act

Act your age!

something that you say to someone who is being silly to tell them to behave in a more serious way. Oh, act your age, Chris! You can't expect to have your own way all the time.

See also: age

act/play the fool

to behave in a silly way, often in order to make people laugh. Come on guys, stop acting the fool and pay attention.

See also: fool, play

act/play the goat (informal)

to behave in a silly way, sometimes in order to make people laugh. Insecure and lonely, he resorted to acting the goat to get people's attention.

See also: goat, play

a balancing/juggling act

a difficult situation in which you try to achieve several different things at the same time. It's so exhausting having to perform the balancing act between work and family. Keeping both sides in the dispute happy was a difficult juggling act which required an extraordinary degree of diplomacy.

See also: balance

be a hard/tough act to follow

to be so good it is not likely that anyone or anything else that comes after will be as good. Last year's thrilling Super Bowl, when the New York Giants beat the Buffalo Bills 20-19 will be a hard act to follow. The new Chairman knows his predecessor is a tough act to follow.

See also: follow, hard, tough

catch someone in the act

to discover someone doing something wrong. I was trying to clear up the mess on the carpet before anyone noticed it, but Isobel came in and caught me in the act.

See also: catch

clean up your act (informal)

to stop doing things that other people do not approve of and start to behave in a more acceptable way. There's a very strong anti-press feeling at the moment. A lot of people think it's time they cleaned up their act.

See also: clean

couldn't [act/argue/fight] your way out of a paper bag (humorous)

if someone couldn't act, argue, fight etc. their way out of a paper bag, they act, argue, fight etc. very badly. It's no good asking Jim to protect you - he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag.

See also: argue, bag, couldn't, fight, paper, way

get your act together (informal)

to organize your activities so that you do things in an effective way. If these people could ever get their act together, they could produce unbeatable wines. You'd better get your act together and start looking for a job.

See also: together

get in on the act

to become involved in something successful that someone else has started so that you can become successful yourself. We ran a successful local delivery business until other local companies started trying to get in on the act.

read (someone) the riot act

to speak angrily to someone about something they have done and warn them that they will be punished if they do it again. He'd put up with a lot of bad behaviour from his son and thought it was time to read him the riot act.

See also: read, riot

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act out

to behave badly because you are unhappy or upset. These kids are very angry and act out because their lives are a mess.

Etymology: based on the idea of acting out a story (= telling a story through physical actions)

act up

1. to behave badly. Sometimes kids act up because they just want attention.

Usage notes: usually used to refer to children

2. to operate badly. My computer began acting up and I lost a whole day's work.

3. to become active. Her allergies acted up when she went hiking in the woods.

Usage notes: usually used to refer to a medical condition

catch someone in the act

to see someone doing something illegal or wrong. If you are speeding and one of our officers catches you in the act, you will get a ticket.

See also: catch

clean up your act

to improve your behavior. He used to drink a lot, but he seems to have cleaned up his act.

See also: clean

get your act together

to become better organized. If I'm going on a trip, I usually get my act together the night before so I'm packed and ready to go in the morning. The very fact they keep talking about how they have to get their act together is a bad sign.

See also: together

get into the act

to become involved in something that is happening. Most of these products are made in the US, but other countries are also getting into the act.

read someone the riot act

to strongly warn someone to stop behaving badly. Alice read Randi the riot act, telling her, “If you don't like it here, you can just go back where you came from.” The secretary of state said she plans to read the riot act to the country's leaders during meetings next week.

lay down the law

Etymology: based on the Riot Act (= an English law of 1715 that provided a way to deal with a crowd of people who were causing trouble)

See also: read, riot

a tough act to follow

so good that whatever happens next is not likely to seem as good. The last mayor was one of the most beloved in the city's history, which means Mike Ransom has a tough act to follow.

See also: follow, tough