| 释义 |
▪ I. action, n.|ˈækʃən|
Also 4–5 accion, -oun.
[a. Fr. action ad. L. actiōn-em a doing, performance, f. act- ppl. stem of ag-ĕre to do: see -ion1.]
I. Generally.
1. The process or condition of acting or doing (in the widest sense), the exertion of energy or influence; working, agency, operation.
a. Of persons. (Distinguished from passion, from thought or contemplation, from speaking or writing.)
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 94 And holde with hym and with hure · þat han trewe accion. 1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle ii. lx. (1859) 57 Thyne was the action, and I nought but abyl for to suffre. c1425Wyntown Cron. vi. xix. 32 He gave up all hys actyown. 1586Let. to Earl of Leycester 26 In case he failed in the action of her deliuery. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 406 The vndeseruer may sleepe, when the man of Action is call'd on. 1600― A.Y.L. iv. i. 141 Certainely a Womans thought runs before her action. 1653Walton Angler i. 15 Is not yet resolved whether contemplation or Action be the chiefest thing. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. ix. 309 The human Soul is vitally united to the Body by a reciprocal commerce of Action and Passion. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 184 ⁋10 It is necessary to act, but impossible to know the consequences of action. 1754Edwards Freed. Will ii. §4, 48 The exercise of his Activity is Action. 1756Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 19 Millions, who know no common principle of action. 1828D. Stewart Wks. VI. 121 The word action is properly applied to those exertions which are consequent on volition. 1846Mill Logic i. iii. §5, 71 What is an action? Not one thing, but a series of two things: the state of mind called a volition, followed by an effect. 1855Bain Senses & Intell. i. i. §3 (1864) 5 Volition is separated from Feeling, by superadding the characteristic of action, or the putting forth of energy to serve an end.
b. Of things. (Distinguished from inaction, repose.) quantity of action, in Physics: The momentum of a body multiplied into the time.
c1386Chaucer Pars. T. (Ellesmere) 82 In how manye maneres been the acciouns or werkynges of Penitence [4 MSS. accions of worchyng]. 1775Harris Philos. Arrangem. (1841) 329 Another mode of action may be found in the following instances. A lamb acts upon the senses of a wolf—that sensation acts upon his appetite—that appetite acts upon his corporeal organs. By the action of these organs he runs, he seizes, and he devours the lamb. 1833Brewster Nat. Magic xi. 293 To avoid all risk of two opposite actions arriving at the same instant at any part of the engine. 1842Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 77 If gold be immersed in hydrochloric acid, no chemical action takes place. 1869Phillips Vesuv. iv. 124 The intervals of action and repose were irregular. 1869Ouseley Counterpoint xiv. 83 Until the additional parts recommence their action. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §326 Taking it, however, as we find it, now universally used by writers on dynamics, we define the Action of a Moving System as proportional to the average kinetic energy, which the system has possessed during the time from any convenient epoch of reckoning, multiplied by the time.
c. in action: In a condition of activity, at work, in practical or effective operation. Conversely, out of action.
1652M. Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. To Reader, The Republick maintein's continually in action a great number of ships, gallies and galliots. 1714Swift State of Affairs Wks. 1755 II. i. 216 The bulk of those who are now most in action either at court, in parliament, or publick offices, were then boys at school. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. iii. (1876) I. 154 Schemes..were put in action against her life. 1919G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House Pref. p. xxxix, The Higher Drama put out of action. The effect of the war on the London theatres may now be imagined. 1961T. Coffin Not to Swift (1962) xviii. 201 Trig and a very black colored boy from Detroit had killed or put out of action ten guerrillas by grenades and hand-to-hand fighting.
d. action of a verb, verbal action: The action expressed by a verb; properly of verbs which assert acting, but conveniently extended to the thing asserted by a verb, whether action, state, or mere existence, as I strike, I stand, I live, I am.
e. Activity considered noteworthy or important; freq. with the. spec. in gambling or betting, esp. in phr. where the action is (freq. transf., i.e. the centre of some activity); also in drug-trafficking, etc. a piece (share, etc.) of the action, involvement in this. slang (orig. U.S.).
