The squint-eyed Pharisees look across at all the actions of Christ.
Bp. Hall.
A*cros"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, in which words are to be guessed whose initial and final letters form other words.
{ A*cros"tic (&?;), A*cros"tic*al (&?;), } n. Pertaining to, or characterized by, acrostics.
A*cros"tic*al*ly, adv. After the manner of an acrostic.
||Ac`ro*tar"si*um (&?;), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; topmost + &?; tarsus.] (Zoöl.) The instep or front of the tarsus.
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Ac`ro*te*leu"tic (k`r*t*l"tk), n. [Gr. 'a`kros extreme + teley`th 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"ro*ter (k`r*tr or *kr*tr), n. [F. acrotère. See Acroterium.] (Arch.) Same as Acroterium.
Ac`ro*te"ri*al (k`r*t"r*al), a. Pertaining to an acroterium; as, acroterial ornaments. P. Cyc.
||Ac`ro*te`ri*um (-m), n.; pl. Acroteria (&?;). [L., fr. Gr. 'akrwth`rion summit, fr. 'a`kros 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.
A*crot"ic (&?;), a. [Gr. &?; an extreme, fr. &?;.] (Med.) Pertaining to or affecting the surface.
Ac"ro*tism (k"r*tz'm), n. [Gr. 'a priv. + kro`tos a rattling, beating.] (Med.) Lack or defect of pulsation.
A*crot"o*mous (&?;), a. [Gr. 'akro`tomos cut off sharp; 'a`kros extreme + te`mnein to cut.] (Min.) Having a cleavage parallel with the base.
A*cryl"ic (&?;), a. (Chem.) Of or containing acryl, the hypothetical radical of which acrolein is the hydride; as, acrylic acid.
Act (kt), 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). "In act to shoot." Dryden.
This woman was taken . . . in the very act.
John viii. 4.
Act of attainder. (Law) See Attainder. -- Act of bankruptcy (Law), an act of a debtor which renders him liable to be adjudged a bankrupt. -- Act of faith. (Ch. Hist.) See Auto-da-Fé. -- Act of God (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. -- Act of grace, an expression often used to designate an act declaring pardon or 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. -- 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.]
Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul.
Pope.