Acrostic
(A*cros"tic A*cros"tic*al) n. Pertaining to, or characterized by, acrostics.
Acrostically
(A*cros"tic*al*ly), adv. After the manner of an acrostic.
Acrotarsium
(||Ac`ro*tar"si*um) n. [NL., from Gr. topmost + tarsus.] (Zoöl.) The instep or front of the
tarsus.
Acroteleutic
(Ac`ro*te*leu"tic) 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.
Acroter
(Ac"ro*ter) (ak`ro*ter or a*kro*ter), n. [F. acrotère. See Acroterium.] (Arch.) Same as Acroterium.
Acroterial
(Ac`ro*te"ri*al) a. Pertaining to an acroterium; as, acroterial ornaments. P. Cyc.
Acroterium
(||Ac`ro*te`ri*um) 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.
Acrotic
(A*crot"ic) a. [Gr. an extreme, fr. .] (Med.) Pertaining to or affecting the surface.
Acrotism
(Ac"ro*tism) n. [Gr. 'a priv. + kro`tos a rattling, beating.] (Med.) Lack or defect of pulsation.
Acrotomous
(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.
Acrylic
(A*cryl"ic) a. (Chem.) Of or containing acryl, the hypothetical radical of which acrolein is the
hydride; as, acrylic acid.
Act
(Act) 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 "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
