activity

[In Fr. activité; Ital. attivita.] L. Subjective: The quality or state of being active. 1. Of persons or other animated beings: (a) Chiefly of the body : and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, make them rulers over my cattle."-Gen. xlvii. 6. (b) Chiefly of the mind: if we compare the brain and the mental activity belonging to it, in wild animals and those domestic animals which are descended from them."Haeckel: Hist . of Creation , i. 239. 2. Figuratively ( of things ): "Salt put to ice, as in the producing of the artificial ice, increaseth the activity of cold."-Bacon. II. Objective: Occupation or sphere in which sustained and energetic action is required; exercise of energy or force. In this sense it has a plural. "A comparative survey of the history of nations, or what is called 'universal history,' will yield to us, as the first and most general result, evidence of a continually increasing variety of human activities , both in the life of individuals and in that of families and states."-Haeckel: Hist. of Creation, i. 281.