2 March 2017
actuate
[ak-choo-eyt]
verb (used with object), actuated, actuating.
1. to incite or move to action; impel; motivate:
actuated by selfish motives.
2. to put into action; start a process; turn on:
to actuate a machine.
Origin of actuate
Medieval Latin
1590-1600; Medieval Latin āctuāt (us) reduced to action (past participle of āctuāre), equivalent to Latin āctu (s) (see act ) + -ātus -ate1
Related forms
actuation, noun
deactuate, verb (used with object), deactuated, deactuating.
self-actuating, adjective
unactuated, adjective
Can be confused
activate, actuate, stimulate.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for actuate
Historical Examples
I believe Captain Glazier to have been actuated by a desire to establish the truth of this problem.
Sword and Pen
John Algernon Owens
It is actuated by means of a rod and lever from the side shaft of engine.
Gas and Oil Engines, Simply Explained
Walter C. Runciman
actuated by curiosity or by a desire to spare his life, she requested him to be sent for.
The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Henry Martyn Baird
The motives by which men are actuated in their conduct are not only various, but mixed.
The Bertrams
Anthony Trollope
His body was jerking like a puppet of a marionette display, actuated by unseen strings.
The Drunkard
Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull
We are influential and actuated by the same religious impulses.
Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls
Various
I think that was one of the reasons that actuated the advisory board.
Report of the Committee Appointed to Investigate the Railroad Riots in July, 1877
Various
“Mr. Lawson was actuated by the meanest motives,” says The Spectator.
Frenzied Finance
Thomas W. Lawson
“My dear, I hope I am actuated by higher motives than a desire to have it all my own way,” said the Rector.
The Perpetual Curate
Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant
She did not know the fixed resolution that actuated him, and revived the entire man!
Hopes and Fears
Charlotte M. Yonge
Anagram
taut ace
Today’s quote
It is necessary that we stop, once for all, this ignorant meddling with other people’s business. Each individual must be left free to follow his own path.
– Aleister Crowley
On this day
2 March 1904 – birth of Theodore Seuss Geisel, (Dr Seuss), children’s author. Died 24 September 1991.
2 March 1917 – Russian Czar Nicholas II is forced to abdicate following the Bloody Sunday massacres in which palace guards opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing many of them. His abdication brought an end to 300 years of rule by the Romanov dynasty.
2 March 1942 – birth of Lou Reed (Lewis Allan Reed), American glam rock musician, singer and song-writer. Was lead singer of 60s alternative band, Velvet Underground, before going solo and having hits such as ‘Walk on the Wild Side’, ‘Vicious’, ‘Satellite of Love’ and ‘Perfect Day’. His albums Transformer and Berlin are considered among the most influential albums of the 20th century. Reed coined the term ‘Ostrich tuning’ in relation to a type of trivial tuning of strings. The six strings of a guitar are normally tuned to EADGbe. However in his 1964 song, The Ostrich (performed by the Primitives, which later became Velvet Underground) Reed tuned all six strings of his guitar to a single D note: DDDDdd. Died 27 October 2013.
2 March 1969 – The Concorde, the world’s first supersonic passenger jet, makes its maiden flight.