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of doing; action. In act, in the very doing; on the point of (doing). "In act to shoot." Dryden. This woman was taken . . . in the very act. John viii. 4. Act of attainder. (Law) See Attainder. -- Act of bankruptcy (Law), an act of a debtor which renders him liable to be adjudged a bankrupt. -- Act of faith. (Ch. Hi…

t, and become rotten, as eggs; putrid. Hence: Unfruitful or confused, as brains; muddled. Dryden.

Dull-witted; stupid. "The addle-brained Oberstein." Motley. Dull and addle-pated. Dryden.

dy. [Obs.] His foe was soon addressed. Spenser. Turnus addressed his men to single fight. Dryden. The five foolish virgins addressed themselves at the noise of the bridegroom's coming. Jer. Taylor.

Joining to; contiguous; adjacent; as, an adjoining room. "The adjoining fane." Dryden. Upon the hills adjoining to the city. Shak.

; reception. To gain admittance into the house. South. He desires admittance to the king. Dryden. To give admittance to a thought of fear. Shak.

fuss; bustle; as, to make a great ado about trifles. With much ado, he partly kept awake. Dryden. Let's follow to see the end of this ado. Shak.

g condition; at the mercy of wind and waves. Also fig. So on the sea shall be set adrift. Dryden. Were from their daily labor turned adrift. Wordsworth.

Guilty of, or given to, adultery; pertaining to adultery; illicit. Dryden.

The act of burning, or heating to dryness; the state of being thus heated or dried. [Obs.] Harvey.

The state of torpidity induced by the heat and dryness of summer, as in certain snails; -- opposed to hibernation.

To aim at; to aspire; to covet. [Obs.] This proud man affects imperial Dryden.

h beings or not, 't is sufficient for my purpose that many have believed the affirmative. Dryden.

Below in rank; next to in order. Shak. Codrus after PhDryden.

rts power, or has the power to act; an actor. Heaven made us agents, free to good or ill. Dryden.

To bring together in a group; to group. Dryden.

st he waked; and, starting from his bed, Cold sweat in clammy drops his limbs o'erspread. Dryden. The commissioners read and stood aghast. Macaulay.

itex (V. agnus castus); the chaste tree. Loudon. And wreaths of agnus castus others bore. Dryden.

ing the harvesting of crops, and the rearing and management of live stock; tillage; husbandry; farming.

A chill, or state of shaking, as with cold. Dryden. Ague cake, an enlargement of the spleen produced by ague. -- Ague drop, a solution of the arsenite of potassa used for ague. -- Ague fit, a fit of the ague. Shak. -- Ague spell, a spell or charm against ague. Gay. -- Ague tree, the sassafras, -- sometimes so calle…