† actuateadj.
Obsolete.
Carried out in action; realized in fact; = actuated adj. Also as past participle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > carrying out > [adjective] > executed or performed > carried into effect
yfilledc900
actuate1663
1663 R. South Serm. preached Nov. 9, 1662 20 And the Active informations of the Intellect, filling the Passive reception of the will..grew actuate into a third, and distinct perfection of Practice.
1671 R. McWard True Non-conformist 119 By which even the gift of Miracles was actuate, made effectual.
1801 in Naval Documents U.S. Wars with Barbary Powers (1939) I. 488 It is expected that all will serve harmoniously..when they shall be Called into actuate service.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
actuatev.
/ˈaktʃʊeɪt/, U.S. /ˈæk(t)ʃəˌweɪt/ 1. transitive. To carry out (a command, proposition, etc.) in practice; to actualize, perform, make real.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > carrying out > execute, perform, or carry out [verb (transitive)] > a command or law
fulfila1225
servea1325
fathera1425
practisea1464
actuate1594
1594 R. Carew tr. J. Huarte Exam. Mens Wits xv. 265 If there be any..who speaketh or actuateth [It. facia] this in the presence of another.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar i. 88 He that neglects to actuate such discourses loses the benefit of his meditation.
1677 M. Hale Contempl. ii. 68 That must..actuate such a Conviction to attain its due effect.
1795 T. Pownall Intellect. Physicks xi. 215 Man, thus in the command of, and able to actuate self-government..will..find by degrees an habitual feel of the true and real scale of his own being.
1848 Baptist Missionary Mag. Feb. 42 The word of God must dwell in us richly, but the Spirit, who uttered the word must live in and actuate the word.
1887 D. Eaton tr. F. Delitzsch Biblical Comm. Psalms I. 329 That condescension of God to humanity..which..actuated itself in the life of the son of Jesse.
1954 W. G. Meader Courtship in Shakespeare i. 39 By making his characters real and allowing them to actuate the plot, he has caused the lovers to free themselves from the bonds of courtly love.
2002 C. Baker Absolutism & Sci. Revol. 360 In December 1703, Steele produced his second comedy, The Lying Lover, in which he attempted to actuate the precepts of Jeremy Collier's Short view of the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage.
2.
a. transitive. To give life to (a person or thing); to animate, enliven. Also intransitive. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > vital principle > impart vital principle [verb (transitive)]
inspirea1382
inform1594
actuate1597
spirit1606
vitalize1678
staminate1720
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lvi. 126 The same Spirit..doth..formalize, vnite and actuate his whole race.
1650 J. Howell Instr. Forren Travell (new ed.) App. 130 What kind of Soule doth inform, actuat, govern, and conserve that vast Empire.
1664 H. More Apol. 498 The Soul is a Spirit that actuates the natural Body.
1664 Knavery in all Trades iii. sig. D2 A Cup of Ale-berry, or Warme-Broth exhibited to his small Guts..shall actuate in all parts of his Body.
1702 L. Echard Gen. Eccl. Hist. ii. v. 193 They were often follow'd by a Pythoness, a Maid Servant, actuated by a Spirit of Divination.
1766 A. Williams Misc. 42 The pow'rs that actuate Nature's frame, The momentaneous shock, th' electrick flame.
1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 148 Its [sc. spirit's] property is to improve, enliven, actuate some other thing, not..constitute a thing in its own name.
1847 Church Guardian Feb. 50/2 We pray that thou wouldest stir us up, and quicken our stupidity and so actuate and inspire this heavy lump of clay.
2002 N. M. Ford Prenatal Person v. 91 The human fetus whose life principle is an immaterial soul which actuates the body.
b. transitive. To arouse, stimulate, or activate (a latent or inert property). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > undertaking > beginning action or activity > begin or enter upon (an action) [verb (transitive)] > stir up or rouse up
stirc1000
aweccheOE
stirc1175
arear?c1225
awakec1315
amovec1330
araisec1374
wake1398
wakenc1400
to stir upa1500
incend?1504
to firk upc1540
bestir1549
store1552
bustlea1555
tickle1567
solicitate1568
to stir one's taila1572
exsuscitate1574
rouse1574
suscitate1598
accite1600
actuate1603
arousea1616
poach1632
roust1658
to shake up1850
to galvanize to or into life1853
to make things (or something specified) hum1884
to jack up1914
rev1945
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1347 And the cause which doth excite and actuate the same [Fr. et que la cause mouuante qui excite celle faculté].
