Search the Dictionary

ercise 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.

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

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…

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.

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.

To excite to action from a state of rest; to stir, or put in motion or exertion; to rouse; to excite; as, to arouse one from sleep; to arouse the dormant faculties. Grasping his spear, forth issued to arouse His brother, mighty sovereign on the host. Cowper. No suspicion was aroused. Merivale.

To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc.; to reach. If by any means they might attain to Phenice. Acts xxvii. 12. Nor nearer might the dogs attain. Sir W. Scott. To see your trees attain to the dignity of timber. Cowper. Few boroughs had as yet attained to po…

That which is attained to, or obtained by exertion; acquirement; acquisition; (pl.), mental acquirements; knowledge; as, literary and scientific attainments.

a cask, with a bung; to close; -- with up. To bung up, to use up, as by bruising or over exertion; to exhaust or incapacitate for action. [Low] He had bunged up his mouth that he should not have spoken these three years. Shelton (Trans. Don Quixote).

pieces; of break open; to yield to force or pressure, especially to a sudden and violent exertion of force, or to pressure from within; to explode; as, the boiler had burst; the buds will burst in spring. From the egg that soon Bursting with kindly rupture, forth disclosed Their callow young. Milton.…

one another, used for various purposes, as of support, of restraint, of ornament, of the exertion and transmission of mechanical power, etc. [They] put a chain of gold about his neck. Dan. v. 29.

To unite, or contribute, for the accomplishment of a common end; as, to club exertions.

Having extension of time, space, order of events, exertion of energy, etc.; extended; protacted; uninterrupted; also, resumed after interruption; extending through a succession of issues, session, etc.; as, a continued story. "Continued woe." Jenyns. "Continued succession." Locke. Continued bass (Mus.), a bass continue…

At ease; free from pain, trouble, or constraint; as: (a) Free from pain, distress, toil, exertion, and the like; quiet; as, the patient is easy. (b) Free from care, responsibility, discontent, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth…

An exertion of strength or power, whether physical or mental, in performing an act or aiming at an object; more or less strenuous endeavor; struggle directed to the accomplishment of an object; as, an effort to scale a wall. We prize the stronger effort of his power. Pope.