Ac`ti*noph"o*rous (&?;), a. [Gr. &?;, &?;, ray + &?; to bear.] Having straight projecting spines.
Ac*tin"o*some (&?;), n. [Gr. &?; ray + &?; body.] (Zoöl.) The entire body of a cœlenterate.
Ac"tin*ost (&?;), n. [Gr. &?;, &?;, ray + &?; bone.] (Anat.) One of the bones at the base of a paired fin of a fish.
Ac*tin"o*stome (&?;), n. [Gr. &?;, &?;, a ray + &?; mouth.] (Zoöl.) The mouth or anterior opening of a cœlenterate animal.
||Ac`ti*not"ro*cha (&?;), n. pl. [NL.; Gr. &?;, &?;, a ray + &?; a ring.] (Zoöl.) A peculiar larval form of Phoronis, a genus of marine worms, having a circle of ciliated tentacles.
||Ac"ti*no*zo"a (&?;), n. pl. [Gr. &?;, &?;, ray + zw^on animal.] (Zoöl.) A group of Cœlenterata, comprising the Anthozoa and Ctenophora. The sea anemone, or actinia, is a familiar example.
Ac`ti*no*zo"al (&?;), a. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Actinozoa.
||Ac"ti*no*zo"ön (&?;), n. (Zoöl.) One of the Actinozoa.
||Ac*tin"u*la (&?;), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, &?;, a ray.] (Zoöl.) A kind of embryo of certain hydroids (Tubularia), having a stellate form.
Ac"tion (&?;), n. [OF. action, L. actio, fr. agere to do. See Act.] 1. A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation; as, the action of heat; a man of action.
One wise in council, one in action brave.
Pope.
2. An act; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (pl.): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor.
The Lord is a Good of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
1 Sam. ii. 3.
3. The event or connected series of events, either real or imaginary, forming the subject of a play, poem, or other composition; the unfolding of the drama of events.