action : Idioms & Phrases

• noun a judicial proceeding brought by one party against another; one party prosecutes another for a wrong done or for protection of a right or for prevention of a wrong
  action; action at law.
  

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• noun the operating part that transmits power to a mechanism
  action.
  
  • the piano had a very stiff action

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• noun the case officer designated to perform an act during a clandestine operation (especially in a hostile area)
  

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• noun a New York school of painting characterized by freely created abstractions; the first important school of American painting to develop independently of European styles
  Abstract Expressionism.
  

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• noun prostrate or semi-erect subshrub of tropical America, and Australia; heavily armed with recurved thorns and having sensitive soft grey-green leaflets that fold and droop at night or when touched or cooled
  live-and-die; touch-me-not; sensitive plant; Mimosa pudica; humble plant; shame plant.
  

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• noun the local voltage change across the cell wall as a nerve impulse is transmitted
  

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• noun the immediate rebroadcast of some action (especially sports action) that has been recorded on videotape
  instant replay; replay.
  

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• noun the efficiency with which electromagnetic radiation produces a photochemical reaction plotted as a function of the wavelength of the radiation
  

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• noun a policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities
  
  • affirmative action has been extremely controversial and was challenged in 1978 in the Bakke decision

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• (Law.), an action commenced and prosecuted by amicable consent of the parties, for the purpose of obtaining a decision of the court on some matter of law involved in it. Bouvier. Burrill.

Webster 1913

• 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

• noun a phenomenon associated with surface tension and resulting in the elevation or depression of liquids in capillaries
  capillarity.
  

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• noun the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it
  performance; execution; carrying out.
  
  • they criticised his performance as mayor
  • experience generally improves performance

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• noun a claim sufficient to demand judicial attention; the facts that give rise to right of action
  

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• noun (chemistry) any process determined by the atomic and molecular composition and structure of the substances involved
  chemical change; chemical process.
  

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• . (Law) See Chose.
• a thing of which one has not possession or actual enjoyment, but only a right to it, or a right to demand it by action at law, and which does not exist at the time in specie; a personal right to a thing not reduced to possession, but recoverable by suit at law; as a right to recover money due on a contract, or damages for a tort, which can not be enforced against a reluctant party without suit.

Webster 1913

• (Law), a longer course of proceedings than is necessary to attain the object in view.

Webster 1913

• noun legal action to protect a private civil right or to compel a civil remedy (as distinguished from criminal prosecution)
  

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• an action to enforce the rights or redress the wrongs of an individual, not involving a criminal proceeding.

Webster 1913

• noun a lawsuit brought by a representative member of a large group of people on behalf of all members of the group
  class action.
  

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• noun a lawsuit brought by a representative member of a large group of people on behalf of all members of the group
  class action.
  

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• noun acceleration of a chemical reaction induced the presence of material that is chemically unchanged at the end of the reaction
  catalysis.
  
  • of the top 50 commodity chemicals, 30 are created directly by catalysis and another 6 are made from raw materials that are catalytically produced

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• noun a mode of action
  course.
  
  • if you persist in that course you will surely fail
  • once a nation is embarked on a course of action it becomes extremely difficult for any retraction to take place

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• (Law), an action or suit instituted to secure conviction and punishment for a crime.

Webster 1913

• (Law), an action brought by a party who is sued against the person who has sued him, upon the same subject matter, as upon the same contract. Burrill.

Webster 1913

• (Med.), that action of certain drugs, by virtue of which they produce, when administered in small doses repeated at considerable intervals, the same effect as if given in a single large dose.

Webster 1913

• noun a mechanism that automatically delays the release of a camera shutter for a fixed period of time so that the photographer can appear in the picture
  

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• noun a protest action by labor or minority groups to obtain their demands
  

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• . (Mach.) See Direct-acting.

Webster 1913

• noun an action aimed at evading an opponent
  maneuver; manoeuvre.
  

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• (Mech.), the force or action exerted by a rope in drawing together the supports to which its ends are Fastened, when acted upon by forces applied in a direction transverse to the rope, as in the archer's bow.

Webster 1913

• a pianoforte action, used in grand pianos, in which special devices are employed to obtain perfect action of the hammer in striking and leaving the string.

Webster 1913

• noun action taken by a group of people
  

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• noun something that people do or cause to happen
  deed; human activity; act.
  

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• noun an alternative that is not available
  impossibility.
  

