(ækt)  [orig. a. Fr. acte, but in some of the senses referring directly to L. actus a doing, and actum a thing done (pl. acta).] 

    1. a. A thing done; a deed, a performance (of an intelligent being).
 
  c1384 CHAUCER H. Fame 347 And al youre actes red and songe [MS. Bodl. actys]. c1460 FORTESCUE Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 99 Thay have no Hertys to do so terryble an Acte. 1535 COVERDALE Ps. lix. 12 Thorow God we shal do greate actes, for it is he that shal treade downe oure enemies. 1584 D. POWEL Lloyd's Cambria 99 The prowesse and worthie Actes of the ancient Brytaines. 1611 BIBLE Transl. Pref., As worthy an acte as euer he did. 1678 BUTLER Hudibras III. i. 925 An act and deed that makes one heart Become another's Counter-part. 1807 CRABBE Par. Reg. III. 74 And snatch some portion of their acts from fate. 1832 J. AUSTIN Lect. Jurispr. xviii. (1879) I. 427 The only objects which can be called acts are the consequences of volitions..The involuntary movements which are the consequences of certain diseases are not acts.
 

    b. A thing done as the result, practical outcome, or external manifestation of any state, and, whence the state may be inferred.
 
  1751 JORTIN Serm. (1771) I. ii. 27 God required of him this act of obedience. 1768 BLACKSTONE Comm. II. 477 This hath been declared by the legislature to be an act of bankruptcy, upon which a commission may be sued out. Mod. It would be the act of a madman.
 

    c. Any operation of the mind, as distinguished from the content or object of that operation. Also attrib., as act psychology, psychology regarded as the study of such acts; = INTENTIONALISM.
 
  1694 LOCKE Essay (ed. 2) II. xxi. §30. p. 134 Desiring and willing are two distinct Acts of the mind. 1890 W. JAMES Princ. Psychol. II. xx. 168, I can[n]ot feel them by a pure mental act of attention unless they belong to quite distinct parts of the body. a1927 E. B. TITCHENER Systematic Psychol. (1929) iii. 194 The importance of the ‘act’ in modern psychology derives from the work of Brentano. 1934 H. C. WARREN Dict. Psychol. 5/1 Act psychology. 1. A system of psychology which holds that every psychical phenomenon is characterized by the intentional inherence of an object. 2. A system..in which the data are psychic activities, usually of a subject upon an object. 1936 A. J. AYER Lang., Truth & Logic vii. 188 We do not accept the realist analysis of our sensations in terms of subject, act, and object.
 

    d. spec. The act of procreation; sexual intercourse. With the.
 
  1596 SHAKES. Merch. V. I. iii. 84 When the worke of generation was Betweene these woolly breeders in the act. 1611 BIBLE John viii. 4 This woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 1923 H. CRANE Let. 9 May (1965) 133 They do everything but the Act itself right on the stage. 1930 D. H. LAWRENCE A Propos of Lady Chatterley's Lover 12 Balance up the consciousness of the act, and the act itself. 1959 N. MAILER Advts. for Myself (1961) 177 They do not talk about the act when it has failed to fire.
 

    2. A state of accomplished fact or reality, as distinguished from subjective existence, intention, possibility, etc. Obs.
 
  1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. IV. i. (1495) 78 The noblest thynges of shappes of kynde and of crafte that be hydde comyth forth in acte and in dede. 1595 SHAKES. John IV. iii. 135 If I in act, consent, or sinne of thought Be guiltie. 1662 MORE Antid. agst. Ath. Ep. Ded. (1712) 2 Plato, if he were alive again, might find his timorous supposition brought into absolute Act. 1677 HALE Prim. Orig. Man. 109 They are only in possibility, and not in act.
 

    3. ? Activity, active principle. Obs.
 
  1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. III. xxiv. (1495) 74 The soule is acte and perfeccion of the body. 1652 J. BURROUGHES Exp. Hosea v. 92 Grace is called the Divine nature, and God (we know) is a pure act, and it is called the life of God. 1694 LESTRANGE Fables clxv. (1714) 179 Nothing can be more contrary to God Himself, who is a Pure Act, then the Sleeping and Drowsing away of our Life and Reason. 1730 BEVERIDGE Priv. Thoughts I. 18 But my Reason tells me, God is a pure Act, and therefore How can He suffer any Punishments.
 

    4. a. The process of doing; acting, action, operation. (L. actus.) arch. exc. in Act of God: action of uncontrollable natural forces in causing an accident, as the burning of a ship by lightning.
 
