlix. 357 All finical and trifling actions of the fingers ought to be avoided. 1824 J. D. Cochrane Narr. Pedestrian Journey through Russia v. 102 One of these wanderers I induced to sing; but, though the air was musical enough, its words, as I understood, and the accompanying actions, as I could perceive, were much too obscene. 1834 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 333 Whether this sign shall be a word or an action is for us to choose. If an action, then translation must follow. 1935 J. D. Wilson What happens in Hamlet iv. 106 As he speaks we may imagine him jerking a thumb over his shoulder towards the inner-stage... Words and the action are a direct invitation to the spectators to look in that direction. 1975 J. Pocius Textile Trad. Avalon Penins. 15 Pulling it [sc. wool] apart..with the fingers using a teasing action. 1997 H. H. Tan Foreign Bodies (1998) i. 2 Trust me, you haven't seen something truly Satanic until you've seen your mother belting out ‘Chain Reaction’ complete with Diana Ross hand actions and bum wiggles. †9. A share in a joint-stock company. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > stocks, shares, or bonds > [noun] > share action1662 share1689 1662 G. Carew Fraud & Violence Discovered 118 When Sir William Courten set forth his Ships in 1635. and 1636. the Dutch Actions fell far lower, and the English Actions of the old Company did rise 20l. and 30l. in the 100l. 1683 London Gaz. mdcccxv. 4 The Actions of our East-India Company are very much fallen. a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 330 The actions sinking on the sudden on the breaking out of a new war. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) To Melt or Liquidate an Action, is to sell, or turn it into Money &c. 1864 J. H. Burton Scot Abroad II. 264 The impetuosity with which the actions rose. 10. Chiefly with the. The event or series of events represented or described in a play, film, novel, or similar work. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > [noun] > plot plat1589 plot1613 paper-plot1622 bone1647 intrigue1651 action1668 intrigo1672 fable1678 story1679 happy ending1748 storyline1906 plot line1907 1668 J. Dryden Secret-love Pref. sig. a2^v The Queen..seems to stand idle while the great action of the Drama is still depending. 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 267. ¶2 This Action [of an Epic] should have three Qualifications in it. First, It should be but one Action. Secondly, It should be an entire Action; and, Thirdly, It should be a great Action. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) The Action of the Iliad..holds but 47 Days. 1826 Times 24 Mar. 3/2 Lord Byron has described with great precision the time and place at which the action of the poem is going on. 1847 Fine Arts Jrnl. 8 May 426/1 The action of the opera proceeded while the bounding billow then spent itself on a shelving shore. 1902 Daily Chron. 26 Feb. 3/5 ‘The Expatriates’ is a novel by Miss Lilian Bell... Its principal characters are rich Americans and titled Parisians, and the action takes place largely in Paris. 1966 H. P. Manoogian Film-maker's Art vi. 219 As the action within the scene proceeds a number of medium shots and close-ups are taken to relate that action. 1994 Guardian (Nexis) 24 Mar. 8 I was invited to a meeting with Steven Spielberg in Cracow, which is where the action of the film takes place. †11. A theatrical performance, a play. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] playeOE joyc1440 sportc1475 historya1509 drama?1521 stage playa1535 gameplay1560 show1565 device1598 piece1616 auto1670 action1679 natak1826 speakie1921 1679 Tryals & Condemnation Jesuits 47 He was at an Action of ours, a Latine Play. 12. a. Physics. Originally: †the product of speed and the distance over which it is maintained (obsolete). Later: the product (or a corresponding integral) of momentum and distance; (equivalently) the product (or a corresponding integral) of kinetic energy (or kinetic energy minus potential energy) and time; (also) the integral of the Lagrangian with respect to time. More generally: the integral of the generalized momenta of a system with respect to generalized coordinates. Symbol S. Cf. law (also principle) of least action at least adj., pron., n., and adv. Phrases 7.quantum of action: see quantum n. 5b. ΚΠ 1814 J. Toplis tr. P. S. de Laplace Treat. Analyt. Mech. ii. 47 Maupertuis..asserted, that in all the changes which take place in the situation of a body, the product of the mass of the body by its velocity and the space which it has passed over is a minimum. This he called the principle of the least action. 1834 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 124 252 The action or accumulated living force of a system..may be regarded as a function of the 6n+1 quantities already mentioned. 1876 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 5th Ser. 2 269 The function A = 2iT, which Marpertius [read Maupertuis] named ‘action’, is (with respect to the source of the energy received) absolutely less in amount at the end of each variation than at its commencement. 1911 Science 27 Jan. 155/2 Other papers read... The Curves of Equal Action for Elliptical Coordinates. 1920 A. S. Eddington Space, Time & Gravitation ix. 147 Action..is a very technical term, and is not to be confused with Newton's ‘Action and Reaction’. 1928 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 120 484 (8) and (9) are the correct electromagnetic equivalents of the action and of the Lagrangian function of a mechanical system. 1964 R. P. Feynman et al. Lect. Physics II. xix. 8 The function that is integrated over time to get the action S is called the Lagrangian. 1988 Nature 7 Jan. 31/1 Max Planck was perhaps the first in the twentieth century..to argue strongly that the action is the most basic quantity in physics. 1995 C. F. Stevens Six Core Theories Mod. Physics ii. 62 The path x(t) that satisfies the Euler–Lagrange equation is also the one that makes the function S, called the action, a minimum. 1998 New Scientist 9 May 44/2 Every conceivable path has a different action, and of all these, the path actually taken has the least. b. Mathematics. A transformation induced by a group on a set according to some suitably defined rule or rules. ΚΠ 1936 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 40 29 The surface swept out by qr′ under the action of the group is a twisted strip of index k. 1956 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 42 349 The object of this note is to study principally the action of a finite group on a closed manifold. 2002 S. Lang Algebra (rev. ed.) 25 An operation or an action of G on S is a homomorphism..of G into the group of permutations of S. II. The process or action of doing. 13. The exertion of force or influence by one thing on another; influence, effect; agency. Cf. reaction n. 2a. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > operation upon something > [noun] workinga1382 impression1390 actiona1398 affection1489 suppressiona1500 operation1525 influence1598 effect1608 manage1608 solicitation1626 attingency1642 influx1644 influency1651 incidence1656 attingence1678 influencing1754 impact1817 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 212 Þat comeþ of accioun and worchyng of perfyt hete. a1475 Bk. Quinte Essence (1889) 8 Aȝens al maner scharpnes or accioun of visible fier. 1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 121 Medicines many times haue an action of heate, yet of their potentiall power they doe ouercoole and infrese the body. 1656 T. Hobbes Elem. Philos. iii. xxii. 248 When..one Body having opposite Endeavour to another Body, moveth the same, and that moveth a third, and so on, I call that action Propagation of Motion. 1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 29 He exposed them to the action of the Sun. 1726 A. Monro Anat. Humane Bones ii. 201 The two superior of these four [superior Dorsal vertebræ]..are flatned..by the Action of the Musculi longi colli. 1745 R. James Medicinal Dict. II. at Cathartica This may possibly have been a particular Preparation of Hellebore corrected, in order to render its Action less violent. 1763 J. Smeaton Reports (1812) I. 103 An immense quantity of flint, pebbles, or broken flints, rounded by the action of the sea. 1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. xv. 149 The action, or the attractive force, of the Sun and Moon, on such protuberance. 1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 117 Submit the whole to the action of a slow fire. 1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. §2, 17 Observed upon the rocks and mountains the action of ancient glaciers. 1864 A. B. Garrod Essentials Materia Medica (ed. 2) 292 Canada balsam resembles the other turpentines in its action. 1927 N. V. Sidgwick Electronic Theory of Valency i. 10 Exposure under suitable conditions to the action of light, heat, or electricity. 1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) l. 521 Potassium hypobromite is formed by the action of bromine on cold dilute aqueous potassium hydroxide. 1941 Chem. Abstr. 35 3596 The mechanism of the bactericidal action of Zephirol. 2007 Brit. Archaeol. Sept. 9/1 Material churned up by former glacial action. 14. Law. The taking of legal steps to establish a claim or obtain judicial remedy; the right to institute such a legal process. Cf. property in action n. at property n. Phrases and to take action at Phrases 2. ΚΠ ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 196 Whilk of vs is doun & mad is recreant, Cleyme & accioun he lese. c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. ii. l. 94 Kynges..shoulde..holde with hym and with hure þat han triwe accion. ?a1475 (?a1425) in tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1882) VIII. App. 503 (MED) The heires..scholde not reioyce eny of theire londes..but thay scholde be excluded for ever from eny accion to hyt or theyme or eny other clayme. a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 157 I may have noon accion ayenst the. 1595 W. Allen et al. Conf. Next Succession Crowne of Ingland sig. * ^v Such as may haue clayme or action to the crowne of Ingland at this day. 1641 Rastell's Termes de la Ley (new ed.) f. 59 The King himselfe cannot grant his thing in Action, which is uncertain. 1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. i. 45 Liable to the action of every Man. 1772 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra I. Pref. p. xiv A double remedy is open to them, by action and indictment. 1809 T. E. Tomlins Jacob's Law-dict. I. D/2 If one calls a merchant bankrupt, action lies. 1895 Yale Law Jrnl. 5 45 The right of action for breach of contract forms the subject of the last chapter. 1921 Harvard Law Rev. 34 776 Action which is due, reasonable, appropriate to the circumstances, is called for. 2002 Guardian (Nexis) 31 Oct. 6 Lawyers have threatened action on behalf of clients including dealers and private collectors, who believe they lost millions through the collusion. 