Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

efficient

efficient (ef*fish"ent) , adjective

[Latin efficiens, -entis, present participle of efficere to effect: compare French efficient. See Effect, n.]

Causing effects; producing results; that makes the effect to be what it is; actively operative; not inactive, slack, or incapable; characterized by energetic and useful activity; as, an efficient officer, power.
The efficient cause is the working cause. — Wilson

Efficient , noun

An efficient cause; a prime mover.
God... moveth mere natural agents as an efficient only. — Hooker