1658 W. Gurnall Christian in Armour: 2nd Pt. 506 So doth faith actuate sinne in the conscience.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 117. ⁋10 We must actuate our languor by taking a few turns round the centre in a garret.
1760 R. Griffith & E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (ed. 2) I. Pref. p. iii This Pair of..Lovers seem to have used their Passions as they were designed by Providence, to inspirit their Reason, and to actuate their Moral.
1806 J. Foster Ess. in Series Lett. to Friend (ed. 2) I. ii. iii. 162 That..strength of preference, actuating also the passions, devotes them with energy to the object.
1812 I'll consider of It! I. viii. 124 Memory..remains with deep thought and reflection amidst these various changes, and these actuate the animal's faculties.
1939 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Mar. A society too ill-organized to actuate the generosity of decent human beings.
c. transitive. To move to mechanical action, to communicate motion to (an instrument, machine, or agent); to cause (a machine, appliance, etc.) to operate or begin operating.Earliest in figurative contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > cause to move [verb (transitive)]
stira1023
icchec1175
wawc1290
movea1382
remble1579
rouse1582
agitate1592
act1597
to put in (also into, to) motion1597
activate1624
actuate1641
animate1646
ferment1667
to feague away1671
to carry about1680
excite1694
jee1722
bestir1813
emotion1831
to set on1855
send1864
motion1929
1641 R. Greville Disc. Nature Episcopacie 60 The maine thing I drive at in all this, is the Originall fountaine from whence All These spring, and all the bankes that keepe in These Rivulets; That vertue and power which moves and actuates all these in their proper Channels.
1645 S. Rutherford Tryal & Triumph of Faith v. 31 The Devil in his element is twice a Devil; he is in his own when he formeth and actuateth bloody instruments.
1696 J. Dennis Remarks Prince Arthur 88 Monsieur Hoel..is a meer Machine, a Monarch of Brioches's making. He seems to have neither Life nor Soul of his own, but is actuated by invisible Springs.
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 67. ⁋11 Wings, which others were contriving to actuate by the perpetual motion.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxix. 215 Either of these forces is sufficient to actuate or put in motion the system of wheels and pinions.
1832 G. R. Porter Treat. Manuf. Porcelain & Glass 50 It has also a piston, actuated by a screw.
1879 G. B. Prescott Speaking Telephone (new ed.) 3 Reiss discovered that a vibrating diaphragm could be actuated by the human voice.
1897 Daily News 22 Dec. 5.2 The machine is actuated by a gasoline engine.
1904 G. F. Goodchild & C. F. Tweney Technol. & Sci. Dict. 384/1 Master clock, the timepiece controlling and actuating by electricity a series of dial works.
1940 Astounding Sci.-Fiction Dec. 127/2 Four dead-black battleships turned toward him..as he actuated the mechanism that made his vessel invisible.
2003 Stationary Engine Mag. Nov. 30/3 The exhaust valves look as though they are actuated by two concentric grooves cut in the flywheel face.
d. transitive. To cause, initiate, or prompt (an action or process).
ΚΠ
a1706 J. Evelyn Hist. Relig. (1850) I. 25 And that this separation being the effect of motion, and not competent to matter of itself, does of necessity require some hand or power to actuate it.
1821 ‘Harrow Boy’ Tale of Olden Time 21 An ambitious desire of his brother's possessions must have actuated the murder.
1843 A. Prince Rec. Patent Inventions iv. 273 The rotation of the drum, actuated by the clock, shows the time and extent of opening the aperture or valve.
1917 R. G. Schaefer Red, White & Blue xxvi. 385 Two electric motors... One moves the cutting head and spiral conveyor, the other actuates the revolving of the plungers.
1988 T. S. Bahrin in W. Manshard & W. B. Morgan Agric. Expansion & Pioneer Settlem. in Humid Tropics xii. 191 Settlement projects offer at best a temporary solution..since the later generations of the project population tend to experience a return to the conditions symptomatic of the areas that had actuated the resettlement process.