15. a. With reference to a thing (material or abstract): the exertion of energy or influence; working, operation (as opposed to inaction or repose). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > [noun] workOE operationa1393 workmanshipc1400 actionc1405 act?a1425 workinga1425 activityc1485 executiona1530 play1548 workfulness1570 inworking1587 acting1605 agency1606 operancea1625 transaction1663 operancyc1811 outworking1846 mediacy1854 functioning1856 c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) §8 In how manye maneres been the accions or werkynges of penitence. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. xiii Wee need not have recourse unto any starre but the Sunne and the continuity of its action . View more context for this quotation 1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Reflect. Agric. xvii. 68 in Compl. Gard'ner Every Plant has a peculiar..and infallible Stint or Term, for the Beginning and Duration of its Action. 1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic xi. 293 To avoid all risk of two opposite actions arriving at the same instant at any part of the engine. 1850 W. R. Grove On Correlation Physical Forces (ed. 2) 77 If gold be immersed in hydrochloric acid, no chemical action takes place. 1869 J. Phillips Vesuvius iv. 124 The intervals of action and repose were irregular. 1869 F. A. G. Ouseley Treat. Counterpoint xiv. 83 Until the additional parts recommence their action. 1910 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 67/1 If in a pipe through which water is flowing a sluice is suddenly closed..there is a rise of pressure... This action is termed water hammer. 1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. (new ed.) xii. 516/2 Special ‘slots’..reject the tip of the screwdriver when the action is reversed in an attempt to remove the screw. b. With reference to a person or other entity regarded as capable of acting in an intentional manner: the performance of some activity or deed, typically to achieve an objective; acting, activity (as opposed to passivity or contemplation).man of action: see man n.¹ Phrases 2l. Also with modifying word, as affirmative, mass, social action, etc. (see the first element). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > [noun] workingOE deedc1000 makinglOE gestsa1340 doing1372 makea1400 workmanshipc1400 faction1447 action1483 performancec1487 performation1504 performent1527 fact1548 practice1553 agitation1573 practisy1573 function1578 affair1598 acture1609 perpetrationa1631 employing1707 1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) ii. lx. f. xlvj Thyne was the action, and I nought but abyl for to suffre whether I wold or no. a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) viii. l. 614 He gave wp all hys actyown. 1586 Let. to Earl of Leycester 26 In case he failed in the action of her deliuery. a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iv. i. 133 Certainely a Womans thought runs before her actions . View more context for this quotation 1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler i. 15 Is not yet resolved whether contemplation or Action be the chiefest thing. View more context for this quotation 1696 R. Bentley Of Revel. & Messias 8 The human soul is vitally united to the Body by a reciprocal commerce of action and passion. 1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 184. ⁋10 It is necessary to act, but impossible to know the consequences of action. 1756 E. Burke Vindic. Nat. Society 16 Millions, who know no common Principle of Action. 1828 D. Stewart Wks. VI. 121 The word action is properly applied to those exertions which are consequent on volition. 1895 Argosy Sept. 581/2 There are many men who will do brave deeds that require the dash and daring of quick action. 1937 Discovery July 226/1 The outdoor man of action and the indoor man of thought. 1953 W. S. Churchill Let. 12 June in W. S. Churchill & D. Eisenhower Corr. (1990) 71 Dictator Naguib is emboldened to translate his threats into action. 1976 Daily Mirror 16 July 2/3 Next Tuesday's announcement of the monthly jobless total will add to the urgency for action. 1990 J. K. Galbraith Short Hist. Financial Euphoria vi. 62 It was thought that by reassuring statement and action all could again be made as before. c. With reference to a narrative work, period of time, etc.: the occurrence of events and activity, (now esp.) of a dynamic, exciting, or energetic nature; happenings, incidents; eventfulness. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [noun] > occurrence or event > events fare1340 happening1561 action1651 1651 N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. 223 Nor [are] they good Historians, that will tell you the bare journall of Action, without the Series of occasion. 1663 J. Spencer Disc. Prodigies ii. 23 That impressiveness of spirit which times of action and change..are generally attended with. 1730 S. Shuckford Sacred & Profane Hist. World Connected II. vi. 50 The Ages in which these Ancients lived were full of Action. 1796 C. Burney tr. P. Metastasio Let. in Mem. Life Metastasio I. 408 This pleasing composition, besides the vivacity of style, is full of action and incidents, which entertain and seduce the reader. 1848 Fraser's Mag. Sept. 322/2 There is not much action; the actual incidents are neither numerous nor startling; and the narrative flows on with surprising quietness. 1940 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 19 Nov. 23/3 The crowd roared at the action on the field below. 1983 E. G. Speare Sign of Beaver 68 Robinson Crusoe had come to an end. Matt had skipped more than half of it, choosing only the pages where there was plenty of action. 2009 Townsville (Queensland) Bull. (Nexis) 7 May (Guide section) 26 Defiance is a worthy addition to a bulging genre, containing enough of everything—action, drama, suspense—to please most moviegoers. 16. Grammar. The act, process, or state expressed by a verb.In early use only with reference to verbs of acting, and opposed to passion; in later use encompassing anything expressed by a verb. ΚΠ 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 111 Verbes meanes..betoken neyther action nor passion. 1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. iii. i. 303 That kind of word..adjoyned to a Verb, to signifie the quality and affection of the Action or Passion, is stiled an Adverb. 1773 Court Let. Writer 17 The Indicative mood, Which affirms or expresses the action of a verb, as I dance, I sing, I run. 1850 E. Robinson Greek & Eng. Lexicon of New Test. (rev. ed.) 495/1 The idea of verbal action still remains in the participle, corresponding in Engl. to he who, those who, or the like. 1868 N. Amer. Rev. July 341 There are certain external relations..which serve to individualize still further the action of the verb, or limit to a particular time, place, &c. 1930 B. Trnka Syntax Eng. Verb 32 The former [aspects]..express the ingressive, continuative and terminative stages of the verbal action. 1991 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 36 355 A frequent characterization of fεla as an auxiliary verb is that it indicates completion of the verbal action. 1996 Eng. Jrnl. 85 73 A noun or substantive that receives or is affected by the action of a verb within a sentence. †17. Dramatic performance; acting. Obsolete.In quot. 1629 with punning allusion to sense 18a. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > [noun] action1540 acting1590 stage-playing1597 interluding1612 play-acting1633 histrionisma1682 theatrics1807 histrionics1824 mumming1861 histrionicism1870 stage play1872 Thespianism1914 1540 J. Palsgrave tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus sig. Bbiii There is noo secrete sence or intent, whych here lyeth hydden in couert, vnder our playeng action. 1602 B. Jonson Poetaster iii. iv. sig. F2 Wee haue as much Ribaldry in our Plaies, as can bee, as you would wish, Captaine: All the sinners..come, and applaud our Action, daily. View more context for this quotation 1612 J. Webster White Divel sig. M2 ^v For the action of the play, twas generally well, and I dare affirme..the best that euer became them. 1629 P. Massinger Roman Actor iv. ii. sig. I2 As thou didst liue Romes brauest Actor, 'twas my plot that thou Shouldst dye in action. 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 3. ⁋1 This Evening the Comedy..was acted for the Benefit of Mrs. Bignall..Through the whole Action, she made a very pretty Figure. 1741 S. Richardson Lett. Particular Friends clix. 236 I was greatly moved with the Play, and pleased with the Action. But the low Scenes of Harlequinery that were exhibited afterwards, filled me with high Disgust. 18. a. Engagement with the enemy; armed conflict, fighting. Frequently in in action: engaging in armed conflict. Cf. missing in action at missing adj. 1b. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > war > [noun] > action in war stroke of battle1525 action1579 the smell (also stink) of powder1786 baptism of fire1857 1579 T. Churchyard Gen. Rehearsall Warres sig. Tj Their footemen that had been so long in action with vs, seyng their retraite prepared for, and their tyme come without sounde of Drumme, stale awaie ouer twoo or three cloases. 1590 R. Williams Briefe Disc. Warre 26 I serued vnder the Ensignes of the M. del Campo, Iulian Remero 22 moneths, and Mondragon 18 moneths, with the domestiques of the braue Don Iohn de Austria eight months, always in action. a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) ii. iii. 179 Would in action glorious, I had lost These legges. View more context for this quotation 1684 Scanderbeg Redivivus v. 115 His Majesty with a Natural Air of Gallantry usual to him in time of Action. 1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 167 Retire into a peasant's house, near the scene of action. 1805 in Ld. Nelson Dispatches & Lett. (1846) VII. 167 Bore up, and made all sail, forming in two divisions—cleared Ship for Action. 1861 J. H. Macdonald Evol. of Battalion 7 Column formations again, in the British army, are for motion, and not for action, understanding the word action to mean, as in military parlance, engaging the enemy. 1909 Daily Chron. 23 Feb. 1/5 The foremost of the after turrets is raised in such a way as to obtain greater astern fire, and develop all-round fire, which is so important for a ship in action. 1976 R. Massey When I was Young xiii. 108 Major Ringwood was killed in action in 1918. 2004 Belleville (Illinois) News-Democrat (Nexis) 23 Aug. 4 Our military do pretty well with salary, benefits, housing and perks. Most of them never see action. b. Used as a command given to an artillery unit to indicate the direction in which fighting will take place; spec. (a) action front (also rear)!: ‘prepare for action in front of (or behind) the line of guns’; (b) action left (also right)!: ‘prepare for action to the left (or right)’. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military organization > orders > order [interjection] > artillery orders action front (also rear)!1845 1845 Instr. Field Artillery 116 When the cannoneers are mounted on the ammunition chests, they dismount and run to their posts at the command Action Front. 1845 Instr. Field Artillery 132 When a battery is halted or marching in a flank direction, it may be formed into battery to the right or left, by the command Action Right or Action Left. 1866 J. E. Cooke Surry of Eagle's-nest xcviii. 350 ‘Action rear!’ Pelham shouted, darting to his guns. 1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 37 But 'e swung 'is 'orses 'andsome when it came to ‘Action Front!’ 1902 Field Artill. Training v. 161 Guns..may be brought into action..by the command ‘Action rear’, so as to save unnecessary labour and delay. 1908 G. W. Cable Kincaid's Battery lvii. 313 ‘Battery, trot, walk. Forward into battery! Action front!’ It was at that word that Kincaid's horse went down. 1999 A. Vernon Eyes of Orion ii. 99 When contact with the enemy is made or immediately expected, the platoon leader issues a battle drill command: action front, action right, action left, or action rear. 19. a. Manner of acting; gesture, esp. in oratory or dramatic performance; (also) gesture or attitude depicted in a sculpture or painting. ΘΚΠ society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun] > in oratory rhetoric1569 action1579 chironomy1670 1579 S. Gosson Apol. Schoole of Abuse in Ephemerides Phialo f. 85 Players action, doeth answere to their partes. 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 55 The phrase, utterance, and action of those that exercise to make speeches. 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. ii. 17 Sute the action to the word, the word to the action. View more context for this quotation 1722 J. Richardson Acct. Statues Italy 148 [A sculpture of] Augustus Cæsar on Horseback, the same Action as the Marcus Aurelius, and rather a finer Figure. 1760 S. Johnson Idler 5 Jan. 1 In the Pulpit little Action can be proper. 1801 J. Strutt Glig-gamena Angel-ðeod ii. i. 64 The representation of an archer with his bow in the action of shooting. 1858 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire VI. liv. 227 It was not the mere trick of action, or knack of speaking, that he was to acquire. 1858 C. Patmore Espousals ii, in Angel in House (ed. 2) II. 188 She told her words, and mark'd their sense, By action. 1902 W. B. Yeats Let. 12 Apr. (1994) III. 171 An amateur actor..delights..in what is called ‘business’, in gesture and action of all kinds that are not set down in the text. 1975 Philadelphia Mus. Art Bull. 70 31/1 The action of this figure, with the feet drawn up under the chair and the body twisted and the arm thrown up to shield the face..is a peculiarly complex and difficult one. 1998 New Theatre Q. 14 17/1 Chekhov in his four major plays provides little scope for expressive action or speech at moments of greatest emotion. b. With reference to an animal, esp. a horse: the management of the body or limbs in movement. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > bodily movement > [noun] > management of governmentc1485 actiona1616 the world > animals > by habits or actions > habits and actions > [noun] > movement of body actiona1616 the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > special movements performed by trained horse > [noun] manage1577 air1607 manège1768 action1805 a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. i. 6 Imitate the action of the Tyger. View more context for this quotation 1726 N. B. Farrier's & Horseman's Dict. 53/2 He trots like a Cow, and gallops low; and no Action in any of those Actions. 1805 J. Adams Anal. Horsemanship (new ed.) III. 11 Foreign horses are much admired and selected for the manege, some for their grandeur of figure, others for their fine and brilliant action. a1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1862) iii. 28 He trotted after, a hundred feet behind the hindmost, with large and liberal action. 1921 Times 17 Aug. 11/4 A horse without action is useless, but the show-ring action, of which so much is made.., is quite as useless as action without a horse. 1968 Observer's Bk. Horses & Ponies (rev. ed.) 113 The Groningen..is also an excellent carriage horse, showing speedy, responsive and stylish action. 2000 M. T. Saastamoinen & E. Barrey in A. T. Bowling & A. Ruvinsky Genetics of Horse (2004) xvi. 453 Good action..is determined largely by leg and feet stances, slope of the shoulders and pasterns, and some other conformation details. c. Sport. The way in which a person performs a specific activity or movement, such as throwing or striking a ball, running, swimming, etc.; (Cricket) = bowling action n. at bowling n. Additions. ΚΠ 1828 Morning Post 17 Sept. Great Foot-race... From the soundness of wind and the easy action which Stevenson exhibited, he immediately became the favourite. 1837 Brighton Patriot 25 July This man has a completely original method of bowling, and his action previous the delivery of the ball is so grotesque, that he has obtained the elegant appellation of ‘Jim Crow’. 1858 Times 10 Nov. 12/5 Boat Race... White..got away with a lead of nearly half a length, his action possessing its peculiar and well-acknowledged rapidity. 1897 K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket iii. 81 With some bowlers it either ‘hangs’ or more often comes fast off the pitch owing to something in their regular action. 1908 Baily's Mag. Aug. 147/2 Daniels has a rather peculiar action in the water. His arm stroke seems to be particularly leisurely for a fast swimmer. 1991 Hindu (Madras) 6 Dec. 14/3 Young Cummins is a lean man with a whippy action who bowls at a very lively pace. 2002 D. Leadbetter 100% Golf iii. 85 If a player is hitting those clubs well, he or she can be pretty confident they have a good action going. d. The way in which an instrument or mechanism, esp. a firearm, acts; the means by which this is effected. Frequently with preceding modifying word.breech, electric, hammer, Mauser, pump, slide action, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > [noun] > action of action1845 society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > [noun] > action of > arrangement by which action is effected action1864 society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > mechanism > [noun] mechanic1605 mechanism1758 machinery1803 mechanicism1856 action1864 1845 Lond. Univ. Cal. Exam. Papers 219 Explain the action (1) of the siphon, (2) of the air-pump. 1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. ii. 5 The grand pianoforte with the new action. 1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 195 This lever is secured in position by the screw and washer to a pivot passing through the lever, the said pivot being solid with the action. 1910 Times 16 Dec. 13/5 To have the organ taken down with the substitution of pneumatic action for the old ‘tracker’ action. 1938 E. G. Richardson Physical Sci. Mod. Life viii. 161 The action of the valve may be imitated by shining a torch between the blades of a pair of scissors. 1945 C. E. Balleisen Princ. Firearms v. 51 A delayed-inertia gun in which the action is unlocked by the gas pressure. 2007 Personal Computer World Winter 39/2 You won't want your portable workslate to do that, any more than you want your sander to have a hammer action. 20. colloquial (originally U.S.). a. Gambling activity. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > betting > [noun] > activity considered important action1887 1887 F. Francis Saddle & Mocassin 145 That's my kind [of game]... You get ‘action’ there every turn. No waiting for the durned cards to come up. 1929 M. Connelly Green Pastures i. vii. 58 Come on, gamblers, see kin you gimme a little action. Who wants any part of dat dollar? a1953 E. O'Neill Hughie (1959) 36 Hell, I once win twenty grand on a single race. That's action! A good crap game is action, too. 1995 T. Ferguson Fire Line iii. 95 On a second foray through the gaming rooms Ferenc Van Loon scanned the action at the other blackjack counter. 2003 London Rev. Bks. 21 Aug. 3/2 A professional gambler until his death at 27. Poker. High-low was his action. b. gen. Exciting, important, or notable activity. Cf. Phrases 5. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [noun] > that which is important > other a great speak1587 livera1616 event1794 strategic point1861 action1927 1927 D. Hammett $106,000 Blood Money ii. viii. 104 ‘So meet me at Van Ness and Geary before eleven o'clock.’ ‘Action?’.. ‘Maybe... Bring your little pop-gun along.’ 1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed xiv. 90 ‘What happens then?.. Pal, I got to get action some place.’.. ‘Action is the magic word. At six bucks a cap, ten caps a day, a guy has to hustle some.’ 1978 S. Brill Teamsters vi. 213 The real action for Dorfman at the pension fund didn't come until March 1967. 1985 Times 2 Jan. 17/4 J Hepworth saw plenty of action on Monday, the share price zipping along from 174p to 191p at one stage. 1993 P. Ackroyd House of Dr. Dee (1994) v. 170 ‘Where are you going now?’ ‘Nowhere. Just looking for some action.’ c. Sexual activity. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > [noun] playOE loveOE toucha1400 chamber workc1450 venery1497 bed-glee1582 bed-game1596 fiddling1622 twatting1893 sexual relations1897 fun time1905 massage1906 sex play1922 actionc1930 hanky-panky1939 making-out1957 lumber1966 c1930 Confessions of Virtuous Wife iv. 42 Ye Gods! what action! [sic] Ah, oh! darling boy, give it me all, now, now, now! 1958 A. Laurents West Side Story i. vi. 71 How's the action on your mother's mattress, Action? 1967 H. S. Thompson Hell's Angels 192 Rape's no fun, anyway..and we get all the action we can handle just standing around. 1971 N.Y. Times Mag. 28 Nov. 92 Only action he get is with his hand. 2002 I. Knight Don't you want Me? v. 58 Try as I might, I really can't fancy the idea of hot lezzo action much at all. 2006 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 12 Mar. xiii. 2/4 Coffee drinkers reported more robust romance, with two-thirds of respondents saying they had sex once a week or more. Only 58 percent of non-coffee drinkers reported as much action. d. In weakened use, with modifying noun: attributes associated with the thing denoted by the preceding word; experience (esp. of a notable or exciting quality) of the thing denoted by the preceding word. ΚΠ 1980 L. Birnbach et al. Official Preppy Handbk. 220/1 Heavy —— action n. Whatever one does a lot. ‘Heavy tanning action.’ 1992 TransWorld Skateboarding Mar. 23/2 Best song now goes to the tune ‘Infectious Grooves’, a slammin' number with some groove action that has to be heard. 