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• adverb proceeding with full vigor
  in full swing.
  
  • the party was in full swing

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• noun a temporary action by workers to protest management decision or to make demands
  

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• noun a violent terrorist group organized in the 1980s and advocating the overthrow of the Chilean military government; leaders are mainly criminals or impoverished youths
  Lautaro Youth Movement; Lautaro Popular Rebel Forces.
  

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• noun action and reaction are equal and opposite
  third law of motion; Newton's third law of motion; Newton's third law.
  

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• noun (chemistry) the law that states the following principle: the rate of a chemical reaction is directly proportional to the molecular concentrations of the reacting substances
  

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• noun a judicial proceeding brought by one party against another; one party prosecutes another for a wrong done or for protection of a right or for prevention of a wrong
  action; action at law.
  

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• (Law), actions such as must be brought in a particular county, where the cause arises; distinguished from transitory actions.

Webster 1913

• noun someone inclined to act first and think later
  man of deeds.
  

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• noun (neurology) the principle that the cortex of the brain operates as a coordinated system with large masses of neural tissue involved in all complex functioning
  mass action.
  

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• noun (neurology) the principle that the cortex of the brain operates as a coordinated system with large masses of neural tissue involved in all complex functioning
  mass action.
  

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• noun a military engagement
  action.
  
  • he saw action in Korea

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• (Law), a suit combining the properties of a real and a personal action.

Webster 1913

• noun a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings)
  action; natural process; activity.
  
  • the action of natural forces
  • volcanic activity

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• noun a party of people taking a role in legal proceedings
  party to the transaction.
  

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• (Law), a suit for penalties.

Webster 1913

• (Law), a suit or action by which a man claims a debt or personal duty, or damages in lieu of it; or wherein he claims satisfaction in damages for an injury to his person or property, or the specific recovery of goods or chattels; opposed to real action.

Webster 1913

• (Admiralty Law), a suit in which the mere title to property is litigated and sought to be enforced, as distinguished from a possessory suit; also (Scots Law), a suit wherein the plaintiff claims something as due him by the defendant.

Webster 1913

• noun action consisting of a system of levers that move a felt hammer to strike the strings when a key is depressed
  

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• noun a plan for actively doing something
  

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• (Geol.), the influence of volcanic heat and other subterranean forces under pressure.

Webster 1913

• (Mus.), a contrivance for overcoming the resistance of the keys and other movable parts in an organ, by causing compressed air from the wind chest to move them.

Webster 1913

• noun a local military action without declaration of war; against violators of international peace and order
  

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• noun committee formed by a special-interest group to raise money for their favorite political candidates
  PAC.
  

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• (Law), an action in which any person may sue for penalty imposed by statute.

Webster 1913

• (Law), an action to regain or obtain possession of something. See under Petitory.

Webster 1913

• noun a possible alternative
  possibility; opening.
  
  • bankruptcy is always a possibility

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• noun action mechanism in a modern rifle or shotgun; a back and forward motion of a sliding lever ejects the empty shell case and cocks the firearm and loads a new round
  pump action.
  

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• (Physics), the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through, and its velocity.

Webster 1913

• (Law), an action for the recovery of real property.

Webster 1913

• noun an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus
  inborn reflex; innate reflex; instinctive reflex; reflex response; unconditioned reflex; physiological reaction; reflex.
  

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• (Physiol.), any action performed involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls into action certain muscles, organs, or cells.

Webster 1913

• noun the legal right to sue
  

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• noun a playing field where sports events take place
  arena.
  

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Self`-ac"tion noun

Definitions

1. Action by, or originating in, one's self or itself.

Webster 1913

• in breech-loading firearms, a mechanism for operating the breech block, which is moved by a lever that turns sidewise.

Webster 1913

• noun action mechanism in a modern rifle or shotgun; a back and forward motion of a sliding lever ejects the empty shell case and cocks the firearm and loads a new round
  pump action.
  

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• noun a social policy of reform (especially socioeconomic reform)
  

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• (Law), sureties who undertake that, if the defendant is convicted, he shall satisfy the plaintiff, or surrender himself into custody. Tomlins. Wharton (Law Dict.).

Webster 1913

• (Naut.), to remove incumbrances from the decks, and prepare for an engagement.

Webster 1913

• (Law), an action which may be brought in any county, as actions for debt, and the like; opposed to local action.

Webster 1913