m. esp. in pl. ar, lines (taumar) to trim (aka) the sail, distinguished from höfuðbendur, the stays of the mast, perhaps the braces of a sail (used by Egilsson to transl. ύπέραι in Od. 5. 260), Þórarinn stýrði ok hafði aktaumana um herðar sér, þvíat þröngt var á skipinu, had the braces round his shoulders, because the boat was blocked up with goods, Ld. 56; the phrase, sitja í aktaumum, to manage the sail; ef ek sigli með landi fram, ok sit ek í aktaumum, þá skal engi snekkja tvítugsessa sigla fyrir mér, eða ek vilja svipta (reef the sail) fyr en þeir, Fms. v. 337; reiði slitnaði, svá at bæði gékk í sundr höfuðbendur ok aktaumar, Fas. iii. 118; reki segl ofan, en a. allir slitni, 204; slitnuðu höfuðbendur ok aktaumar, Bær. 5, Edda (Gl.) That the braces were generally two may be inferred from the words við aktaum hvárntveggja hálf mörk, N. G. L. i. 199.

2. metaph., sitja í aktaumum, to have the whole management of a thing; mun yðr þat eigi greitt ganga ef þér erut einir í aktaumum, if you are alone in the management of it, Ísl. ii. 49; einir um hituna is now used in the same sense. (The Engl. yoke-lines, as aktaumar is sometimes interpreted (as in the Lat. transl. of the Ld.), are now called stjórntaumar. Aktanmr is obsolete. See ‘Stones of Scotland,’ tab. liv. sqq.)