2000 Houston Press (Nexis) 6 Jan. He wears the rap-mogul uniform... Although he is quick to say he's not rolling in the dough (‘yet’), he does have some bling-bling action going on. 2002 D. J. MacHale Merchant of Death 53 There was going to be some major league rash action going on here and they probably didn't have talcum powder. 2003 National Post (Canada) 8 Apr. al3/3 [He] was..bent on demonstrating his general, all-round hipness by saying things like, ‘Oh, look who we have here—we got a little Justin Trudeau action!’ 2004 K. Wells Trav. with Barley xvii. 260 This day was starting out as a good lager day... Yet I'd found surprisingly little beer action. 2005 D. Palmerlee et al. Argentina (Lonely Planet) (ed. 5) 156 There's some serious 70s action going on in the lobby here, but it fades rapidly as you approach the rooms. 21. Organized protest by workers or employees over issues such as pay or working conditions, typically in the form of strikes, demonstrations, working to rule, etc.; a protest of this type.direct, industrial, job, strike action: see the first element. ΚΠ 1891 S. Webb & H. Cox Eight Hours Day 176 We suggest that Trade Union action is an objectionable method of obtaining the Eight Hours Day even in cases where it might possibly prove successful. 1903 Moberly (Missouri) Evening Democrat 16 Oct. 1/3 (heading) Pacific Express employes strike. Action follows refusal of company to grant 10 per cent increase. 1917 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 25 193 (note) On two occasions, when joint action of all the metal trades took place, it was discovered shortly after the strike occurred that a majority of the unions involved were unable to pay strike benefits to their members. 1919 Times 10 Dec. 14/7 The Trades Union Congress had its genesis in a minatory resolution..which called on the Government to nationalize the mines and foreshadowed ‘action’ intended to compel the Government to take that course. 1963 Pittsburgh Courier 21 Sept. 5/2 The Donora action was called off by the union after reports that a ‘reception committee’ had been formed [for the demonstrators]. 1976 Daily Tel. 20 July 2 (heading) Junior doctors begin action on holiday pay. 1991 K. Laybourn Brit. Trade Unionism 187 SOGAT and the other print unions decided to call off the action. 22. A film director's command to begin a scene.Cf. lights, camera, action! at light n.¹ Phrases 9. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > filming > [noun] > directing film > director's word of command action1923 1914 J. B. Rathbun Motion Picture Making iii. 68 At the word ‘Ready’, given by the producer, the camera man starts cranking the machine and the actors stand alert... An instant after follows the order, ‘Start your action’.] 1923 F. A. Talbot Moving Pictures xiv. 218 Ready! Action! Camera!!! Go!!!! 1936 N. Streatfeild Ballet Shoes xvi. 260 There was a moment's pause and then Mr. Sholsky said ‘Action’, which meant Pauline had to start. 1982 E. Barr Acting for Camera xxvi. 186 You must never start until the director says ‘Action’. 2002 Fangoria Mar. 23/1 As director Guillermo del Toro gleefully calls ‘Action’, the ‘victim’ explodes in a geyser of dried blood 'n' rubber guts. Phrases P1. a. into action: into an active or working state; into practical or effective operation. ΚΠ 1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin x. 590 To meete with these pretences affore they burst out into action..there was no other helpe then the remedie of peace. 1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion xii. 203 Courageously themselues they into action put. 1673 Bp. S. Parker Reproof Rehearsal Transprosed 393 These..are the Materials and common Principles of all Rebellion, but they never or very rarely come into action. 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 244 The impatience natural to the pleasure soon drove us into action. 1793 W. Godwin Enq. Polit. Justice iv. viii. 351 A sensation of pain was the initiative, and put my intellectual powers into action. 1826 E. Irving Babylon II. viii. 312 The Church hath been set into action to prepare the seed-bed of the truth over the earth. 1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea II. 249 Now at length, and after long expectance, they indeed would go into action. 1907 Practitioner Nov. 692 The augmentor nerve is..called into action. 2002 M. Greenhough in Writing Wrongs 79 The commercial grapevine duly sprang into action, showering the newest member of the community with voluminous and combustible offers and advice. b. in action: in a state of activity, at work; in practical or effective operation. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > in operation [phrase] aworka1398 at work1549 in action1584 on foot1586 in motion1598 in operation1878 the world > action or operation > doing > in action [phrase] in action1584 on the stir1805 up and about, around1893 1584 J. Rainolds & J. Hart Summe of Conf. viii. 492 They..were called Essees: which was a sect of Iewes, of whom some liued in action, and some in contemplation. 1594 W. Jones tr. J. Lipsius Sixe Bks. Politickes xii. 112 It is not an easie matter to set light by, or assaile him that is sober..; nor one that is wakefull, and alwayes in action. 1619 A. Gorges tr. F. Bacon Wisedome Ancients xxvi. 130 They are euer in action, seeking alwaies to finde out new inuentions. 1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea sig. Aaaa3 To Reader, The Republick maintein's continually in action a great number of ships, gallies and galliots. 1714 J. Swift Some Free Thoughts upon Present State Affairs (1741) 22 The Bulk of those who are now most in Action, either at Court, in Parliament, or Publick Offices, were then Boys at School. 1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 90 He that sold His country, or was slack when she required His every nerve in action and at stretch. 1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. iii. 166 Schemes..were put in action against her life. 1883 J. Nasmyth Autobiogr. 396 Four years ago I saw the same arrangement in action at a dentist's operating-room. 1939 War Illustr. 28 Oct. 217/1 Germany is the modern exemplification of the ‘police state’ in action. 1955 D. B. Fry in B. I. Evans Stud. in Communication 156 The development of the tomogram technique has enabled Ardram and Kemp to obtain remarkable pictures of the larynx in action. 2003 Observer 26 Oct. (Body Uncovered Suppl.) 45/2 It promises to be practically painlessly and patients should be back in action within days. c. out of action: in a state of inactivity or ineffectuality; unable to work or function. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > inaction > in a state of inactivity [phrase] > out of action out of order1530 out of commission1533 on the shelfa1577 out of action1703 out of blast1832 1703 tr. P. Dionis Anat. Humane Bodies Improv'd 105 Because they [sc. hibernating animals] being out of action, there is little Dissipation of Humours. 1826 E. Galloway Hist. Steam Engine vii. 191 When it is required to stop the engine, it is only necessary to put the forcing pump out of action. 1853 Times 13 Dec. 6/6 The apparatus which regulates the pressure at out works was suddenly thrown out of action about 9pm. 1919 G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House Pref. in Heartbreak House, Great Catherine, & Playlets of War p. xxxix The Higher Drama put out of action. The effect of the war on the London theatres may now be imagined. 1961 T. Coffin Not to Swift (1962) xviii. 201 Trig and a very black colored boy from Detroit had killed or put out of action ten guerrillas by grenades and hand-to-hand fighting. 1995 Leisure Managem. May 73/1 The club is expected to be out of action for the next six months as damage to the sauna, steamroom, pool, spa, sunbed and changing rooms is repaired. P2. to take action: to instigate legal proceedings; (more generally) to take steps in regard to any matter, to act. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > act or do [verb (intransitive)] > take action or act towards a result to make moyen (also moyens)1449 not to lift a finger1529 to take action?1551 solicitate1572 to make a step or stepsa1628 to take a step or stepsa1628 ?1551 Sessions against Gardiner in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1563) 849/1 He would not suffer thys Deponent to take action against any of the..tenauntes. 1842 Rep. Senate Commonw. of Mass Feb. No. 63. 5 If any shall object to taking action upon this subject because custom contrary to law will not be unnoticed by our courts of justice [etc.]. 1864 S. B. Warner Old Helmet I. vii. 140 Eleanor was young and untried, but her mind had a tolerable back-bone of stiffness when once aroused to take action. 1880 F. G. Lee Church under Q. Elizabeth I. v. 279 Her Majesty's advisers, therefore, lost no time in taking fresh action consequent upon the publication of this Bull. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 301 So Joe starts telling the citizen about..taking action in the matter. 1961 Times 12 May 21/1 Did anybody, or a friendly Power, at any time..suggest that this man was a suspect,..and if so, what action was taken? 2002 Metro 20 Sept. (London ed.) 9/1 Finally, Microsoft is taking action to cut down spam bombarding its Hotmail e-mail addresses. P3. action at a distance n. Physics the action of one object on another regardless of the presence or absence of an intervening medium, as in the Newtonian concept of gravitation and classical magnetism; influence without a physical intermediary; = actio in distans n. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [noun] > exertion of force from a distance action at a distance1662 actio in distans1717 1660 H. More Explan. Grand Myst. Godliness iii. vi. 71 The Rayes of things, burning out from all Bodies that act at a distance.] 1662 J. Chandler tr. J. B. van Helmont Oriatrike lxxxiii. 614 That cannot but be done by an action at a distance: To wit, if the Wine be troubled in a Cellar under ground, whereunto no Vine perhaps is near for some Miles, neither is there any discourse of the air under the Earth with the Flower of the absent Vine. 1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature IV. 90 Material action, at a distance, is repugnant to reason. 1834 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 124 237 (heading) Laws of electrical action at a distance. 1838 M. Faraday in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 128 3 That would be a natural result of the action of contiguous particles, but I think utterly incompatible with action at a distance, as assumed by received theories. 1969 Physical Rev. 177 2051/2 The equations of motion were expressible in terms of retarded action at a distance. 