1933D. Runyon in Collier's 28 Jan. 8/1 And he is well established as a high player in New Orleans, and Chicago, and Los Angeles, and wherever else there is any action in the way of card-playing, or crap-shooting. 1944D. Burley Orig. Handbk. Harlem Jive 107 Well, the Davy Crocketts at the trap knock their wigs and come on the double deuce action with the F Behind. a1953E. O'Neill Hughie (1959) 36 Hell, I once win twenty grand on a single race. That's action! A good crap game is action, too. 1962‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed xiv. 90 ‘What happens then?.. Pal, I got to get action some place.’.. ‘Action is the magic word. At six bucks a cap, ten caps a day, a guy has to hustle some.’ 1964Amer. Speech XXXIX. 117, I was an undergraduate before I became aware of the special application for the phrase used in speaking of dates, to get action. 1964Look 15 Dec. 37/1 Nightclub proprietors, by installing record players to replace live bands and adopting the French name ‘discothèque’, have created the legend that this is where the action is. 1966Maclean's Mag. 4 June 1 And last year mink breeders from Scandinavia to California were falling over themselves to buy a piece of the action. 1973C. Sagan Cosmic Connection (1974) vii. 52 We [sc. mankind] are in the galactic boondocks, where the action isn't. 1978S. Brill Teamsters vi. 213 The real action for Dorfman at the pension fund didn't come until March 1967. 1982Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Apr. 373/2 Not that the activity should be suppressed, but that the aggrieved party should get a share in the action.
2. The exertion of force by one body upon another; influence.
c1360Chaucer A.B.C. 20 Myn sinne and myn confusioun..Han taken on me a grevous accioun. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 134 He exposed them to the action of the Sun. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. i. §1, 15 The subtle Actions of the Small Particles of Bodies over each other. 1812Woodhouse Astron. xv. 149 The action, or the attractive force, of the Sun and Moon, on such protuberance. 1822Faraday Exp. Res. xvi. 75 With similar acid the action on the pure steel was hardly perceptible. 1846Mill Logic iii. xxi. §4 (1868) II. 107 Implicitly obedient to the action of fixed causes. 1853A. Soyer Pantropheon 117 Submit the whole to the action of a slow fire. 1860Tyndall Glaciers i. §2, 17 Observed upon the rocks and mountains the action of ancient glaciers. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 62 By submitting a block of ice to the action of a sunbeam.
3. a. A thing done, a deed. Not always distinguished from act, but usually viewed as occupying some time in doing, and in pl. referred to habitual or ordinary deeds, the sum of which constitutes conduct.
1600Sir W. Cornwallis in Shaks. Cent. Praise 41 His lawes and actions. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 87 And enterprizes of great pith and moment, With this regard their Currants turne away [v.r. awry], And loose the name of action. 1605― Macb. iv. ii. 3 When our Actions do not, Our feares do make vs Traitors. 1611Bible 1 Sam. ii. 3 The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 1690Locke Hum. Underst. i. iii. (1695) 16, I have always thought the Actions of Men the best Interpreters of their thoughts. 1769Robertson Charles V, V. ii. 252 The manner in which he justified this action was still more offensive than the action itself. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. (1872) II. iii. i. 86 An action, the product and expression of exerted force. 1859De Quincey Lessing Wks. XIII. 289 Successional objects, or of which the parts are in succession, we call actions: consequently actions compose the proper object of poetry.
b. Proverb: actions speak louder than words.
1845Knickerbocker XXV. 106 He had heard that ‘actions speak louder than words’, and he acted. 1856A. Lincoln Coll. Wks. (1953) II. 352 ‘Actions speak louder than words’ is the maxim. 1906F. McCullagh With Cossacks 178 The gallant foreigner, who could not tell them how he sympathized with them, but whose actions spoke louder than words.
4. The thing represented as done in a drama; the event or series of events, real or imaginary, forming the subject of a fable, poem, or other composition.
