act : Idioms & Phrases

• verb function as or act like
  
  • This heap of stones will act as a barrier
• verb pretend to have certain qualities or state of mind
  play; act.
  
  • He acted the idiot
  • She plays deaf when the news are bad

WordNet

• a thing done out of court (anciently, in the country), and not a matter of record.

Webster 1913

• verb act in an uncontrolled manner
  act involuntarily.
  

WordNet

• . (Law) See Attainder.

Webster 1913

• (Law), an act of a debtor which renders him liable to be adjudged a bankrupt.

Webster 1913

• . (Ch. Hist.) See Auto-da-Fé.

Webster 1913

• noun a natural and unavoidable catastrophe that interrupts the expected course of events
  force majeure; inevitable accident; unavoidable casualty; vis major.
  
  • he discovered that his house was not insured against acts of God

WordNet

• (Law), an inevitable accident; such extraordinary interruption of the usual course of events as is not to be looked for in advance, and against which ordinary prudence could not guard.

Webster 1913

• an expression often used to designate an act declaring pardon or amnesty to numerous offenders, as at the beginning of a new reign.

Webster 1913

• a statute passed for the protection of those who have committed some illegal act subjecting them to penalties. Abbott.

Webster 1913

• noun the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear
  terrorism; act of terrorism.
  

WordNet

• verb carry further or advance
  pursue; follow up on.
  
  • Can you act on this matter soon?
• verb regulate one's behavior in accordance with certain information, ideas, or advice
  
  • The Founding Fathers acted on certain moral principles

WordNet

• verb represent an incident, state, or emotion by action, especially on stage
  
  • She could act neurotic anxiety
• verb act out; represent or perform as if in a play
  reenact; enact.
  
  • She reenacted what had happened earlier that day

WordNet

• verb act in an uncontrolled manner
  act involuntarily.
  

WordNet

• verb act like the master of
  lord it over; put on airs; queen it over.
  
  • He is lording it over the students

WordNet

• verb misbehave badly; act in a silly or improper way
  carry on.
  
  • The children acted up when they were not bored
• verb make itself felt as a recurring pain
  
  • My arthritis is acting up again

WordNet

• verb have and exert influence or effect
  work; influence.
  
  • The artist's work influenced the young painter
  • She worked on her friends to support the political candidate

WordNet

• noun a (usually irritating) impulsive and uncontrollable outburst by a problem child or a neurotic adult
  
• noun (psychiatry) the display of previously inhibited emotions (often in actions rather than words); considered to be healthy and therapeutic
  

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• noun a New Testament book describing the development of the early church from Christ's Ascension to Paul's sojourn at Rome
  Acts.
  

WordNet

• a steam engine in which the motion is transmitted backward from the crosshead to a crank which is between the crosshead and the cylinder, or beyond the cylinder.

Webster 1913

• the English statute 9 George I, which makes it a felony to appear armed in any park or warren, etc., or to hunt or steal deer, etc., with the face blackened or disguised. Subsequent acts inflicting heavy penalties for malicious injuries to cattle and machinery have been called black acts.

Webster 1913

• noun someone who shows impressive and stylish excellence
  

WordNet

• verb create mentally and abstractly rather than with one's hands
  create mentally.
  

WordNet

• noun the act of creating something by thinking
  

WordNet

• (Law), an act or statute which sets forth more clearly, and declares what is, the existing law.

Webster 1913

Di*rect"-act`ing adjective

Definitions

1. (Mach.) Acting directly, as one part upon another, without the intervention of other working parts.

Webster 1913

• one in which motion is transmitted to the crank without the intervention of a beam or lever; also called direct-action steam engine.

Webster 1913

• one in which the steam piston rod is directly connected with the pump rod; also called direct-action steam pump.

Webster 1913

Dou"ble-act`ing adjective

Definitions

1. Acting or operating in two directions or with both motions; producing a twofold result; as, a double-acting engine or pump.

Webster 1913

• noun a provision in a law that confers on appropriate officials the power to implement or enforce the law
  enabling clause.
  