  1494 FABYAN VII. 579 The acte of Frenshmen standynge moche in ouer rydynge of theyr aduersaryes by force of speremen. 1594 DRAYTON Idea 860 Wise in Conceit, in Act a very sot. 1635 J. SWAN Spec. Mundi v. §2. (1643) 130 The Materiall cause [of the rainbow] is not water in act. 1732 POPE Ess. on Man ii. 105 The rising tempest puts in act the soul. 1784 COWPER Task VI. 340 To give such act and utt'rance as they may To extasy too big to be suppress'd. 1850 MRS. BROWNING Poems II. 193 And hear the flow of souls in act and speech. 1882 Charter-party: The Act of God, the Queen's Enemies, Fire, and all and every other Dangers and Accidents of the Seas..always excepted.
 

    b. in the act: in the process, in the very doing; in the interval, however momentary, between the inception and completion of the deed; on the point of. (L. in actu.)
 
  1596, 1611 [see sense 1d above]. 1678 BUTLER Hudibras III. i. 666 And off the loud oaths go, but, while They're in the very act, recoil. c1746 J. HERVEY Medit. & Contempl. (1818) 220 It is in the very act to fly. 1826 SOUTHEY Vind. Eccl. Angl. 86 He was in the very act of death. 1874 BOUTELL Arms & Armour v. 78 When armour was in the act of ceasing to be worn.
 

    5. Something transacted in council, or in a deliberative assembly; hence, a decree passed by a legislative body, a court of justice, etc. (L. actum, pl. acta.)
 
  1458 in Dom. Archit. III. 43 This was preved acte also in the perlement. 1535 COVERDALE Josh. xxiv. 26 Iosua wrote this acte in the boke of the lawe of God. 1593 SHAKES. 3 Hen. VI, II. ii. 91 You..Haue caus'd him by new act of Parliament, To blot out me, and put his owne Sonne in. 1640-1 Kirkcudbright War-Com. Min. Bk. (1855) 98 All fugitives must be apprehendit and punished conforme to the actes. 1693 Mem. Count Teckely II. 91 The Male-contents demanded a general Act of Indempnity. a1704 T. BROWN Praise of Wealth Wks. 1730 I. 83 Before this proclamation passed into an irrevocable act. 1795 SEWEL tr. Hist. Quakers II. VII. 66 They asked him if he knew not of an act against meetings. 1839 KEIGHTLEY Hist. Eng. I. 373 An act of attainder was passed against York, Salisbury, their wives and children.
 

    6. a. A record of transactions or decrees; any instrument in writing to verify facts. (L. actum, pl. acta.)
 
  1535 COVERDALE Ezra vi. 2 A boke, & in it was there an acte wrytten after this maner. 1663 BUTLER Hudibras I. i. 143 He could reduce all things to Acts. 1704 NELSON Festiv. & Fasts (1739) 7 In the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Ignatius we find. 1726 AYLIFFE Parergon 27 Judicial Acts are said to be all those Writings, and matters which relate to Judicial Proceedings, and are sped in open Court at the Instance of one of the Parties Litigant; and, being reduced into writing by a Publick Notary..are recorded by the Authority of the Judge. 1789 Constit. U.S. iv. §1 Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state. 1821 BYRON Mar. Fal. I. i. (1868) 315 The ducal table cover'd o'er With..petitions, Despatches, judgements, acts, reprieves, reports.
 

    b. Acts (of the Apostles), name of one of the books of the N. Test.
 
  1539 TONSTALL Serm. on Palme sondaye (1823) 55 It appereth playnly in the x. of the actes. 1549 COVERDALE Erasm. Paraphr. Rom. Argt., As Luke in the xxi chapiter of thactes reherseth. 1833 CRUSE tr. Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. II. x. 59 It is also recorded in the book of Acts.
 

    c. act and deed, part of a formula used when signing a legal instrument and putting a finger on the seal at the end of the transaction.
 
  1756 D. GARRICK Let. in C. Oman David Garrick (1958) 177 The act and deed of the wife, in such cases [sc. business matters], pass for nothing. 1827 BARNEWALL & CRESSWELL Reports V. 671 [He] produced the parchment, placed it on the table, signed his name, and then said, ‘I deliver this as my act and deed’, putting his finger at the same time on the seal. 1877 W. S. GILBERT Sorcerer I. p. 9 They deliver itthey deliver it As their Act and Deed! 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 156/2 In law it means any instrument in writing, for declaring or justifying the truth of a bargain or transaction, as: ‘I deliver this as my act and deed.’
 