1712Addison Spec. No. 267 ⁋2 This Action [of an Epic] should have three Qualifications in it. First, It should be but One Action. Secondly, It should be an entire Action; and, Thirdly, It should be a great Action. Ibid. No. 273 ⁋1 Having examined the Action of Paradise Lost, let us in the next place consider the Actors. 1751Chambers Cycl. s.v., The action of the Iliad holds but forty-seven days.
†5. pl. The transactions, acts, or records of a court or deliberative body. (Fr.) Obs. rare.
1612Brerewood Lang. & Relig. xxi. 187 As we read in the actions of that Councel. 1635E. Pagitt Christianogr. i. iii. (1636) 197 The 3 tome of the sixt action of the second Councell of Nice.
6. Mode of acting.
a. Of persons: Gesture, oratorical management of the body and features in harmony with the subject described; in Sculpture and Painting: Gesture or attitude as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.
1579Gosson Sch. of Abuse 68 Players action doeth answere to their partes. 1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 55 The phrase, utterance, and action of those that exercise to make speeches. 1602Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 19 Sute the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action. 1605― Macb. v. i. 32 It is an accustom'd action with her, to seeme thus washing her hands. 1748J. Mason Elocution 38 Under the Word Pronunciation the Antients comprehended Action as well as Elocution. 1758Johnson Idler No. 90 ⁋8 In the pulpit little action can be proper. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. ii. i. 64 The representation of an archer with his bow in the action of shooting. 1850Merivale Hist. Rom. Emp. liv. (1865) VI. 403 It was not the mere trick of action, or knack of speaking, that he was to acquire. 1856Patmore Angel in Ho. i. ii. ii. (1879) 162 She spoke this speech, and marked its sense By action.
b. Of animals. esp. The trained management of the body or limbs by domesticated animals.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. i. 6 Imitate the action of the Tyger. 1882Daily News 30 May 3/1 The judges considered as a prime essential the action of the competing horses, and this of course would be action according to the behests of English park fashion. Mod. The roan has good knee-action.
c. The way in which an instrument acts; also concr., the arrangement or mechanism by which this is effected.
1845Lond. Univ. Calend. Exam. Papers 219 Explain the action (1) of the siphon, (2) of the air-pump. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. (C.D. ed.) 4 The grand pianoforte with the new action. 1881Greener Gun 195 This lever is secured in position by the screw and washer to a pivot passing through the lever, the said pivot being solid with the action.
d. Used as a film director's word of command.
[1914J. B. Rathbun Motion Picture Making iii. 68 At the word ‘Ready’, given by the producer, the camera man starts cranking the machine and the actors stand alert... An instant after follows the order, ‘Start your action’.] 1923F. A. Talbot Moving Pictures xiv. 218 Ready! Action! Camera!!! Go!!!! 1959Elizabethan June 26/1 If there is a cameraman then the director calls out ‘Action’ to the actors, then ‘Roll 'em’ and the cameraman starts the camera.
II. Specifically.
7. a. The taking of legal steps to establish a claim or obtain judicial remedy; legal process; the right to raise such process. to take action: to institute legal proceedings; hence gen. to take steps in regard to any matter, to act. property in action, i.e. not in possession, but recoverable by legal process. (The earliest sense in Eng.)
