Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1st 100 Pages). Noah Webster
v. i. To put forth the first sprout. Ac¶roÏspore (#), n. [Gr. ? + ? fruit.] (Bot.) A spore borne at the extremity of the cells of fructification in fungi. Ac¶roÏspor¶ous (#), a. Having acrospores. AÏcross¶ (#; 115), prep. [Pref. aÏ + cross: cf. F. en croix. See Cross, n.] From side to side; athwart; crosswise, or in a direction opposed to the length; quite over; as, a bridge laid across a river. Dryden. To come across, to come upon or meet incidentally. Freeman. Ð To go across the country, to go by a direct course across a region without following the roads. AÏcross¶, adv. 1. From side to side; crosswise; as, with arms folded across. Shak. 2. Obliquely; athwart; amiss; awry. [Obs.] The squintÐeyed Pharisees look across at all the actions of Christ. Bp. Hall. AÏcros¶tic (#)(#), n. [Gr. ?; ? extreme + ? order, line, verse.] 1. A composition, usually in verse, in which the first or the last letters of the lines, or certain other letters, taken in order, form a name, word, phrase, or motto. 2. A Hebrew poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular order (as Psalm cxix.). See Abecedarian. Double acrostic, a species of enigma<—crossword puzzle—>, in which words are to be guessed whose initial and final letters form other words. AÏcros¶tic (#), AÏcros¶tiÏal (#), } n. Pertaining to, or characterized by, acrostics. AÏcros¶ticÏalÏly, adv. After the manner of an acrostic. Ø Ac·roÏtar¶siÏum (#), n. [NL., from Gr. ? topmost + ? tarsus.] (Zo”l.) The instep or front of the tarsus.
p. 18
Ac·roÏteÏleu¶tic (#), n. [Gr. ? extreme + ? end.] (Eccles.) The end of a verse or psalm, or something added thereto, to be sung by the people, by way of a response.
Ac¶roÏter (#), n. [F. acrotŠre. See Acroterium.] (Arch.) Same as Acroterium.
Ac·roÏte¶riÏal (#), a. Pertaining to an acroterium; as, ornaments.
P. Cyc.
Ø Ac·roÏte·riÏum (#), n.; pl. Acroteria (#). [L., fr. Gr. ? summit, fr. ? topmost.] (Arch.) (a) One of the small pedestals, for statues or other ornaments, placed on the apex and at the basal angles of a pediment. Acroteria are also sometimes placed upon the gables in Gothic architecture. J. H. Parker. (b) One of the pedestals, for vases or statues, forming a part roof balustrade.
AÏcrot¶ic (#), a. [Gr. ? an extreme, fr. ?.] (Med.) Pertaining to or affecting the surface.
Ac¶roÏtism (#), n. [Gr. ? priv. + ? a rattling, beating.] (Med.) Lack or defect of pulsation.
AÏcrot¶oÏmous (#), a. [Gr. ? cut off sharp; ? extreme + ? to cut.] (Min.) Having a cleavage parallel with the base.
AÏcryl¶ic (#), a. (Chem.) Of or containing acryl, the hypothetical radical of which acrolein is the hydride; as, acrylic acid.
Act (#), n. [L. actus, fr. agere to drive, do: cf. F. acte. See Agent.] 1. That which is done or doing; the exercise of power, or the effect, of which power exerted is the cause; a performance; a deed.
That best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and of love.
Wordsworth.
Hence, in specific uses: (a) The result of public deliberation; the decision or determination of a legislative body, council, court of justice, etc.; a decree, edit, law, judgment, resolve, award; as, an act of Parliament, or of Congress. (b) A formal solemn writing, expressing that something has been done. Abbott. (c) A performance of part of a play; one of the principal divisions of a play or dramatic work in which a certain definite part of the action is completed. (d) A thesis maintained in public, in some English universities, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.
2. A state of reality or real existence as opposed to a possibility or possible existence. [Obs.]
The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterward grow to be.
Hooker.
3. Process of doing; action. In act, in the very doing; on the point of (doing). ½In act to shoot.¸
Dryden.
This woman was taken … in the very act.
John viii. 4.
Act of attainder. (Law) See Attainder. Ð Act of bankruptcy (Law), an act of a debtor which renders him liable to be adjudged a bankrupt. Ð Act of faith. (Ch. Hist.) See AutoÐdaÐF?. Ð Act of God (Law), an inevitable accident; such extraordinary interruption of the usual course of events as is no to be looked for in advance, and against which ordinary prudence could not guard. - Act of grace, an expression often used to designate an act declaring pardon amnesty to numerous offenders, as at the beginning, of a new reign. - Act of indemnity, a statute passed for the protection of those who have committed some illegal act subjecting them to penalties. Abbott. - Act in pais, a thing done out of court (anciently, in the country), and not a matter of record.
Syn. Ð See Action.
Act, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Acted; p. pr. & vb. n. Acting.] [L. actus, p. p. of agere to drive, lead, do; but influenced by E. act, n.] 1. To move to action; to actuate; to animate. [Obs.]
SelfÐlove, the spring of motion, acts the soul.
Pope.
2. To perform; to execute; to do. [Archaic]
That we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity.
Jer. Taylor.
Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do.
Barrow.
Uplifted hands that at convenient times
Could act extortion and the worst of crimes.
Cowper.
3. To perform, as an actor; to represent dramatically on the stage.
4. To assume the office or character of; to play; to personate; as, to act the hero.
5. To feign or counterfeit; to simulate.
With acted fear the villain thus pursued.
Dryden.
To act a part, to sustain the part of one of the characters in a play; hence, to simulate; to dissemble. - To act the part of, to take the character of; to fulfill the duties of.
Act, v. i. 1.To exert power; to produce an effect; as, the stomach acts upon food.
2. To perform actions; to fulfill functions; to put forth energy; to move, as opposed to remaining at rest; to carry into effect a determination of the will.
He hangs between, in doubt to act or rest.
Pope.
3. To behave or conduct, as in morals, private duties, or public offices; to bear or deport one's self; as, we know not why he has acted so.
4. To perform on the stage; to represent a character.
To show the world how Garrick did not act.
Cowper.
To act as or for, to do the work of; to serve as. - To act on, to regulate one's conduct according to. - To act up to, to equal in action; to fulfill in practice; as, he has acted up to his engagement or his advantages.<—to act up, to misbehave—>
Act¶aÏble (#), a. Capable of being acted.
Tennyson.
Ac¶tiÏnal (#), a. [Gr. ?, ?, ray.] (Zo”l.) Pertaining to the part of a radiate animal which contains the mouth.
L. Agassiz.
Ø Ac·tiÏna¶riÏa (#), n. pl. [NL., from Gr. ?, ?, ray.] (Zo”l.) A large division of Anthozoa, including those which have simple tentacles and do not form stony corals. Sometimes, in a wider sense, applied to all the Anthozoa, expert the Alcyonaria, whether forming corals or not.
Act¶ing (#), a. 1. Operating in any way.
2. Doing duty for another; officiating; as, an superintendent.
Ø AcÏtin¶iÏa (#), n.; pl. L. Actini‘ (#), E. Actinias (#). [Latinized fr. Gr. ?, ?, ray.] (Zo”l.) (a) An animal of the class Anthozoa, and family Actinid‘.