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• acton
  acton

  noun

  a quilted garment worn under mail in the 13th and 14th centuries; gambeson.
• Acton
  Acton

  noun

  Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron, 1834–1902, English historian.

acton

¹ American  

[ak-tuhn] / ˈæk tən /

Or ackton,

noun

Armor.

1. a quilted garment worn under mail in the 13th and 14th centuries; gambeson.

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Acton ² American  

[ak-tuhn] / ˈæk tən /

noun

1. Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron, 1834–1902, English historian.

2. a former municipal borough in SE England, now part of the London borough of Ealing: center of Puritanism at the time of Cromwell.

3. a city in NE Massachusetts.

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Acton ¹ British  

/ ˈæktən /

noun

1. John Emerich Edward Dalberg, 1st Baron. 1834–1902, English historian: a proponent of Christian liberal ethics and adviser of Gladstone

2. his grandfather, Sir John Francis Edward. 1736–1811, European naval commander and statesman: admiral of Tuscany (1774–79) and Naples (1779 onwards) and chief minister of Naples (1779–1806)

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acton ² British  

/ ˈæktən /

noun

1. a jacket or jerkin, originally of quilted cotton, worn under a coat of mail

2. a leather jacket padded with mail

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Acton ³ British  

/ ˈæktən /

noun

1. a district of the London borough of Ealing

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Etymology

Origin of acton

1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French aketoun, Old French a ( u ) queton < Old Spanish algodon < Spanish Arabic < Arabic al-quṭun the cotton

Example Sentences

They came shyly down the lane, like well-meaning acton who were trying to do their best, but who were not good at acting.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

A form of the term acton, as a defensive dress.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir

There rode the little Grimmer,    In golden acton dight; And there rode Seyer the active,    Who yields to none in might.

From The Expedition to Birting's Land and other ballads by Borrow, George Henry

Swayne Felding took the sacrament,    And round the churchyard paced; Within his acton next his breast    The holy host he placed. p.

From The King's Wake and Other Ballads by Wise, Thomas James

His sword to his side the warrior tied,    And then himself in his acton casing, A fond adieu to the Damsel cried,    Who sadly stood behind him gazing.

From Proud Signild and Other Ballads by Borrow, George Henry