1330R. Brunne Chron. 196 Whilk of vs is doun, & mad is recreant, Cleyme & accioun he lese. c1440Gesta Rom. i. xxxix. 129, I may have noone accione ayenst the. 1594R. Parsons Next Succession Cont., Such as may have clayme or action to the crowne of England at this day. 1641Termes de la Ley 59 The King himselfe cannot grant his thing in Action, which is uncertain. 1660T. Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 22/1 Liable to the action of every Man. 1768Blackstone Comm. II. 396 We will proceed next to take a short view of the nature of property in action, or such where a man hath not the occupation, but merely a bare right to occupy the thing in question; the possession whereof may however be recovered by a suit or action at law: from whence the thing so recoverable is called a thing, or chose, in action. 1769Junius Lett. Pref., A double remedy is open to them by action and indictment. 1809Tomlins Law Dict. I. D/2 If one calls a merchant bankrupt, action lies. 1865G. W. Lyttelton Ephemera I. 174 In the whole..Session the only ‘action taken’—according to the vile modern Yankeeism—by Lord Derby..was to move for a Committee on Noxious Vapours. 1880F. G. Lee Church under Q. Eliz. I. v. 279 Her Majesty's advisers, therefore, lost no time in taking fresh action consequent upon the publication of this Bull. a1884Mod. He took prompt action to defend his rights. 1922Joyce Ulysses 309 So Joe starts telling the citizen about..taking action in the matter. 1961Times 12 May 21/1 Did anybody, or a friendly Power, at any time..suggest that this man was a suspect,..and if so, what action was taken?
†b. Legal ground. action of battle = ‘casus belli.’ Obs.
1536Bellendene Cron. Scot. (1821) II. 374 The Paip..decernit the Scottis to have just action of battal, in defence of thair liberteis, aganis King Edward.
8. A legal process or suit.
1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 431/3 Doubtyng that the stryf accions and pletynges of the poure shold come onely to the presence and knowlege of hys counceyllours. 1523Fitzherbert Surveying 7 The lorde maye haue an actyon of Trespace agaynst any man. 1591Lambarde Archeion (1635) 99 In all other Actions personalls or realls, we have power to yeeld such Iudgements as doe appertaine. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 2 Mr. Fang, haue you entred the Action? 1641Termes de la Ley 6 Actions personals be such actions whereby a man claimeth debt, or other goods and chattels..for wrong done to his person. 1690W. Walker Idiom. Anglo-Lat. 9 I'le clap an action on your back. 1768Blackstone Comm. II. 393 While they thus continue my qualified or defeasible property..an action will lie against any man that detains them from me, or unlawfully destroys them. 1794S. Williams Hist. Vermont 216 Actions of ejectment were commenced in the courts at Albany. 1809Tomlins Law Dict. I. D/1 A man attainted of treason..cannot bring an action. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 179 All actions for mesne profits were effectually barred by the general amnesty.
†9. A proposition, motion, or question for discussion. (L. actio.) Obs. rare.
1533Bellendene Livy ii. (1822) 154 Valerius dictator..afore ony accioun wes discussit be the senate, proponit the accioun of the victorius pepill.
10. Active operation against, or engaging an enemy, fighting.
1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 186 Would in Action glorious I had lost Those legges. 1606― Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 113 They are in action. 1684Scanderbeg Rediv. v. 115 His Majesty with a Natural Air of Gallantry usual to him in time of Action. 1761Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 95 Retire into a peasant's house, near the scene of action. 1805in Nicolas Dispatches VII. 167 Bore up, and made all sail, forming in two divisions—cleared Ship for Action. 1861J. H. Macdonald Evol. of Battalion 7 Column formations again, in the British army, are for motion, and not for action, understanding the word action to mean, as in military parlance, engaging the enemy.
11. a. An engagement with the enemy, a fight.
1599Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 6 How many Gentlemen haue you lost in this action? 1665Pepys Diary (1879) III. 175 His serviceablenesse in this late great action. 1684Life of John III of Poland v. 116 In this great Action the most Memorable Victory that has been Atchieved in our Age, or indeed almost in any other. 1769Robertson Charles V, v. iii. 330 They defeated the nobility in several actions. 1798Nelson in Nicolas Dispatches III. 95 During their march they had some actions with the Mamelukes. 1799Wellington Gen. Disp. I. 22 More troops being sent to their aid, a general action took place. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 437 Between the army of Waldeck and the army of Humieres no general action took place.
b. action front!, action rear!, military commands in artillery regiments to prepare for action against the enemy in front of, behind, the line of guns.
