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To thrust forth; to emit; to push out. [Obs.] So from the seas exerts his radiant head The star by whom the lights of heaven are led. Dryden.

The act of exerting, or putting into motion or action; the active exercise of any power or faculty; an effort, esp. a laborious or perceptible effort; as, an exertion of strength or power; an exertion of the limbs or of the mind; it is an exertion for him to move, to-day.

Having power or a tendency to exert; using exertion.

Exertion. [R.]

Want of exertion; want of effort; defect of action; indolence; laziness.

To exert too much.

Excessive exertion.

To obtain, or gain, as the result of exertion; to succeed in gaining; to win. Some are born great, some achieve greatness. Shak. Thou hast achieved our liberty. Milton.

The act of achieving or performing; an obtaining by exertion; successful performance; accomplishment; as, the achievement of his object.

To gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own; as, to acquire a title, riches, knowledge, skill, good or bad habits. No virtue is acquired in an instant, but step by step. Barrow. Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his hei…

That which is done or doing; the exercise of power, or the effect, of which power exerted is the cause; a performance; a deed. That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love. Wordsworth. Hence, in specific uses:

A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation; as, the action of heat; a man of action. One wise in council, one in action brave. Pope.…

Requiring or implying action or exertion; -- opposed to Ant: sedentary or to Ant: tranquil; as, active employment or service; active scenes.

The molecular attraction exerted between bodies in contact. See Cohesion.

The positive or negative stimulus exerted by oxygen on aërobic and anaërobic bacteria. -- A`ër*o*tac"tic (#), a.

t sometimes between persons, esp. persons of the opposite sex; also, the man or woman who exerts such psychical or spiritual attraction.

The faculty of acting or of exerting power; the state of being in action; action; instrumentality. The superintendence and agency of Providence in the natural world. Woodward.

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

nce, or state of indifference, incapable of being ruffled or roused to active interest or exertion by pleasure, pain, or passion. "The apathy of despair." Macaulay. A certain apathy or sluggishness in his nature which led him . . . to leave events to take their own course. Prescott. According to the Stoics, apathy mean…

Any place of public contest or exertion; any sphere of action; as, the arenaof debate; the arena of life.