2001 Science 14 Sept. 2026/3 The most famous incarnation of entanglement is Einstein's ‘spooky action at a distance’, in which, if one entangled atom is poked, its entangled twin feels the prod, even if it's halfway across the universe. P4. Proverb. actions speak louder than words: a person's actions are a better indicator of character than what he or she says. ΚΠ 1628 J. Pym Deb. King's Message to hasten Supply 4 Apr. in Hansard's Parl. Hist. Eng. (1807) II. 274/2 ‘A word spoken in season is like an Apple of Gold set in Pictures of Silver,’ and actions are more precious than words.] a1730 M. Hole Pract. Expos. Church-Catechism (1732) II. 762 Actions speak louder than Words, and 'tis in vain to be Professors of Piety, if at the same time we are Workers of Iniquity. 1758 J. Bellamy Serm. 197 Words do not answer the End. But Actions speak louder than Words, and will work a thoro' Conviction. 1845 Knickerbocker 25 106 He had heard that ‘actions speak louder than words’, and he acted. 1856 A. Lincoln Coll. Wks. (1953) II. 352 ‘Actions speak louder than words’ is the maxim. 1906 F. McCullagh With Cossacks 178 The gallant foreigner, who could not tell them how he sympathized with them, but whose actions spoke louder than words. 1979 T. Sharpe Wilt Alternative xxiii. 211 ‘Of course I do... How many times do I have to tell you?’‘Actions speak louder than words,’ retorted Eva. 1995 Washington Times 21 May b3 Actions speak louder than words, especially when individual property rights are at stake. P5. colloquial (originally U.S.). Cf. sense 20. a. a piece (also share) of the action: involvement in some lucrative or desirable activity. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > financial interest or share subscription1671 concern1748 piece1900 a piece (also share) of the action1938 the world > action or operation > doing > activity or occupation > [noun] > fact or action of being concerned with meddlingc1390 implicationc1430 mellingc1440 intermeddling1531 participation1582 mashing1607 trucka1625 concern1643 involvedness1654 interest1660 involvement1706 business1759 immixture1859 involution1886 a piece (also share) of the action1938 1938 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 13 Jan. 23/2 His work down court..[has] earned him the starting berth over Bob Zonne, who, nevertheless, will get in for quite a piece of the action. 1958 H. Gardner Piece of Action 12 A piece of the action on one good retail product and I'll get my own studio and my hours will belong to me. 1966 Maclean's 4 June 1 And last year mink breeders from Scandinavia to California were falling over themselves to buy a piece of the action. 1988 R. Wesson Coping with Lat. Amer. Debt 2 Roughly half of the debt owed to nonofficial bodies is held..secondarily by hundreds of smaller banks that were once eager for a share of the action. 1998 Y.-M. Ooi Flame Tree (1999) vi. 82 There'll be plenty of property developers looking to get a piece of the action. b. where the action is: where some noteworthy or exciting activity is taking place; where the centre of activity is. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > place of amusement or entertainment > [phrase] where the action is1960 the world > space > relative position > central condition or position > [phrase] > centre of activity where it's (he's, she's) at1903 where the action is1960 1960 Mad Sept. 20 That cat who's always looking for a party to go to, and who keeps bugging you to clue him in on where the action is. 1964 Look 15 Dec. 37/1 Nightclub proprietors, by installing record players to replace live bands and adopting the French name ‘discothèque’, have created the legend that this is where the action is. 1973 C. Sagan Cosmic Connection (1974) vii. 52 We [sc. mankind] are in the galactic boondocks, where the action isn't. 1981 ‘A. Cross’ Death in Faculty (1988) 9 Back in the 1950s seventeenth-century poetry had been where the action was. 2002 M. Crichton Prey 30 She's spending a lot of time out at the fab complex. That's where the action is now..because of the new fabrication processes. Compounds C1. action art n. (a) painting or sculpture characterized by the depiction of action or activity; (b) a style of art originating in the abstract expressionist movement, emphasizing the expressive power of the physical act or process of creation over the finished work itself; spec. = action painting n. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > action painting or tachism abstract expressionism1922 action art1930 action painting1952 tachism1956 art autre1957 1930 J. H. Sorrells Working Press 51 Action art is the best art—a picture of somebody doing something. 1958 M. Brion in Art since 1945 46 This Tachiste technique is similar to a technique much favored in the United States, where it is sometimes called ‘action art’. 1992 B. W. Dippie in J. D. Prown et al. Discovered Lands, Invented Pasts iii. 94 Western art is ordinarily thought of as action art... People, animals, and the very landscape seem poised on the brink of something about to happen. 2006 Sevenoaks Chron. (Nexis) 31 Aug. 6 The theme of the day was Action Art and the Jackson Pollock-esque end product was created by flicking colour onto the paper with mops, water pistols and even parts of artists' bodies. action comedy n. a film or television programme which blends comedy with a lively plot and fast-paced action; cf. action film n., situation comedy n. at situation n. Compounds. ΘΚΠ society > communication > broadcasting > television > [noun] > type of programme dramedy1905 news film1912 sex comedy1915 television adaptation1935 action comedy1936 sportcast1939 teleshopper1949 telethon1949 special1952 television special1952 TV special1952 science-fictioner1953 spectacular1954 promo1955 sitcom1956 spec1959 spin-off1959 reality programming1962 teleroman1964 mockumentary1965 serialization1965 talk show1965 laugh-in1967 novela1968 reality show1968 breakfast television1971 spy series1975 reality television1978 reality TV1980 series1988 shockumentary1988 society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > other types romantic comedy1748 epic1785 pre-release1871 foreign film1899 frivol1903 dramedy1905 film loop1906 first run1910 detective film1911 colour film1912 news film1912 topical1912 cinemicrograph1913 scenic1913 sport1913 newsreel1914 serial1914 sex comedy1915 war picture1915 telefilm1919 comic1920 true crime1923 art house1925 quickie1926 turkey1927 two-reeler1928 smellie1929 disaster film1930 musical1930 feelie1931 sticky1934 action comedy1936 quota quickie1936 re-release1936 screwball comedy1937 telemovie1937 pickup1939 video film1939 actioner1940 space opera1941 telepic1944 biopic1947 kinescope1949 TV movie1949 pièce noire1951 pièce rose1951 deepie1953 misterioso1953 film noir1956 policier1956 psychodrama1956 free film1958 prequel1958 co-production1959 glossy1960 sexploiter1960 sci-fier1961 tie-in1962 chanchada1963 romcom1963 wuxia1963 chick flick1964 showreel1964 mockumentary1965 sword-and-sandal1965 schlockbuster1966 mondo1967 peplum1968 thriller1968 whydunit1968 schlocker1969 buddy-buddy movie1972 buddy-buddy film1974 buddy film1974 science-fictioner1974 screwball1974 buddy movie1975 slasher movie1975 swashbuckler1975 filmi1976 triptych1976 autobiopic1977 Britcom1977 kidflick1977 noir1977 bodice-ripper1979 chopsocky1981 date movie1983 kaiju eiga1984 screener1986 neo-noir1987 indie1990 bromance2001 hack-and-slash2002 mumblecore2005 dark fantasy2007 hack-and-slay2007 gorefest2012 kidult- 1936 Washington Post 15 Feb. 16/4 From marine biologist to first-grade milkman is the metamorphosis undergone by Allan Lane in ‘Certified’, action comedy in which the former gridiron star appears opposite Joan Fontaine. 1959 Amarillo (Texas) Sunday News-Globe 8 Feb. 5 c/1 (advt.) Colonel Flack... Funniest and most exciting action comedy on television. 2014 Radio Times 18 Jan. (South/West ed.) 118/2 Mildly diverting action comedy about a sassy private investigator who infiltrates a college sorority house. action committee n. a committee formed in order to take active steps regarding some issue or situation; cf. political action committee n. at political adj. and n. Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > committee > other types of committee committee1571 council of war1590 special committee1606 standing committeea1632 Committee of Safety1642 working party1744 finance committee1783 Board (also Court) of county commissioners1806 business committee1825 national committee1826 watch committee1835 working group1888 Central Committee1917 action committee1918 action group1927 ombuds-committee1964 PESC1969 1918 Times 1 July 7/3 Signor Orlando has sent a message to the Disabled Soldiers and the Action Committee, in which he pays an eloquent tribute to Serbia. 1949 Britannica Bk. of Year 686/1 Action committee, a Communist committee appointed to purge societies and organizations of all non-Communist elements, as a means of consolidating a communistic revolution. 2001 S. W. Littlejohn & K. Domenici Engaging Communication in Confl. i. 22 Within a short time, action committees were formed to translate the ideas generated at the summit conference into concrete action. action current n. Physiology the electrical current produced in nerve fibres or other living tissue during activity. ΚΠ 1883 J. B. Sanderson in Philos. Trans. 1882 (Royal Soc.) 173 55 Of the nature of this preliminary disturbance (to which alone the term excitatory variation ought to be applied, it alone being the analogue of the ‘action current’ of animal physiology) we know nothing. 1914 Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. 34 425 The action-current is the only known change accompanying excitation in nerve which is competent to stimulate an adjoining nerve. 1952 J. A. Ramsay Physiol. Approach Lower Animals v. 74 The passage of a nerve impulse is not a purely electrical phenomenon like the passage of current along a wire, although it is invariably accompanied by an action current. 2007 Neuron 55 476/1 Inward deflections were counted as putative T-currents if their amplitude exceeded one-tenth average action current height for more than 10 ms. action figure n. (a) Art a depiction of a figure in motion; (b) originally North American a toy figure with movable parts, usually representing a fictional or generic character associated with adventurous or heroic action (cf. Action Man n.). ΚΠ 1920 Waterloo (Iowa) Times-Tribune 11 Jan. 18/4 Third grade boys and girls are greatly interested in making action figures in their art work this week representing out of door sports. 1956 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 12 Nov. 14 (advt.) Lido Frontier Action Figures..20 pieces that move and turn. Cowboys, Indians, horses and fence sections. 1989 Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. 93 68/1 That Kritios and Nesiotes were noted for their action figures is also no reason to discount a link with the quiet Kritios boy: at least one of their six signed bases on the Acropolis supported a figure..standing at rest. 2002 ‘H. Hill’ Flight from Deathrow xxxiii. 