1860Man. Artill. Exerc. i. 30 Unlimbering or coming into Action... At the word Action front, each number repairs to his post as in limbering up. 1875Man. Field Artill. Exerc. vi. 205 Guns..in heavy ground..should be brought into action in the required direction by the word ‘Action rear’. 1892Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 37 But 'e swung 'is 'orses 'andsome when it came to ‘Action Front!’ 1902Field Artill. Training v. 161 Guns..may be brought into action..by the command ‘Action rear’, so as to save unnecessary labour and delay. Ibid. v. 167 On the command ‘Action front’ the guns are brought into action..and..officers go to their places in action.
12. Histrionic personation; acting of plays, performance. ? Obs.
1626Massinger Rom. Actor iv. ii, As thou didst live Rome's bravest actor, 'twas my plot that thou Shouldst die in action. 1710Steele Tatler No. 3 ⁋1 This Evening the Comedy..was acted for the Benefit of Mrs. Bignall..Through the whole Action, she made a very pretty Figure.
†13. A theatrical performance, a play. Obs.
1679Trials of White & Other Jesuits 47 [Parry loq.] He was at an Action of ours, a Latine Play.
14. A devotional or religious performance or exercise; a solemn ‘function.’ Action Sermon (Scotch), a Sacramental or Communion discourse.
1825E. Irving in Mrs. Oliphant Life I. xi. 368, I returned home about seven, and addressed myself to write my action sermon. 1855F. Procter Bk. of Comm. Prayer 353 The Lord's Prayer also begins the action of thanksgiving [actio gratiarum]. 1863Glasgow Her. 15 Apr., An interval is now allowed in some congregations between the ‘action sermon’ and the sacramental service.
†15. A share in a joint-stock company (as if the amount of action or operation which one takes in it). (Fr.) Obs.
1641–1706Evelyn Diary (1819) II. 40 African Actions fell to {pstlg}30, and the India to {pstlg}80. 1683Lond. Gaz. mdcccxv. 4 The Actions of our East-India Company are very much fallen. 1715Burnet Hist. own Times I. 573 The actions sinking on the sudden on the breaking out of a new war. 1750Chambers Cycl. s.v., To melt or liquidate an Action, is to sell, or turn it into money. 1758Ann. Reg. 235 An English lady being possessed of Actions shares in the Embden company. 1864Burton Scot Abroad ii. 264 The impetuosity with which the actions rose.
16. Comb. action committee, group, etc., one chosen to take active steps, esp. in local or national politics; action current Biol., the electrical current produced in living tissue during activity; action-noun, a substantive expressing action; action-packed a., full of action or excitement; action painting (orig. U.S.), the theory or practice of the action school in art; a form of abstract art in which the paint is placed in strokes or splashes on the canvas by the spontaneous or random action of the artist; hence action painter, action school, etc.; action-photography, photography representing the subject in action; hence action-photograph; also action picture, action shot (shot n.1), etc.; action point, a specific proposal for action, arising from a meeting, discussion, conference, etc.; an issue on which it is agreed that some action should be taken; action potential Biol., the difference in electrical potential between the excited and unexcited parts of a nerve or muscle; action replay, a playback (at normal speed or in slow motion) of a recorded incident in a sports match, esp. immediately after the action occurs; also transf.; cf. replay n. 2; action research chiefly Sociol., research which leads to the establishment and implementation by project researchers of methods designed to alleviate the (esp. social) problems under review; hence action researcher; action song (see quot. 1938); action station (action 10, 11), a position assigned to someone going into action; (pl.) the signal to proceed to such a position; action-taking a., litigious; action-time Psychol., the period between the application of a stimulus and (the resulting) reaction; reaction-time.
1949Britannica Bk. of Yr. 1949 686/1 *Action committee, a Communist committee appointed to purge societies and organizations of all non-Communist elements, as a means of consolidating a communistic revolution. 1952Ann. Reg. 1951 105 [In S. Africa] the ‘Commando’ started as a small body of ex-servicemen calling itself the War Veterans Action Committee. 1958Oxf. Mail 30 Dec. 1/4 The programme also calls for a scientific action committee to organise research.
