Emily Dickinson Lexicon

act, n. [Fr. < L. actus, a doing.] (webplay: cause, company, deed, do, equal, found, God, greater, heart, heroism, in the very act, instituted, law, Lord, made, man, mind, natural, offices, ordinary, preparation, process, scenes, signs, taken, thoughts, water, well, wind).

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

action, n. [Fr. < L. a doing, performance.] (webplay: arm, between, claim, completed, council, dead, deaths, deed, do, duties, existence, feelings, force, giving, God, heart, held, honor, instance, instituted, judge, justice, know, law, man, maintained, natural, owner, property, public, pursued, put, weighed, well, wind, world).

1. Activity; work; occupation; labor; exercise; responsibility.
2. Deeds; agency; doings in life; what one chooses to do.
3. Litigation; law suit; legal case.
4. Motion; beating.

actual, adj. [Fr. actuel, pertaining to action.]

Real; concrete; physical; acute; keen.

actual, n. [see actual, adj.] (webplay: real).

Realization; reality; attainment.

actualize, v. [see actual, adj.]

Materialize; appear; come about; become real.

actually, adv. [see actual, adj.]

Really; in fact; truly; literally.

acute (-r), adj. [L. acūtus, sharpen.] (webplay: degrees, distinctions, hearing).

1. More difficult; more painful; more excruciating; more severe.
2. Penetrating; sharp; intense.
3. Critical; crucial; poignant; [lit.] pointed; sharp-angled; not quite at a right angle.

acuter, adv. [see acute, adj.] (webplay: distinctions).

More accurately; more distinctly; more clearly.

Adam, proper n. [Heb. ādām, man < adama, earth; poss. Heb. 'likeness,' 'from the red earth,''primitive,' or 'first of men.'] (webplay: earth, first, humans, like, unite).

First man; husband of the first woman, Eve; name given to the father of the human family in the Bible; man who left the Garden of Eden with his wife so that their posterity would experience life, death, and a resurrection through the atonement of Jesus Christ (see Romans 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 and ED's letters).

adamant, adj. [see adamant, n.]

Solid; stone-like; [fig.] firm; fixed; secure; stable; unchanging.