    7. a. A ‘performance’ of part of a play; hence, One of the main divisions of a dramatic work, in which a definite part of the whole action is completed. Also often fig. (L. actus.)
 
  ?1520 Terens in Englysh (Andria) The furst scene of the furst Act. 1549 CHALONER tr. Erasmus's Praise of Folie sig. N iv verso, Resteth now the fifte acte or parte, wherein it behoueth them to shew foorth all their cunning and profunditie. 1565 NORTON & SACKV. Gorboduc (title-p.), The Tragedie of Gorboduc Where of three Actes were wrytten by Thomas Nortone, and the two laste by Thomas Sackuyle. Ibid., sig. A ii^v The Order of the dme shewe before the firste Acte. 1613 SHAKES. Hen. VIII, Epil. 3 Some come to take their ease, And sleepe an act or two. c1615 FLETCHER Mad Lover I. 21 Away then: our Act's ended. 1751 JOHNSON Rambler No. 156 8 An act is only the representation of such a part of the business of the play as proceeds in an unbroken tenor, or without any intermediate pause. 1769 Junius Lett. xxiii. 112 Can age itself forget that you are now in the last act of life? 1858 DE QUINCEY Grk. Trag. in Wks. IX. 64 The very meaning of an act is, that in the intervals, the suspension of the acts, any possible time may elapse, and any possible action go on. 1876 FREEMAN Norm. Conq. II. x. 507 We are approaching the close of the first act of our great drama.
 

    b. An interval or interlude in a play. Obs.
 
  1606 J. MARSTON Parasitaster Actus Quintus. Whilest the Act is a playing, Hercules and Tiberio enters, Tiberio climes the tree, and is received above by Dulcimel. 1611 COTGRAVE Dict., Acte..an Act, or Pause in a Comedie, or Tragedie. 1623 SHAKES. Mids. N. III. ad fin., They sleepe all the Act. 1653 MIDDLETON & ROWLEY Changeling III. i (stage-direction) In the act-time De Flores hides a naked rapier behind a door.
 

    c. One of a series of short performances in a variety programme, circus, etc. Also, the entertainer or entertainers (considered collect.) by whom an act is performed. Cf. double act s.v. DOUBLE a. 6.
 
  1890 ‘BIFF’ HALL Turnover Club vi. 63 The usual attraction was ‘Professor Etherio, the flying man’, who did a rope~walking act. 1912 Stage Year Bk. 1912 39 The boom in bare flesh..Even those managers who..had refused to give engagements to this class of ‘act’, were soon tumbling over one another. 1933 P. GODFREY Back-Stage xviii. 228 Their act was booked for a tour by the African theatres. 1959 Times 16 Oct. 12/3 The team had completed their twists, loops and all the tricks of their acts which had been seen..in..other air shows.
 

 
  1919 F. HURST Humoresque 300 Two specialty acts and a pair of whistling Pierrots. 1929 Daily Express 12 Jan. 3/5 New comedy acts are needed most. These, if found, will be helped to find better material and to buy attractive costumes. 1971 Rolling Stone 24 July 12/2 The customers..aren't going to be able to take a chance on the unknown or lesser known acts if the record is priced too high.
 

    d. transf. An imitation of a theatrical part, a piece of acting; a display of exaggerated behaviour; pretence (of being what one is not); esp. to put on an act (colloq.), to show off, to talk for display, to behave insincerely, to act a part.
  Also in other phrases: to get into the act (colloq., orig. U.S.), to become a participant; to involve oneself in some (successful, fashionable, etc.) venture or activity; also (to be) in on the act; to get one's act together (colloq., orig. U.S.), to (re-)organize effectively one's (muddled or disorganized) life, business, etc.
 
  1928 BARRIE Peter Pan in Plays 20 We are doing an act; we are playing at being you and father. 1934 F. BALDWIN Innocent Bystander (1935) viii. 145 When he spoke of the theatre he wasn't putting on an act. He was himself. 1934 J. O'HARA Appointment in Samarra (1935) viii. 235 You put on some kind of an act with Caroline, and..she fell for it. 1939 A. HUXLEY After Many a Summer II. v. 220 It was such a relief not to have to put on that act with Pete for the benefit of uncle Jo. 1946 M. DICKENS Happy Prisoner viii. 158 This girl's not naturally like that. She's putting on an act. 1953 X. FIELDING Stronghold III. ii. 192 This might have been an act designed to impress us. 1959 Times 1 Apr. 8/3 Some men were injured and some were ‘putting on an act’.
 