1883J. B. Sanderson in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 1882 CLXXIII. 55 Of the nature of this preliminary disturbance (to which alone the term excitatory variation ought to be applied, it alone being the analogue of the ‘*action current’ of animal physiology) we know nothing. 1914Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. XXXIV. 425 The action-current is the only known change accompanying excitation in nerve which is competent to stimulate an adjoining nerve.
1955Ann. Reg. 1954 121 Dr. Awolowo's party [in Nigeria], the *Action Group, lost ground except in the territory of the Yorubas. 1958Observer 21 Dec. 2/5 Pacifist Youth Action Group.
1879Whitney Sanskrit Gram. 374 There is hardly a suffix by which *action-nouns are formed which does not also make agent-nouns or adjectives.
1953K. Reisz Technique Film Editing ii. 76 The final chase was best presented as a ‘battle of wits’, instead of a wild *action-packed shooting-match. 1983Listener 10 Feb. 40/1 (Advt.), An action-packed novel by John Brasow linked with the BBC 1 serial.
1952H. Rosenberg in Art News 22 (title) The American *action painters. Ibid. 49/1 Action painting is painting in the medium of difficulties. 1958Times 24 June 6/4 As an Action painter his contemplation results in an eruption of black and scarlet blunt-edged squares. 1958D. Lewis Alan Davie [Exhib. catal.] 1 The action painter does not begin a canvas with a preconceived idea. Ibid., Other terms given to it have been ‘tachism’, ‘abstract expressionism’, etc., but *action painting is the best of these terms because it does not characterise the end-result..so much as the process.
1904G. W. Beldam Great Golfers (title-p.), Illustrated by 268 *action-photographs. 1905Beldam & Fry Great Batsmen p. xi, The book is founded upon *Action-Photography and Actual Experience. 1915N. V. Lindsay Art of Moving Picture ii. 9 Many *Action Pictures are indoors. 1925Kodak Mag. Dec. 203 With a ‘Graflex’ camera fitted with a focal plane shutter it is possible to take all sorts of action pictures at a Rugby match.
1982Industry Week 22 Feb. 52 His predecessor..relied on a decentralized style of management that delegated responsibility to the ‘lowest possible level where *action points resided’. 1984Washington Post 23 Apr. (Business Suppl.) 30/2 What the District gets in Coopers & Lybrand's compilation of ‘Action Points’ is a rehash of most every form of welfare for the rich ever proposed in the name of ‘economic development’. 1986Financial Times 18 June 9/5 The action points agreed at a previous seminar in January fall into four broad areas: auto-crime, residential burglary, violent crime and crime at the workplace.
1926Amer. Jrnl. Physiol. LXXVIII. 635 When the nerve at the anode is depressed sufficiently to reduce the amplitude at the anode to about normal, the supernormal effect beyond, toward the cathode, seems to be due to recovery of the *action potential from the depression, to the usual anodal maximum. 1939W. B. Yapp Introd. Animal Physiol. 187 The action potential and the conduction rate both vary approximately as the area of cross-section of the fibre.
1973Listener 22 Nov. 720 To see only the *action replays of the Royal Wedding, that long-drawn-out Match of the Day, was no doubt to miss the cumulative effect of an occasion. 1977J. Laker One-Day Cricket 115 The action replay can be of great help..in showing the reason for a batsman's dismissal.
1961Economist 25 Feb. 741/1 A preliminary report on their project of ‘*action-research’ has now been prepared. 1964Listener 2 Apr. 563/2 The invasion of a big city by a team of action researchers is something of an enterprise. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xxvi. 552 Educational research in this country takes three main forms: survey, fundamental analytical research, and action-research.
1957Observer 22 Sept. 13/6 The exhibition of these cunning daubs [by chimpanzees], in a gallery which has hitherto striven to remove misgivings about the ‘*action’ or tachiste school, is scarcely calculated to win fresh converts.
1936Amat. Photographer 1 July 23/2 With quick-*action shots, such as the high dive, care will be necessary in correctly ‘panning’ the camera to cover the swift movement. 1958Listener 23 Oct. 662/3 The action-shots in this absorbing film seemed to me as remarkable as Disney's ‘Living Desert’.
