act

act n

Fr. < L. actus, a doing.

1. Role; design; purpose.
2. Agency; doings in life; what one chooses to do.
3. Accomplishment; achievement; success; skill; [fig.] a person who accomplished much.
4. Event; happening; [fig.] death.
5. Dramatic performance; [fig.] curtain, as on a stage.
6. Reality; fact; occurrence.
7. Deed; endeavor; action.
8. Phrase. “In the Act”: as it happens; at the time of occurrence.