Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class V. Words Releasing to the Voluntary Powers
Division (I) Individual Volition
Section III. Voluntary Action
1. Simple Voluntary Action

680. Action.

   NOUN:ACTION, performance; doing &c. v.; perpetration; exercise, exercitation; movement, operation, evolution, work, employment; labor (exertion) [See Exertion]; praxis [L.], execution; procedure (conduct) [See Conduct]; handicraft; business [See Business]; agency (power at work) [See Agency].
  DEED, act, overt act, stitch, touch, gest or geste; transaction, job, doings, dealings, proceeding, measure, step, maneuver or maneuvre, manœuver or manœuvre, bout, passage, move, stroke, blow; coup, – de main, – d’état [F.]; tour de force [F.] (display) [See Ostentation]; feat, exploit; achievement (completion) [See Completion]; handiwork, craftsmanship, workmanship; manufacture; stroke of policy (plan) [See Plan].
  ACTOR (doer) [See Agent].
   VERB:DO, perform, execute; achieve (complete) [See Completion]; transact, enact; commit, perpetrate, inflict; exercise, prosecute, carry on, work, practice, play.
  EMPLOY ONESELF, ply one’s task; officiate, have in hand (business) [See Business]; labor [See Exertion]; be at work; pursue a course; shape one’s course (conduct) [See Conduct].
  ACT, operate; take action, take steps; strike a blow, lift a finger, stretch forth one’s hand; take in hand (undertake) [See Undertaking]; put oneself in motion; put in practice; carry into execution (complete) [See Completion]; act upon.
  BE AN ACTOR [See Agent]; take -, act -, play -, perform- a part in; participate in; have a -hand in, – finger in the pie; have to do with; be a party to, be a participator in; bear -, lend- a hand; pull an oar, run in a race; mix oneself up with (meddle) [See Activity].
  BE IN ACTION; come into operation (power at work) [See Agency].
   ADJECTIVE:IN ACTION; doing &c. v.; acting; in harness; up to one’s ears in work; in the midst of things; on duty; at work; operative; in operation [See Agency].
   ADVERB:in the -act, – midst of, – thick of; red-handed, in flagrante delicto [L.]; while one’s hand is in; while one is at it.
   QUOTATIONS:

1. Action is eloquence.—Coriolanus
2. Actions speak louder than words.
3. Actum ne agas.—Terence
4. Awake, arise, or be forever fall’n.—Paradise Lost
5. Dii pia facta vident.—Ovid
6. Faire sans dire.
7. Fare fac.
8. Fronte capillata post est occasio calva.
9. Our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts.—Bailey
10. We live in deeds not years.—Bailey
11. The great end of life is not knowledge but action.—Huxley
12. Thought is the soul of act.—R. Browning
13. Vivre ce n’est pas respirer c’est agir.
14. Our nature is movement; absolute stillness is death.—Pascal