A Quick and Simple Dictionary

action

1. Noun.  Something done so as to accomplish a purpose.
2. Noun.  A way of motion or functioning.
3. Noun.  A fast-paced activity.
4. Noun.  A mechanism; a moving part or assembly.
5. Noun.  (music) : The mechanism, that is the set of moving mechanical parts, of a keyboard instrument, like a piano, which transfers the motion of the key to the sound-making device.Marshall Cavendish Corporation [http://books.google.com/books?id=pxgiFygAblQC&pg=PA1079 ''Growing Up with Science''] p.1079.
6. Noun.  (slang) sexual intercourse.
7. Noun.  The distance separating the strings and the fretboard on the guitar.
8. Noun.  (military) Combat.
9. Noun.  (legal) A charge or other process in a law court (also called lawsuit and ''actio'').
10. Noun.  (mathematics) A homomorphism from a group to a group of automorphisms.
11. Interjection.  Demanding or signifying the start of something, usually an act or scene of a theatric performance.
12. Verb.  (transitive, management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.
13. Verb.  (transitive, chiefly) To initiate a legal action against someone.