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What is "to act the part of"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To act the part of

Act \Act\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Acted; p. pr. & vb. n. Acting.] [L. actus, p. p. of agere to drive, lead, do; but influenced by E. act, n.]

  1. To move to action; to actuate; to animate. [Obs.]

    Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul.
    --Pope.

  2. To perform; to execute; to do. [Archaic]

    That we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity.
    --Jer. Taylor.

    Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do.
    --Barrow.

    Uplifted hands that at convenient times Could act extortion and the worst of crimes.
    --Cowper.

  3. To perform, as an actor; to represent dramatically on the stage.

  4. To assume the office or character of; to play; to personate; as, to act the hero.

  5. To feign or counterfeit; to simulate.

    With acted fear the villain thus pursued.
    --Dryden.

    To act a part, to sustain the part of one of the characters in a play; hence, to simulate; to dissemble.

    To act the part of, to take the character of; to fulfill the duties of.

Usage examples of "to act the part of".

It would be very simple for them to hire a body double to act the part of your departed wife, to lure you outside of our sanctuary.

For now, his duty to the Empire required that he continue to act the part of a human.

He has to act the part of the arrogant High Lord to hide the fact.

It was almost as if Grace were being paid to act the part of a cook in some grandiose real-life play, with the Manor as a com­.

You're going to act the part of the kind of a girl he'll think you are.

It demeaned him to act the part of underling, but if he did not summon another spell to recall the past, and left that bit of business to Shimone, plainly the old fellow would meander through the process and contrive to waste half of the night!