WordNet

• noun formerly a state law that protected manufacturers from price-cutting by allowing them to set minimum retail prices for their merchandise; eliminated by the United States Congress in 1975
  

WordNet

• noun an act passed by Congress in 1978 to establish procedures for requesting judicial authorization for foreign intelligence surveillance and to create the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; intended to increase United States counterintelligence; separate from ordinary law enforcement surveillance
  FISA.
  

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• noun an act passed by a legislative body
  statute.
  

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• adjective satellite active over a long period of time
  

WordNet

• noun an acting technique introduced by Stanislavsky in which the actor recalls emotions or reactions from his or her own life and uses them to identify with the character being portrayed
  method.
  

WordNet

• (Law), an English statute reënacted annually to punish mutiny and desertion.

Webster 1913

• noun a law passed by the United States Congress that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to prevent employees from being injured or contracting diseases in the course of their employment
  federal job safety law.
  

WordNet

• a statute exclusively for the settlement of private and personal interests, of which courts do not take judicial notice; opposed to a general law, which operates on the whole community also, private law vs. public law .

Webster 1913

• (Law), an act or statute affecting matters of public concern. Of such statutes the courts take judicial notice.

Webster 1913

• noun law intended to eradicate organized crime by establishing strong sanctions and forfeiture provisions
  Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act; RICO; anti-racketeering law.
  

WordNet

• (Eng. Politics), acts of Parliament passed in 1832, 1867, 1884, 1885, extending and equalizing popular representation in Parliament.

Webster 1913

• noun law intended to eradicate organized crime by establishing strong sanctions and forfeiture provisions
  Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act; RICO; anti-racketeering law.
  

WordNet

• noun a vigorous reprimand
  
  • I read him the riot act
• noun a former English law requiring mobs to disperse after a magistrate reads the law to them
  

WordNet

• (Law), an act of the English Parliament requiring all teachers to conform to the Established Church, passed in 1714, repealed in 1719.

Webster 1913

• adjective satellite designed to activate or move or regulate itself
  self-regulating; self-moving; self-activating.
  
  • a self-activating sprinkler system

WordNet

Self`-act"ing adjective

Definitions

1. Acting of or by one's self or by itself; -- said especially of a machine or mechanism which is made to perform of or for itself what is usually done by human agency; automatic; as, a self-acting feed apparatus; a self-acting mule; a self-acting press.

Webster 1913

• noun the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman; the man's penis is inserted into the woman's vagina and excited until orgasm and ejaculation occur
  congress; intercourse; sexual intercourse; sexual relation; carnal knowledge; sexual congress; relation; copulation; coitus; coition.
  

WordNet

Sin"gle-act`ing adjective

Definitions

1. Having simplicity of action; especially (Mach.), acting or exerting force during strokes in one direction only; -- said of a reciprocating engine, pump, etc.

Webster 1913

• noun a legislative act that applies only to a particular person or particular district
  

WordNet

• noun the use of language to perform some act
  

WordNet

• noun an act passed by the British Parliament in 1756 that raised revenue from the American Colonies by a duty in the form of a stamp required on all newspapers and legal or commercial documents; opposition by the Colonies resulted in the repeal of the act in 1766
  

WordNet

• an act of the British Parliament [1765] imposing a duty on all paper, vellum, and parchment used in the American colonies, and declaring all writings on unstamped materials to be null an void.

Webster 1913

• noun the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear
  terrorism; act of terrorism.
  

WordNet

• (Eng. Law), an act of the English Parliament prescribing a form of oath and declaration against transubstantiation, which all officers, civil and military, were formerly obliged to take within six months after their admission to office. They were obliged also to receive the sacrament according to the usage of the Church of England. Blackstone.

Webster 1913

• to sustain the part of one of the characters in a play; hence, to simulate; to dissemble.

Webster 1913

• to do the work of; to serve as.

Webster 1913

• to regulate one's conduct according to.

Webster 1913

• to be the attacking party.

Webster 1913

• to take the character of; to fulfill the duties of.

Webster 1913

• to equal in action; to fulfill in practice; as, he has acted up to his engagement or his advantages. to act up, to misbehave

Webster 1913

• to feign ignorance, indifference or inattention, with the intent to deceive; to dissemble; in allusion to the habit of the opossum, which feigns death when attacked or alarmed.

Webster 1913