subact

English

Etymology

Latin subactus, past participle of subigere (“to subdue”).

Verb

subact (third-person singular simple present subacts, present participle subacting, simple past and past participle subacted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To reduce; to subdue.
   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “I. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     tangible bodies have no pleasure in the consort of air , but endeavour to subact it into a more dense body

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “subact”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• sacbut