1908M. Steele (title) Children's *Action Songs. 1938Oxf. Compan. Music 15/1 The English Action Song, a children's song with some measure of dramatic movement on the part of the singers. 1947‘A. P. Gaskell’ Big Game 95 The [Maori] girls..sang an action song... The small girls moved stiffly, but the bigger ones were relaxed, their hands fluttered delicately, moving easily and clapping exactly in time.
1914B. Ramsay Diary 25 Aug. in W. S. Chalmers Full Cycle (1959) 20 On being asked why he was not at his *action station, the marine replied..that he was ‘duty servant’. 1916Times 12 June 4/3 At 3.45 on May 31 action stations were sounded off by the buglers. 1917‘Taffrail’ Sub xi. 256 Long before daylight the next morning our men..had mustered at their action stations. 1923Man. Seamanship (H.M.S.O.) ii. 46 The custom is—Mondays—Fleet, squadron or ship drill..Fridays—Action stations. 1943C. S. Forester Ship 7 When H.M.S. Artemis was at action stations the wardroom ceased to be the officers' mess.
1605Shakes. Lear ii. ii. 18, A lily-liver'd *action-taking knave.
1906Academy 21 July 60/1 Investigations..into the *action-time of stimulus upon visual sensation.
Add:[16.] Action Man, a proprietary name for a type of male doll in combat dress; hence used attrib. to designate clothing, etc., characteristic of the doll or the soldier it represents; also applied allusively to a person (often iron.).
1966Trade Marks Jrnl. 3 Aug. 1130/2 Palitoy *Action Man... Dolls in the form of men, incorporating means of performing movements. 1976Oadby & Wigston (Leics.) Advertiser 26 Nov. 7/1 (caption) Adventure clothes based on the Action Man theme, with knitted sweater, cotton drill trousers, maroon beret with badge, and belt with press stud pocket. 1982Barr & York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 47/2 The Action Man sweater, the Army standard. Olive green—or navy—with cotton patches on shoulders and elbows. Going out—so many at Milletts. 1988Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 25 Sept. 4/2 Action man Michael..became the Princess of Wales' driver.
▸ action figure n. (a) Art a depiction of a figure in motion; (b) orig. N. Amer. a toy figure with movable parts, usually representing a fictional or generic character associated with adventurous or heroic action (cf. Action Man n. at Compounds 1).
1920Waterloo (Iowa) Times-Tribune 11 Jan. 18/4 Third grade boys and girls are greatly interested in making *action figures in their art work this week representing out of door sports. 1956Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 12 Nov. 14 (advt.) Lido Frontier Action Figures..20 pieces that move and turn. Cowboys, Indians, horses and fence sections. 1989Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. 93 68/1 That Kritios and Nesiotes were noted for their action figures is also no reason to discount a link with the quiet Kritios boy: at least one of their six signed bases on the Acropolis supported a figure..standing at rest. 2002‘H. Hill’ Flight from Deathrow xxxiii. 188 Of course, there would be the usual tie-ins: action figures, trading cards, a real-life film version of the cartoons, a musical and hopefully an ice show.
▪ II. action, v.|ˈækʃən|
[f. the n. Cf. Fr. actionner.]
1. To institute a legal action against.
1733Fielding Don Quix. Wks. 1861, 999, I don't question but to action him out on't. 1881Echo 1 July 2/4 To prove his innocence, he took the only course open to him—actioned his enemy for libel.
2. To take action on (a request, etc.), to process; to put into effect. Used esp. in business jargon.
1962L. Deighton Ipcress File xxxii. 209 The E.M.P...promised to action it for me if I let his A.D.C. have details in writing. 1981Daily Tel. 22 Jan. 2/7 Dismissal will be actioned when the balance of probabilities suggests that an employee has committed a criminal act or another of gross misconduct. 1985Rescue News Summer 8/1 Concern has been expressed at the manner in which the whole operation has been put together and actioned. |