[f. L. act- ppl. stem of ag-ĕre to drive, carry on, do. Probably influenced in its development by ACT sb. More than a century intervened between the use of the word by the Sc. poet Henryson, and its first appearance in Eng.]
† 1. trans. To put in motion, move to action, impel; to actuate, influence, animate. Obs.
c. 1475. Henryson, Mor. Fables, 79. The Fiend … Actand ilke man to rin vnrighteous rinkes.
1602. Warner, Albion’s Eng., XIII. lxxvi. (1612), 316. Thy senses fiue that acte thy life.
1605. Timme, Quersitanus, II. 8. All spirit … in the world is acted & gouerned by the spirit.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 453. There was a different principle that acted them.
1649. H. Guthry, Mem. (1702), 54. The People of Scotland are much acted by their Ministers Doctrine.
1675. Barclay, Apol. Quakers, II. § 1. 19. They are not acted nor led by God’s Spirit.
1677. Gale, Crt. of Gentiles, II. IV. 235. Al his companions, who are acted by the same atheistic principes.
1691. Petty, Pol. Arith., iii. 54. Ships, and Guns do not fight of themselves, but Men who act and manage them.
1712. Addison, Spec., No. 287, ¶ 1. If I shall be told that I am acted by prejudice, I am sure it is an honest prejudice.
1732. Pope, Ess. on Man, ii. 59. Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), III. 309. Mrs. Howe was acted by the springs I set at work.
† 2. To bring into action, bring about, produce, perform, work, make, do (a thing or process). Obs.
1594. Greene, Orl. Furioso, 17. Thus did I act as many brave attempts.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VII. xliv. (1632), 414. Dunstan … who not onely did refuse to act his Coronation.
1649. Selden, Laws of Eng., II. viii. (1739), 52. Whereby they did get power to act other enormities mentioned in the Charge.
1660. T. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 82/2. I do most act the business of the Commonwealth, if I practise it only.
1726. De Foe, Hist. Devil, I. xi. (1840), 172. Had Satan been able to have acted anything by force.
1791. T. Paine, Rights of Man (ed. 4), 144. Measures which at other times it would censure, it now approves, and acts persuasion upon itself to suffocate its judgment.
3. To carry out in action, work out, perform (a project, command, purpose). arch.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 273. To act her earthy, and abhord commands.
1659. Reynolds, in Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 302. Our enemies … take an advantage of a parliament sitting to act all their plots.
1693. Mem. Count Teckely, Pref. 11. A formed Design, intended to be acted in one Place after another, throughout Europe.
1718. Pope, Iliad, I. 426. The unwilling heralds act their lord’s commands.
a. 1842. Tennyson, Œnone, 146. To live by law, Acting the law we live by without fear.
4. To carry out or represent in mimic action (an ideal, incident, or story); to perform (a play). Hence fig. in a bad sense: To simulate, counterfeit.
1594. M. Drayton, in Shaks. Cent. of Praise, 13. Acting her passions on our stately stage.
1601. Returne fr. Parnass., Ibid., 48. Let me see you act a little of it.
1602. Shaks., Haml., II. ii. 455. It was neuer acted: or if it was, not aboue once, for the Play I remember pleas’d not the Million.
1812. J. & H. Smith, Rejec. Addr., v. (1873), 40. It is built to act English plays in.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. xx. (1865), 149. A present sense of the blessing, which can be but feebly acted by the rich.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 474. Sunderland acted calumniated virtue to perfection.
1858. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 43. It is extremely well acted by all concerned.
5. With various complemental phrases.
1611. W. Goddard, Sat. Dial., E b. Oh, her that well cann acte-out such sweete partes.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. vi. 23. To act the Fable into a reality.
1659. South, Serm., Matt. x. 33, I. 83. It has been still preached up, but acted down.
a. 1715. Burnet, Hist. Own Time, II. 237. Lord Tweedale saw, that … he would act over his former extravagances.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., Wks. V. 36. This would be to act over again the scene of the criminals condemned to the gallies.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, vi. (1858), 354. To speak-out, to act-out what Nature has laid in him.
6. To act a part, or the part of: orig. To sustain the part of one of the characters in a play, hence to simulate. fig. To fulfil the character or duties of.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. iv. 26. That part, thou (Pisanio) must acte for me.
1684. T. Burnet, Theo. Earth, 185. Our life now is so short … by that time we begin to understand our selves a little, and to know where we are, and how to act our part, we must leave the stage, and give place to others.