 
  (b) 1947 Current Biog. 1946 168/1 The Durante quips (‘I've got a million of 'em’, ‘Everybody wants to get into da act,’..) are ‘timelessly colorful’. 1951 ‘J. TEY’ Daughter of Time viii. Morton had been very much ‘in on the act’. 1958 Spectator 22 Aug. 239/1 President Chamoun got back into the act by announcing that they would not be asked to withdraw from the Lebanon. 1967 Listener 22 June 835/2 No one for a moment supposes that Friendly will not be in on the act. 1969 M. PUZO Godfather II. xiii. 188 The author..came west on Johnny's invitation, to talk it over without agents or studios getting into the act.
 

 
  (c) 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 17 June 1-G/1 (caption) Winfield, after giving it careful consideration, I have decided to get my act together and split! 1977 C. MCFADDEN Serial (1978) iv. 15/1 Like, I can't get my act together... Leonard, I need you. I want you to help me get clear. 1984 Times 22 May 3/1 We need to get our act together... Users have been divided so far and are being picked off by the publishers one by one.
 

    e. attrib. act-drop = DROP n. 16.
 
  1884 [see EXECUTE v. 2]. 1890 G. B. SHAW in Star 28 Apr. 2/3 She made a very marked impression which the audience gave vehement emphasis to after each descent of the act-drop. 1896 [see DROP n. 16]. 1960 Times 29 Sept. 16/7 An act-drop is lowered to display a multicoloured abstract design.
 

    8. In the Universities, a thesis publicly maintained by a candidate for a degree, or to show a student's proficiency.
  At Oxford, the Act took place early in July. The graduates kept Acts, or discussed theses, on Saturday and Monday; on the intervening Act Sunday, two of the new Doctors of Divinity preached Act Sermons before the University. The Act was last held after long interruption in 1733; in 1856 the name, with all that related to the ceremony, was removed from the Statute-book, and only survives in the appellation Act Term sometimes given to Trinity Term. At Cambridge, the name is still given to the thesis and accompanying examination required for the obtainment of the doctor's degree in Divinity, Law, and Medicine.
 
  1549 CHALONER tr. Erasmus's Praise of Folie sig. M iv verso, At their Actes and Comencements ye dooe see theim swadled in with so many cappes, coyues, and furde hoodes as they weare. 1592 T. NASHE Strange News I. 279 Acts are but idle wordes, and..Pumps and Pantofles...therefore do no Acts..onelie..to Oxford they trudge,..and there are confirmed in the same degree they took at Cambridge. 1607 [R. PARKER] Scholas. Disc. agst. Antichrist I. ii. 89 For proofe heereof, what need I goe further then to an Vniuersitie Acte, where before a confluence and concourse of people,..a Doctor incipient in Diuinitie publisheth these verses. 1641 F. GREVILLE Disc. Nat. Episc. II. vii. 118 They desire they may have leave (as Probationers) to exercise, or keepe Acts, before the Church; 'till the Church shall approve of them. 1654 GATAKER Disc. Apol. 42 At the time..were divers created Doctors without attendance to keep Acts. 1691 WOOD Ath. Oxon. II. 182 Upon Act Sunday the same year he preached the University Sermon at S. Maries. 1695 KENNETT Paroch. Antiq. II. 58 This method was first reflected on by Mr. Peter Heylin, in an Act sermon at St. Mary's in Oxon, July 11, 1630. 1713 Guardian No. 72 (1756) I. 320 This paper is written with a design to make my journey to Oxford agreeable to me, where I design to be at the Publick Act. 1733 BERKELEY in Fraser Life vi. 207 The approaching Act at Oxford is much spoken of. 1877 Camb. Univ. Calend. 51 The Degree of Bachelor in Divinity, for which the requisite Exercises are, one Act, and an English Sermon. The Act is required to be kept in the following manner:..The Candidate shall read a thesis composed in Latin by himself on some subject approved by the Professor; the Professor or graduate presiding, shall bring forward arguments or objections in English for the Candidate to answer, etc.
 

    9. An auto da fé, or act of faith; a burning of heretics. Obs.
 
  1709 STRYPE Annals of Ref. xx. 228 In this act also were burnt the bones and picture of D. Ægidio.