188 Of course, there would be the usual tie-ins: action figures, trading cards, a real-life film version of the cartoons, a musical and hopefully an ice show. action film n. (a) a cinematographic film, a movie; = motion picture n. 1 (now disused); (b) such a film featuring fast-moving action; = action movie at Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > [noun] living picture1851 kineograph1891 motion picture1891 picture1894 animatograph1896 cinematograph1896 moving picture1896 kinetogram1897 film1899 bioscope1902 action film1909 cinema1909 movie1910 photodrama1910 photoplay1910 movie picture1913 pic1913 screenplay1913 photonovel1916 flick1926 moom pitcher1929 1909 Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat 20 May Those who saw the moving pictures of the Burns-Johnson fight..viewed as good a set of action films as were ever produced. 1921 Des Moines (Iowa) News 30 July (heading) Adventure and action films galore. 1935 Times 1 Mar. 6/1 The..proposal that lawn tennis amateurs be allowed to accept payment for appearing in action films. 1999 A. Hadley Tough Choices 109 She also enjoys action films and going out for meals. action group n. a group formed to take action on some issue or situation, esp. in local or national politics. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > committee > other types of committee committee1571 council of war1590 special committee1606 standing committeea1632 Committee of Safety1642 working party1744 finance committee1783 Board (also Court) of county commissioners1806 business committee1825 national committee1826 watch committee1835 working group1888 Central Committee1917 action committee1918 action group1927 ombuds-committee1964 PESC1969 1927 Times 23 Nov. 16/4 The Police of Mexico City have arrested three members of the self-styled ‘action group’ of the League for the Defence of Religious Freedom. 1991 Which? Aug. 438/2 In various recent cases, investors who've lost out have got together to form ‘action groups’. action line n. (the name of) a telephone helpline or similar service offering practical assistance, intervention, or advice, esp. one operated by a newspaper or other media outlet. ΚΠ 1966 National Observer (U.S.) 18 July 7/3 Action Line to the rescue. 1971 Times 27 July 12/3 The awkwardness of the dozen letters a week which the Daily Express' Action Line passes on to him from irate customers. 1997 Big Issue 29 Sept. (Student Suppl.) 27/4 If your landlord's being cagey, call the Gas Safety Action Line listed below. Action Man n. (also with lower-case initials) originally and chiefly British (a proprietary name for) a type of male doll in combat dress; (also) a man likened to such a doll in being brave, strong, etc. (often ironic); frequently attributive. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > other smalleOE lightc1230 round1402 side-necked1430 wanton1489 Spanish1530 tucked1530 lustya1555 civil1582 open-breasted1598 full1601 everlasting1607 sheeten1611 nothinga1616 burly1651 pin-up1677 slouching1691 double-breasted1701 negligée1718 translated1727 uniform1746 undress1777 single-breasted1796 unworn1798 mamalone1799 costumic1801 safeguard1822 Tom and Jerry1830 lightweight1837 fancy dress1844 wrap-1845 hen-skin1846 Mary Stuart1846 well-cut1849 mousquetaire1851 empire1852 costumary1853 solid1859 spring weight1869 Henri II1870 western1881 hard-boiled1882 man-of-war1883 Henley1886 demi-season1890 Gretchen1890 toreador1892 crossover1893 French cut1896 drifty1897 boxy1898 Buster Brown1902 Romney1903 modistic1907 Peter Pan1908 classic1909 Fauntleroy1911 baby doll1912 flared1928 flare1929 tuck-in1929 unpressed1932 Edwardian1934 swingy1937 topless1937 wraparound1937 dressed-down1939 cover-up1942 Sun Yat-sen1942 utility1942 non-utility1948 sudsable1951 off-the-shoulder1953 peasant1953 flareless1954 A-line1955 matador1955 stretch1956 wash-and-wear1959 layered1962 Tom Jones1964 Carnaby Street1965 Action Man1966 Mao-style1967 wear-dated1968 thermal1970 bondage1980 swaggery1980 hoochie1990 mitumba1990 kinderwhore1994 society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > doll > [noun] > other dolls aglet babya1616 Flanders baby1782 wax doll1786 Flanders doll1801 paper doll1843 golliwog1895 Jumeau1897 voodoo doll1906 kewpie1909 Barbie1959 Barbie doll1961 Gonk1964 Ookpik1964 Action Man1966 kachina doll1968 society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > doll > [adjective] > attributes of dolls walkie-talkie1943 Action Man1966 undressable1972 the mind > emotion > courage > heroism > [noun] > brave warrior > young brave butch1873 lion's whelp1922 Action Man1988 1966 Trade Marks Jrnl. 3 Aug. 1130/2 Palitoy Action Man... Dolls in the form of men, incorporating means of performing movements. 1976 Oadby & Wigston (Leics.) Advertiser 26 Nov. 7/1 (caption) Adventure clothes based on the Action Man theme, with knitted sweater, cotton drill trousers, maroon beret with badge, and belt with press stud pocket. 1982 A. Barr & P. York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 47/2 The Action Man sweater, the Army standard. Olive green—or navy—with cotton patches on shoulders and elbows. 1988 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 25 Sept. 4/2 Action man Michael..became the Princess of Wales' driver. 1999 Guardian 6 Feb. i. 4/5 He enjoyed his action-man image and his personal bravery was often striking. 2001 Sleazenation Dec. 14/2 Action Man isn't what he used to be. First it was suedehead with eagle eyes, then the gripping hands took hold. action noun n. Grammar a noun expressing action. ΚΠ 1836 A. Allen Etymol. Anal. Lat. Verbs 216 The action-nouns in tion in Latin and σι in Greek..should also be compared. 1928 Proc. Brit. Acad. 14 366 The monosyllabic action-nouns which are identical in form with the infinitive of the verb for the instantaneous act and a longer form for continued action. 1996 Afr. Lang. & Cultures Suppl. No. 3. 90 Hojis is the action noun of a verb that means ‘to halt on its feet’. action pack n. a collection of informative or educational materials relating to a particular activity, issue, or course of action.In quot. 1965 denoting a pack of cards describing different physical actions. ΚΠ 1965 Tulane Drama Rev. 10 35 An ‘action pack’ of about 1,200 cards containing stage directions..were given to the performers. 1974 Family Planning Perspectives 6 160/2 As I opened the packet, tantalizingly labeled Action Pack, a veritable nest of visual goodies fell into my lap: five posters, eight postcards, a page of stickers, a wall chart, a newspaper and a special issue of the New Internationalist magazine. 1991 Which? Aug. (Books Suppl.) 2/1 This Action Pack explains in simple, everyday language the procedures involved in sorting out someone's will. 2003 P. Mitchel Evangelicalism & National Identity in Ulster, 1921–98 viii. 262 A series of Action Packs..were produced for Church groups reflecting on the challenges of Christian discipleship in a divided community. action-packed adj. full of action or excitement. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > excitement > [adjective] > full of excitement action-packed1924 the world > action or operation > doing > [adjective] > active as opposed to contemplative > full of action or deeds deedful1834 action-packed1924 hellzapoppin'1945 deedy1959 1924 Daily Constit. (Chillicothe, Missouri) 5 Dec. 4/6 (advt.) An action packed romance of the plains that travels at machine gun speed. 1983 Listener 10 Feb. 40/1 (advt.) An action-packed novel by John Brasow linked with the BBC 1 serial. 1999 M. Sawyer Park & Ride (2000) xviii. 301 I spent an action-packed weekend queuing to hire bikes and paying extra to scrap with Competitive Dads. action painter n. an artist who creates action paintings. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > action painting or tachism > artist abstract expressionist1929 action painter1952 tachist1954 1952 H. Rosenberg in Art News 22 (title) The American action painters. 1958 Times 24 June 6/4 As an Action painter his contemplation results in an eruption of black and scarlet blunt-edged squares. 1999 R. Smith Starr Bright will be with you Soon iii. x. 233 Rob..was an action painter in the Pollock mode, thus expected to be absentminded, or temperamental. action painting n. originally U.S. a type of abstract expressionist art in which paint is applied to the canvas by the artist's spontaneous or random movements; a painting created in this way.Particularly associated with Jackson Pollock (1912–56), who would work by dripping, pouring, and throwing paint on a horizontal canvas. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > action painting or tachism abstract expressionism1922 action art1930 action painting1952 tachism1956 art autre1957 1952 H. Rosenberg in Art News 49/1 Action painting is painting in the medium of difficulties. 1963 S. Spender Struggle of Mod. iv. i. 203 Statements..of painters themselves about their action paintings add to the impression that these works are events which add to the world objects. 2007 Independent 26 Feb. 42/3 An abreactive folk art which bore a vague resemblance to American action painting, all violence spent on bright colours, strident brushwork and distorted figures. action pattern n. Psychology and Zoology a behaviour or sequence of behaviours elicited in response to a particular stimulus or situation; spec. (more fully fixed action pattern, modal action pattern) a rigid sequence of such behaviours which is innate, highly stimulus-dependent, and runs to completion once elicited. ΚΠ 1920 Jrnl. Abnormal Psychol. 14 420 This conforms..to the further use of a similar term ‘action pattern’ by a psychophysiologist like W. B. Cannon. 1953 Behaviour 6 22 In the amphibia it [sc. swimming] approximates to a ‘fixed action pattern’. 1982 R. Hinde Ethology (1986) ii. §iii. 44 Barlow (1977) pointed out that close measurement reveals some variability in even the most apparently stereotyped movements, and suggested that the term [fixed action pattern] be replaced by ‘modal action pattern.’ 2007 J. L. Gould & C. G. Gould Animal Architects i. 7 Lorenz and Tinbergen called the behavior that this presumed circuit produced a fixed-action pattern; today it is more often called a motor program. action photograph n. a photograph representing the subject in motion. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > [noun] > photograph by style or subject high key1849 carte1861 carte-de-visite1861 wedding group1861 vignette1862 studio portrait1869 press photograph1873 cameo-type1874 war picture1883 mug1887 panel1888 snapshot1890 visite1891 fuzz-type1893 stickyback1903 action photograph1904 action picture1904 scenic1913 still1916 passport photo1919 mosaic1920 press photo1923 oblique1925 action shot1927 passport photograph1927 profile shot1928 smudgea1931 glossy1931 photomontage1931 photomural1931 head shot1936 pin-up1943 mug shot1950 wedding photograph1956 wedding photo1966 full-frontal1970 photofit1970 split beaver1972 upskirt1994 selfie2002 1904 G. W. Beldam Great Golfers (title page) Illustrated by 268 action-photographs. 