1769. Junius Lett., xxxv. 167. You have still an honourable part to act.
1794. Paley, Evid., II. ix. (1817), 211. Those who had acted and were acting the chief parts in the transaction.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., III. xii. 121. He acted something like the part of a deserter.
7. To act (anyone): To personate, assume the character of, to play; orig. on the stage; fig. in real life; dial. it passes into the sense of mimicking, mocking.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, I. xvi. 80. He that acteth another, is said to beare his Person, or act in his name.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, III. IX. 470. Why should I take that ill from you, which I suffer from Marais, who every day acts me in your presence? This Marais was … a Buffoon, that had a marvellous faculty of imitation.
1727. Swift, To Yng. Lady, Wks. 1755, II. II. 41. A wise man … soon grows weary of acting the lover and treating his wife like a mistress.
1742. Young, Night Th., IV. 556. She gives the soul a soul that acts a god.
1796. Gov. Morris, Sparks’ Life & Writ. (1832), III. 98. It is to act, not to be, the monarch, and he suits better the theatre than the throne.
1837. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm., xxvi. (ed. 3), I. 390. What was it but to act the child, to ask how many times a fellow-Christian should offend against us.
8. intr. (object suppressed). To To perform on the stage.
1598. J. Marston, in Shaks. Cent. of Praise, 27. Say who acts best? Drusus or Roscio?
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 247. I saw women acte, a thing that I neuer saw before, though I haue heard that it hath beene sometimes used in London.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Mad Lover, II. i. 8. Plague act yee, I’le act no more.
1718. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xxi. 64. No women are suffered to act on the stage.
9. To perform on the stage of existence; to perform actions, to do things, in the widest sense. a. With special reference to the reality of the doing, as opposed to think, speak, etc. b. With reference to the manner or mode of action, and hence = behave, comport, or demean oneself.
1684. Scanderbeg Rediv., vi. 133. The Emperour obliged himself to Act with an Army of Sixty Thousand Men against the Turks.
1742. Young, Night Th., II. 92. Who does the best his circumstance allows Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more.
1751. Jortin, Serm. (1771), VII. i. 13. Who beleeve in Christ, with a resolution to act suitably to this persuasion.
1756. Burke, Vind. Nat. Soc., Wks. I. 14. We begin to think and to act from reason and from nature alone.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Loom & Lug., I. iv. 54. I never could act for myself in my life.
1846. Sir R. Peel, Sp. on resigning, 28 June. Acting … from pure and disinterested motives.
1865. Mill, Repr. Gov., 8/2. It is what men think, that determines how they act.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xviii. 145. In overcoming the hostility of the West, William acted as he always did act.
c. To do the duties of an office temporarily, without being the regular officer; to act for, or in the absence of another. To act as: To perform in the character of, to do the work of, to serve as. (Also of things.)
1804. [See under ACTING vbl. sb. 5.]
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 490. He had no scruple about acting as chaplain.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., vi. 114. A person who acted as interpreter.
1879. G. C. Harlan, Eyesight, ii. 25. They [the eye-lashes] are delicately sensitive to the slightest touch, and act as feelers to warn the eye of the approach of any small object.
Mod. Is anyone empowered to act in the manager’s absence? I am here to act for my brother; to act in behalf of the children.
d. To act on, upon: To regulate one’s conduct according to.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, II. 211. If more there be, If more and acted on, what follows?
Mod. I wish the maxim were more generally acted upon in all cases.
e. To act up to: To come up in practice to an assumed standard, to fulfil or carry out in practice.
1747. in Col. Rec. Penn., V. 149. As long as you shall act up to your Engagements.
1829. Landor, Imag. Convers. (1842), II. 99. Your lordship acts up to your tenets.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 63. That … the members of the Church of England would act up to their principles.
10. Of things: To put forth energy, produce effects, exert influence, fulfil functions.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 141, ¶ 2. A combination of inconsiderable circumstances, acting when his imagination was unoccupied.
1812. W. Taylor, in Month. Rev., LXIX. 384. Rapid composition acts best.
1870. Jevons, Elem. Logic, xxix. 251. When several causes act at once.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 63. A fall of snow thus acts like a mantle of fur thrown over the earth.
Mod. The brake refused to act.
b. To act on: To exert influence on; to influence, affect. (Here act on comes round nearly to the earliest transitive sense of act; see 1.)
1810. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 124. Reason to act on man must be impersonated.
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 437. The clear liquor … is acted on by a rod of zinc.
1855. Brewster, Life of Newton, I. xii. 322. One sphere will act upon another with a force directly proportional to their quantities of matter.
1855. Bain, Senses & Intell., II. ii. § 2 (1864), 177. Gases do not act on the touch.
