#680. Action. -- N. action, performance; doing, &c. v.; perpetration; exercise, excitation; movement, operation, evolution, work; labor &c. (exertion) 686; praxis, execution; procedure &c. (conduct) 692; handicraft; business &c. 625; agency &c. (power at work) 170.
deed, act, overt act, stitch, touch, gest transaction[obs], job, doings, dealings, proceeding, measure, step, maneuver, bout, passage, move, stroke, blow; coup, coup de main, coup d'etat[Fr]; tour de force &c. (display) 882; feat, exploit; achievement &c. (completion) 729; handiwork, workmanship; manufacture; stroke of policy &c. (plan) 626.
actor &c. (doer) 690.
V. do, perform, execute; achieve &c. (complete) 729; transact, enact; commit, perpetrate, inflict; exercise, prosecute, carry on, work, practice, play.
employ oneself, ply one's task; officiate, have in hand &c. (business) 625; labor &c. 686; be at work; pursue a course; shape one's course &c. (conduct) 692.
act, operate; take action, take steps; strike a blow, lift a finger, stretch forth one's hand; take in hand &c. (undertake) 676; put oneself in motion; put in practice; carry into execution &c. (complete) 729; act upon.
be an actor &c. 690; take a part in, act a part in, play a part in, perform a part in; participate in; have a hand in, have a finger in the pie; have to do with; be a party to, be a participator in; bear a hand, lend a hand; pull an oar, run in a race; mix oneself up with &c. (meddle) 682.
be in action; come into operation &c. (power at work) 170.
Adj. doing &c. v.; acting; in action; in harness; on duty; in operation &c. 170.
Adv. in the act, in the midst of, in the thick of; red-handed, in flagrante delicto[Lat]; while one's hand is in.
Phr. "action is eloquence" [Coriolanus]; actions speak louder than words; actum aiunt ne agas [obs][Lat][Terence]; "awake, arise, or be forever fall'n" [Paradise Lost]; dii pia facta vident [Lat][Ovid]; faire sans dire[Fr]; fare fac[It]; fronte capillata post est occasio calva[Lat]; " our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts" [Bailey]; "the great end of life is not knowledge but action " [Huxley]; "thought is the soul of act" [R. Browning]; vivre-ce nest pas respirer c'est agir[Fr][obs]; "we live in deeds not years" [Bailey].