1994 R. Preston Hot Zone 226 Just my luck to be the one looking like a dork in the action photographs. action photography n. photography representing the subject in motion. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > [noun] > types or methods generally microphotography1857 pistolgraphy1860 portrait photography1864 pistolography1866 photochronography1887 snap-work1889 gallery-practice1891 photoreproduction1892 telephotography1892 Kodakry1893 fuzzyism1894 mugging1899 action photography1905 press photography1910 trick photography1913 Kodachrome1915 panchromatism1919 photo reporting1935 photojournalism1938 photo-reportage1939 strobe1949 streak photography1950 satellite photography1954 digital photography1972 time-lapse1975 1905 G. W. Beldam & C. B. Fry Great Batsmen p. xi The book is founded upon Action-Photography and Actual Experience. 2007 P. Skinner Sports Photogr. x. 130 If you aspire to be an outstanding sports photographer, don't narrow your outlook to just action photography. action picture n. (a) = action photograph n.; (b) a film featuring fast-moving action; = action movie at Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > [noun] > photograph by style or subject high key1849 carte1861 carte-de-visite1861 wedding group1861 vignette1862 studio portrait1869 press photograph1873 cameo-type1874 war picture1883 mug1887 panel1888 snapshot1890 visite1891 fuzz-type1893 stickyback1903 action photograph1904 action picture1904 scenic1913 still1916 passport photo1919 mosaic1920 press photo1923 oblique1925 action shot1927 passport photograph1927 profile shot1928 smudgea1931 glossy1931 photomontage1931 photomural1931 head shot1936 pin-up1943 mug shot1950 wedding photograph1956 wedding photo1966 full-frontal1970 photofit1970 split beaver1972 upskirt1994 selfie2002 1904 Los Angeles Daily Times 11 Aug. ii. 3/4 Photographers after ‘action pictures’ concentrated around the Los Angeles goal. 1927 Washington Post 13 Feb. s13/8 (heading) Feature comedies favored as movies by American tars. Strong action pictures second choice. 1991 Photo Answers May 17/2 Peter Upton took a scorching action picture of a speeding trikist. 1993 Empire Aug. 59/1 Joel Silver is synonymous with wham-bam in-your-face action pictures. action plan n. a proposed strategy or course of implementation. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > a plan > a proposed plan or a project propositiona1382 present?a1400 motiona1425 pleaa1500 action1533 propose1568 project1582 proposala1629 projection1633 party1653 projecture1658 scheme1719 ad referendum1753 swim1860 action plan1889 the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > planning a course of action > plan of intended course of action plan of campaign1780 route map1816 action plan1889 end run1902 strategy1944 game plan1957 scenario1962 1889 Chron. (N.Y.) 9 May 221/1 Now where is the future in profits under your new and glittering Double Back Action Plan? 1942 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 220 57/2 Under the conditions under which a Naval force must operate,..all action plans must necessarily be secret. 1983 N.Y. Times 18 Sept. i. 29/5 These results add reasons to move vigorously in New York with our action plan to improve elementary and secondary education. 2006 P. Williams Rise & Fall Yummy Mummy lxviii. 314 ‘Right. What's your action plan?’ ‘Action plan?’ Other people just live their lives. I lurch between action plans. action point n. a specific proposal for action, arising from a meeting, discussion, conference, etc.; an issue on which it is agreed that some action should be taken. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > [noun] > an undertaking > thing(s) to be done > list of > issue on which action to be taken action point1960 1960 Times 10 Aug. 5/2 The document concludes with the following ‘summary of action points’ [etc.]. 1982 Industry Week 22 Feb. 52 His predecessor..relied on a decentralized style of management that delegated responsibility to the ‘lowest possible level where action points resided’. 2004 R. Jay & R. Templar Fast Thinking Manager's Man. (ed. 2) 246 At the end of it [sc. the discussion] you should make a decision or agree an action point to take the matter further. action potential n. Physiology a wave of electrical activity which is propagated through a nerve fibre or other excitable cell by the successive temporary depolarization of adjacent regions of the membrane. ΚΠ 1913 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 86 217 Galeotti added the action potential to his observed potential. 1939 W. B. Yapp Introd. Animal Physiol. 187 The action potential and the conduction rate both vary approximately as the area of cross-section of the fibre. 1983 Sci. Amer. Feb. 38/2 The arrival of the action potential causes a rapid discharge of neurotransmitter from the terminal into the synaptic cleft. 2001 P. Wolfe Brain Matters iv. 52 The action potential spreads down the axon as the sodium channels open sequentially, somewhat like falling dominoes. action replay n. British a (slow motion) playback of an incident in a televised sporting event, esp. just after it has occurred; also in extended use. ΘΚΠ society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > [noun] > action or instance of replaying recording > specific television replay1954 TV replay1955 action replay1970 instant replay1973 1970 Times 8 Sept. 13/4 Sometimes Alan Badel seemed to be in slow motion, like an action replay. 1973 Listener 22 Nov. 720 To see only the action replays of the Royal Wedding, that long-drawn-out Match of the Day, was no doubt to miss the cumulative effect of an occasion. 1977 J. Laker One-day Cricket 115 The action replay can be of great help..in showing the reason for a batsman's dismissal. 2002 Mirror 18 Mar. 29/3 The curling free kick earned England a place in the World Cup Finals and we were treated to umpteen action replays. action research n. originally Sociology a form of research in which the researcher analyses a problem and uses the results of the analysis to propose and implement possible solutions. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > study of society > [noun] > theories or methods of analysis reflexivity1662 social statics1843 social causation1848 sociography1881 functionalism1904 class analysis1919 culturalism1919 mass observation1920 survey1927 participant observation1933 participant observing1933 Verstehen1934 panel technique1938 MO1939 ahistoricism1940 historicism1940 technologism1940 action research1945 metasociology1950 pattern variable1951 structural functionalism1951 structuralism1951 panel analysis1955 cliometrics1960 unilinearism1964 technology assessment1966 symbolic interactionism1969 modernization theory1972 processualism1972 postcolonialism1974 decontextualization1976 decontextualizing1980 structurism1989 1945 Sociometry 8 82 The Commission recognizes these two aims not as separate activities but as two aspects of an integrated process of action-research. 1961 Economist 25 Feb. 741/1 A preliminary report on their project of ‘action-research’ has now been prepared. 2005 A. Mackey & S. M. Gass Second Lang. Res. vii. 218 Action research is often motivated by teachers' curiosity and their wish to understand their classrooms. action researcher n. a person who carries out action research. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > study of society > [noun] > theories or methods of analysis > one who follows or uses Tolstoyist1894 functionalist1900 Tolstoyan1901 social Darwinist1903 participant observer1924 Paretian1932 mass observer1937 symbolic interactionist1937 structuralist1947 action researcher1950 structural functionalist1953 cliometrician1966 Paretan1969 critical theorist1970 Lévi-Straussian1980 1950 H. M. Proshansky in L. E. Abt & L. Bellak Projective Psychol. iii. 465 For the action researcher there is an integral relationship between scientific inquiry and social action. 1964 Listener 2 Apr. 563/2 The invasion of a big city by a team of action researchers is something of an enterprise. 1993 Appl. Linguistics 14 137 Institutionalizing action research so as to change school staffs into communities of action researchers. action school n. (with the) the artistic movement associated with action painting. ΚΠ 1957 Observer 22 Sept. 13/6 The exhibition of these cunning daubs [by chimpanzees], in a gallery which has hitherto striven to remove misgivings about the ‘action’ or tachiste school, is scarcely calculated to win fresh converts. 2003 G. Cotkin Existential Amer. (2005) vi. 132 Even if the painters of the action school had grown rich..the anxiety that adhered to the created object in the moment of its creation remained for Rosenberg a signal achievement. action sermon n. now historical (in Scottish Presbyterian Churches) the sermon preached before the administration of the Eucharist; cf. sense 6. ΚΠ 1694 J. Gordon Diary May (1949) 48 The Lord supported me well in preaching the action sermon & in serving 4 full tables & near a fyft & in closing the action. 1706 J. Scott Diary 26 May in J. Stevenson Two Cent. Life in Down (1920) xii. 350 I heard Mr Jackson lecture on Psa 27 4 verse and Mr Shannon the action sermon on Isai:53:10 last clause. 1863 Glasgow Her. 15 Apr. An interval is now allowed in some congregations between the ‘action sermon’ and the sacramental service. 1994 Compar. Stud. Society & Hist. 36 422 The traditional features of the Scottish communion service—the action sermon, the successive servings at tables, the Monday thanksgiving service—were preserved. action shot n. a shot (shot n.¹ 7e(b)) representing the subject in motion; cf. action photograph n. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > a photograph > [noun] > photograph by style or subject high key1849 carte1861 carte-de-visite1861 wedding group1861 vignette1862 studio portrait1869 press photograph1873 cameo-type1874 war picture1883 mug1887 panel1888 snapshot1890 visite1891 fuzz-type1893 stickyback1903 action photograph1904 action picture1904 scenic1913 still1916 passport photo1919 mosaic1920 press photo1923 oblique1925 action shot1927 passport photograph1927 profile shot1928 smudgea1931 glossy1931 photomontage1931 photomural1931 head shot1936 pin-up1943 mug shot1950 wedding photograph1956 wedding photo1966 full-frontal1970 photofit1970 split beaver1972 upskirt1994 selfie2002 1927 Chilicothe (Missouri) Constit. 7 July 6/2 (caption) This remarkable action shot, showing Lou Gehrig..rounding third on the home run. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 662/3 The action-shots in this absorbing film seemed to me as remarkable as Disney's ‘Living Desert’. 2005 D. Johnson How to do Everything with your Digital Camera (ed. 4) vi. 138 While your camera might usually blur an action shot in a bad way, panning lets you blur it in a good way. action song n. a (children's) song involving dramatic movement, esp. of the hands. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > vocal music > types of song > [noun] > other types of song roundelaya1475 black sanctus?1533 pastorella1597 orgial1610 balow1613 comic song1718 hunting-song1727 vaudeville1739 apopemptic1753 melologue1820 Orphic1855 wren song1855 air de cour1878 Kunstlied1880 action song1883 come-all-you1887 marching song1894 party song1911 theme song1929 honky-tonker1950 protest song1953 sing-along1959 slow jam1961 talking blues1969 rap1979 1883 Athens (Ohio) Messenger 19 Apr. 5/5 An action song entitled the ‘Song of the Clock’, was then sung by a half dozen little Misses whose movements were in graceful and harmonious unison. 1908 M. Steele (title) Children's Action Songs. 1985 National Educ. (N.Z.) Nov. 198/2 The school has already given a performance of Maori action songs, hakas and poi. 2005 P. Tassoni & K. Hucker Planning Play & Early Years (ed. 2) vi. 129 Finger rhymes and action songs help babies and toddlers become aware of their bodies. action spectrum n. Biology a graphical representation of the effectiveness of a range of electromagnetic wavelengths in producing a given biochemical or physiological response in an organism. ΚΠ 1937 Jrnl. Gen. Physiol. 21 72 The action spectrum for CO₂ assimilation has bands that correspond in position only to those of the bacteriochlorophyll. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) XIV. 188/2 When the bactericidal effectiveness of each of a series of wavelengths is plotted against the wavelength, the resulting curve is an action spectrum for the bactericidal effect. 2006 BioSystems 86 13/1 Hydra's behavioral action spectrum has been elucidated, indicating red blindness. action sport n. (a) a sport involving vigorous physical activity; (b) = extreme sport at extreme adj., adv., and n. Additions. ΚΠ 1936 Washington Post 17 Dec. 23/4 Engaging in football and other action sports helps develop the boy into the man. 1969 Pop. Sci. Jan. 195/1 Johnny called it [sc. skydiving] ‘probably the biggest thrill of my life’. It was an endorsement for one of the most exciting and fastest growing action sports around today. 1992 Toronto Star (Nexis) 10 May g6 Those of us who sweat when we play sports relish the heart-pounding fury of action sports such as tennis, hockey, football, rugby. 2008 Best Life Feb. 62/1 The risk that someone might be injured doing an action sport is very real. But I personally don't believe the risk is any greater than the risk of being injured playing football or basketball, and I certainly won't be the dad breaking the skateboard in half. action stations n. the positions taken up by military personnel in preparation for action; also used as a command or signal to prepare for action; also in singular and in extended use. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military organization > signals > [noun] > signal to action stations battle stations1898 action stations1914 society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > military position > [noun] > action station action stations1914 1914 B. Ramsay Diary 25 Aug. in W. S. Chalmers Full Cycle (1959) 20 On being asked why he was not at his action station, the marine replied..that he was ‘duty servant’. 1916 Times 12 June 4/3 At 3.45 on May 31 action stations were sounded off by the buglers. 1923 Man. Seamanship (H.M.S.O.) ii. 46 The custom is—Mondays—Fleet, squadron or ship drill..Fridays—Action stations. 1985 W. Smith Burning Shore 181 Horsthauzen dropped down the tower, jumped off the ladder and took up his action station at the attack table. 1989 Big Comic Fortn. 16 Sept. 21/1 Joker's coming, mates..and he's loaded with jokes to play on us! Action stations! Up to the flat roof! 1996 Sainsbury's Mag. Jan. 43/4 Once a man becomes sexually aroused, it's action stations for his internal reproductive system. † action-taking adj. Obsolete rare prone to taking legal action; litigious. ΚΠ 1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear vii. 15 A lilly lyuer'd action taking knaue. View more context for this quotation action time n. Physiology and Psychology the period during which a stimulus must act in order to produce a sensation. ΚΠ 1904 W. McDougall in Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 1 152 We must first ascertain the least time during which a light of given intensity must act upon the retina in order to produce its full effect in sensation... This time I proposed for the sake of brevity to refer to hereafter as the ‘action-time’ of the light-stimulus. 1930 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 16 4 M, the ‘action time’, may be mechanical, but is of unknown nature. 1983 Science 28 Jan. 413/1 It confirms previous suggestions that only a small part of human taste reaction time is attributable to a necessary input or action time. action verb n. a verb which expresses action, esp. as opposed to a linking verb, modal verb, etc.In quot. 1877 perhaps denoting an active (as opposed to a passive) verb. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > verb > [noun] > other specific types of verb vocative verbc1414 activec1450 passivec1450 substantive verba1475 neuter1530 gesture1612 nominal1666 quiescent1720 reduplicative1756 dative verb1844 factitive1845 preterite-present1859 compound verb1863 pro-verb1868 preterito-presentia1870 preteritive present1872 action verb1877 verbid1914 inversive1931 eventive1946 hypothetical1957 non-factive1970 commonization1973 contrafactive1985 1877 A. H. Sayce Lect. Assyrian Lang. vii. 81 The insertion of r and l in a root, proceeding from the action verb. 1902 E. H. Lewis Text-bk. Appl. Eng. Gram. 172 Action verbs and link-verbs. Most verbs assert action, or what seems like action: burns, does, runs, thinks. 1991 B. A. Garner in Scribes Jrnl. Legal Writing 2 19 Verbs bring prose to life, or life to prose. But only action verbs do this—verbs such as snatch, stop, grasp, run, urge, plead. 2003 L. E. Rozakis Compl. Idiot's Guide Gram. & Style 106 Sticky situations arise with verbs that sometimes function as linking verbs but other times function as action verbs. action word n. a word, esp. a verb or verbal noun, used to express action. ΚΠ 1856 E. Woodford in Minutes Comm. Council Educ. 1855–6 649 The application of the term doing word or action word may be brought out by requiring them to observe or remember different actions. 1909 Elem. School Teacher 9 414 What is mistaken for verbs are the numerous ‘action words’, or verbal nouns. 1934 J. J. Logan Outl. Eng. Philol. 110 Verbs are essentially action-words. 1994 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 8 Jan. d6/5 [He] says skyrocket and spearhead ‘are non-verbs which should be tossed onto the junk heap.’ Every dictionary on the market today accepts both of these highly descriptive action words as verbs. C2. attributive. Designating a film (or television programme) featuring a great deal of fast-moving action, esp. involving violence, as action feature, action movie, etc. Also: of or relating to a film or filmed action of this type, as action hero, action sequence, etc.Recorded earliest in action film n. (b) at Compounds 1. See also action picture n. (b) at Compounds 1. ΚΠ 1921 [see action film n. at Compounds 1]. 1924 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 27 Sept. 12/2 Fred Thomson..wins a place further in the hearts of action movie fans, by his slam-bang portrayal of a rugged two-fisted son of the out-doors. 1936 N.Y. Times 13 July 11/5 A series of six action features and four color shorts. 1963 Movie July 5/1 Only two of the ‘action sequences’ have any real value as film. 1967 Times 23 Nov. 8/7 The action scenes..do a lot to make up for a slow and talky opening. 1981 J. Monaco How to read Film (rev. ed.) iv. 293 Shaft..was the founding example of the Black action genre that was commercially so popular in the early seventies. 1985 T.V. Times 31 Aug. 25/2 This is ITV's British-made crash-bang-wallop action series. 1989 Blitz Jan. 29/1 Willis proves a compelling leading action hero. 2005 DVD Rev. No. 73. 98/3 A poor knock-off from many a great Hong Kong action flick. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022). actionv. Brit. /ˈakʃn/, U.S. /ˈækʃən/ Forms: see action n. Origin: Probably formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: action n. Etymology: Probably < action n. Compare French actionner take legal action (against someone) (1312 in Middle French), to set in motion, move (16th cent.). 1. transitive. To bring a legal action against. Now chiefly Caribbean. ΘΚΠ society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > carry on or institute (an action) [verb (transitive)] > sue or institute action against pleada1325 implead1387 follow1389 pursue1454 process1493 to put in suit1495 to call (a person) unto the law?a1513 sue1526 suit1560 prosecute1579 to fetch a person over the hips1587 trounce1638 law1647 prosecute1656 action1734 to fetch law of1832 court1847 chicane1865 actionize1871 run1891 1734 H. Fielding Don Quixote in Eng. ii. xiv. 38 I don't question but to action him out on't. 1831 Fraser's Mag. 4 584 Many who had lost their property,..have been pounced upon and actioned into utter beggary. 1881 Echo 1 July 2/4 To prove his innocence, he took the only course open to him—actioned his enemy for libel. 1974 Star (Dominica) 8 Feb. 11/2 I will ackshun you Titine, I will ackshun you! I goin to de police station an make my repoht! 1996 D. M. Ogier Reformation & Society in Guernsey vi. 148 In 1589 the Court went so far as to effect a reconciliation between Michel le Petevin and his wife after she actioned him for ill treatment and adultery with their chambermaid. 2. transitive. To act upon physically; to move, manipulate. Also: to perform as a physical action, to act out. rare. ΚΠ a1797 J. B. de Mainauduc Lectures (1798) i. v. 183 The entire system should also be vigorously actioned, by which, general circulation will be quickened. 1838 E. Howard Outward Bound I. xii. 214 Three times did she make the circuit of the church, actioning out blessings to the crowd. 1990 Games Rev. Jan. 7/2 It is difficult to move and action any pieces without creating mayhem with the rest. 3. transitive. Esp. in business jargon: to take action on, to deal with; to put into effect. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > doing > do [verb (transitive)] > do about or with > take action on or about to put order to1556 action1960 1960 Times 18 June 6/1 (advt.) Full details taken, the message is actioned straight away. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xxxii. 209 The E.M.P...promised to action it for me if I let his A.D.C. have details in writing. 1985 Rescue News Summer 8/1 Concern has been expressed at the manner in which the whole operation has been put together and actioned. 2004 T. Theobald & C. Cooper Shut up & Listen! vi. 91 You can go home and log on, using e-mail as the primary vehicle for..actioning the tasks you have to complete. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.a1325v.1734
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actionn.

Phrases

Compounds

actionv.