Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Dictionary: ACT'U-ATE – A-CU-TIA'TOR
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ACT'U-ATE, a.
Put in action. [Little used.]
ACT'U-ATE, v.t. [From act.]
To put into action; to move or incite to action; as, men are actuated by motives, or passions. It seems to have been used formerly in the sense of invigorate, noting increase of action; but the use is not legitimate.
ACT'U-A-TED, pp.
Put in action; incited to action.
ACT'U-A-TING, ppr.
Putting in action; inciting to action.
ACT-U-A'TION, n.
The state of being put in action; effectual operation. – Glanville.
ACT'US, n.
Among the Romans, a measure in building equal to 120 Roman feet. In agriculture, the length of one furrow.
AC'U-ATE, v.t. [L. acuo, to sharpen. See Acid.]
To sharpen; to make pungent, or corrosive. [Little used.] – Harvey.
AC'U-ATE, v.t. [L. acuo.]
To sharpen; to enhance.
AC-U-BENE', n.
A star of the fourth magnitude in the southern claw of Cancer.
AC-U-I'TION, n. [from L. acuo, to sharpen.]
The sharpening of medicines to increase their effect.
A-CU'LE-ATE, a. [L. aculeus, from acus, Gr. ακη, a point, and the diminutive ul. See Acid.]
- In botany, having prickles, or sharp points; pointed; used chiefly to denote prickles fixed in the bark, in distinction from thorns, which grow from the wood. – Milne.
- In zoology, having a sting.
A-CU'LE-I, n. [L.]
In botany and zoology, prickles.
AC'U-LON, or AC'U-LOS, n. [Gr. ακυλος, probably from ac, an oak.]
The fruit or acorn of the ilex, or scarlet oak.
A-CU'MEN, n. [L. acumen, from acus or acuo.]
A sharp point; and figuratively, quickness of perception, the faculty of nice discrimination.
AC-U'MIN-ATE, a. [L. acuminatus, from acumen.]
Having a long projecting and highly tapering point. De Candolle.
AC-U'MIN-A-TED, a.
Sharpened to a point.
AC-U-MIN-A'TION, n.
A sharpening; termination in a sharp point.
AC-U-PUNC-TUR-A'TION, n. [See ACUPUNCTURE.]
AC-U-PUNC'TURE, n. [L. acus, needle, and punctura, or punctus, a pricking.]
A surgical operation, performed by pricking the part affected with a needle, as in head-aches and lethargies. – Encyc.
AC'U-RU, n.
The name in India of a fragrant aloe-wood. – As. Researches.
A'CUS, n. [L.]
- The needle-fish, or gar-fish.
- The ammodyte or sand eel. – Cyc.
- The oblong cimex. – Cyc.
A-CUTE', a. [L. acutus, sharp-pointed; Qu. from acuo, acus, or from the Oriental חד had or chad, sharp, Heb. Ch. Ar.]
- Sharp at the end; ending in a sharp point; opposed to blunt or obtuse. An acute angle in geometry, is one which is less than a right angle, or which subtends less than ninety degrees. An acute angled triangle is one whose three angles are all acute, or less than ninety degrees each.
- Figuratively, applied to mental powers; penetrating; having nice discernment; perceiving or using minute distinctions; opposed to dull or stupid; as, an acute reasoner.
- Applied to the senses; having nice or quick sensibility; susceptible of slight impressions; having power to feel or perceive small objects; as, a man of acute eyesight, hearing, or feeling.
- An acute disease, is one which is attended with violent symptoms, and comes speedily to a crisis, as a pleurisy; opposed to chronic.
- An acute accent, is that which elevates or sharpens the voice.
- In music, acute is applied to a tone which is sharp, or high; opposed to grave.
- In botany, ending in an acute angle, as a leaf or perianth. – Martyn.
A-CUTE'LY, adv.
Sharply; keenly; with nice discrimination.
A-CUTE'NESS, n.
- Sharpness; but seldom used in this literal sense, as applied to material things.
- Figuratively, the faculty of nice discernment or perception; applied to the senses, or the understanding. By an acuteness of feeling, we perceive small objects or slight impressions; by an acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions.
- Sharpness, or elevation of sound, in rhetoric or music. – Boyle.
- Violence of a disease, which brings it speedily to a crisis.
A-CU-TIA'TOR, n.
In the middle ages, a person whose office was to sharpen instruments. Before the invention of firearms, such officers attended armies to sharpen their instruments. – Encyc.