2000 Pop. Photogr. July 226/2 The button is a switch actuating motorized stopdown of the diaphragm.
3. intransitive. To exert activity, to act.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > doing > act or do [verb (intransitive)]
workeOE
i-do971
doOE
to shift one's handa1300
performa1382
practisec1475
skift?a1534
handle1535
act1583
enact1593
actuate1620
1620 T. Venner Via Recta 3 Consequently it not being able to actuate as it ought, putrifieth.
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1958) IX. 176 That soul that does not think, not consider, cannot be said to actuate, (which is the proper operation of the soul) but to evaporate; not to work in the body, but to breathe, and smoak through the body.
1657 Deuine Louer §3. 9 Wee ought in soule with Loue to actuate towards God the intensest and continuallest..wee can.
a1743 R. Savage Animalcule in Wks. Brit. Poets (1819) XIX. 203 They actuate with a genial heat.
1799 M. Robinson Thoughts on Condition of Women (ed. 2) 62 I will not attempt to philosophize how far the influence of reason actuated on more recent events.
1828 Olio (1829) Sept. 155/2 The end of poetry and music is to actuate upon the passions.
1920 Chambers's Jrnl. 25 Dec. 55/1 The [human] mass..came round with an almost dismaying swiftness. ‘How could such a bulk actuate with such rapidity?’ Clement thought.
1924 O. Lodge Making of Man v. 113 He is beginning to learn..that the portion of consciousness now actuating and made manifest in his brain is but a small part of the whole.
2000 D. Wilson For whom Bells Ring viii. 142 Around me, and coming from other unseen crews, I could hear the sound, of low pressure warning whistles actuating.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > record in writing [verb (transitive)]
writeeOE
awriteeOE
markOE
titlea1325
record1340
registera1393
accordc1450
chronicle1460
to write upa1475
calendar1487
enrol1530
prickc1540
scripture1540
to set down1562
report1600
reservea1616
tabulatea1646
to take down1651
actuate1658
to commit to writing (also paper)1695
to mark down1881
slate1883
1658 J. Bramhall Consecration Protestant Bishops Justified iv. 72 With their Registers to Actuate what is done, they do solemnly in forme of law confirme the election.
5. transitive. Chemistry. To give an active property to (a substance) by chemical action. Cf. activate v. 2a. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > subject to chemical reactions or processes [verb (transitive)] > subject to process affecting reaction > react
actuate1686
activate1893
react1927
1686 J. Goad Astro-meteorologica ii. xii. 322 So great is the Condensation of the Air, as I reckon, from the Coldness of the Water invigorated and actuated by the salt Ambient Spirit.
1750 J. Rutty Acct. Mrs. Stephens's Meth. 15 The alcaline salts, actuated by the fiery Particles of the Lime..dissolving the Oils.
1810 T. Mortimer Gen. Dict. Commerce, Trade, & Manuf. Soap, an unctuous kind of paste, made with oil or other kinds of fat, and an alkali sometimes actuated with quick-lime.
1994 W. R. Newman Gehennical Fire iv. 138 Unlike common mercury, Suchten's mercury has been ‘actuated’—sharpened by its antimonial treatment.
6. transitive. To cause (a person or animal) to act in a particular way, to motivate.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > motivation > motivate [verb (transitive)]
movec1325
occasion?1529
to put in mind1579
act1597
motive1657
actuate1736
motivate1863
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. Diss. ii. 309 Brute Creatures are impressed and actuated by various Instincts and Propensions.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson I. Ded. p. iii Every liberal motive that can actuate an Authour.
1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey II. iv. v. 207 Actuated by the vilest of sentiments.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 169 The motives which governed the political conduct of Charles the Second differed widely from those by which his predecessor and his successor were actuated.
1898 Argosy Sept. 371 You don't suppose, George, that I'm actuated by any selfish motive, do you?
1929 E. D. Wolff Why we do It xxiii. 144 ‘Deacon’, a nickname applied to Mr. Coleman on the same principle that actuates us when we call a licorice-colored Negro boy ‘Snowball’.
2003 Daily Tel. 13 Mar. 28/5 Chirac is actuated by a simple, spiteful, dog-in-the-mangerish anti-Americanism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1663
v.1594