Forms: 5–6 exibicion, -ycion, 5 (exebucion, -hebicion), exhibicion, -hibycion, -hybycyon, 7 (exhibicon), 6– exhibition. [a. OF. exhibicion, Fr. exhibition, ad. late L. exhibitiōn-em, n. of action f. exhibēre to EXHIBIT.]
I. The action of providing or furnishing.
† 1. Maintenance, support. Obs. [Cf. late L. exhibitio et tegumentum = ‘food and raiment’ (Forcellini).]
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), VII. 259. Havynge … a litelle summe assignede to his exhibicion.
1480. Bury Wills (1850), 65. I will that … oon parte therof to be applied and conuerted to thexibicion and sustentacion of a perpetuall chapleyn.
1567. Mulcaster, Fortescue’s De Laud. Leg. (1572), 113. Charges for the exhibition [L. exhibitione] of their Children.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Nice Valour, III. i. My maintenance, rascals; my Bulk, my exhibition!
1711. Strype, Parker (1821), I. 503. To bestow £8 of the said £10 … towards the use and exhibition of three grammar scholars.
† b. The ‘foundation’ of a grammar-school.
15[?]. in Whiston, Cathedral Trusts, 12. That no childe be admitted to thexhibicion of the said churche, whose father is knowne to be worthe in goodes above cccli.
† 2. sing. and pl. An allowance of money for a person’s support; a pension, salary. Obs.
1498. Patent Roll 13 Hen. VII., On reasonable wages or exebucion.
1501. Plumpton Corr., 163. He sendeth you but xli towards the exibicions of my nese his wyfe.
1635. Sir R. Boyle, Diary, in Lismore Papers, Ser. I. (1884), IV. 138. 50li was lent to my son … which I am to abate owt of his next Easter exhibicon.
1676. Wycherley, Pl. Dealer, V. i. (1677), 79. He must have a setled Exhibition of forty pounds a Year.
1741. Swift, Pres. St. Affairs, Wks. 1755, II. I. 215. He … is driven to live in exile upon a small exhibition.
† b. A gift, present. Obs.
1579. Fulke, Confut. Sanders, 553. His owne bondslaues, whom he hyreth with a little exhibition, to blase his charitie.
1604. Shaks., Oth., IV. iii. 75. I would not doe such a thing for a joynt Ring … nor any petty exhibition.
3. † a. Pecuniary assistance given to a university student (obs. in general sense). b. Now only spec. A fixed sum given for a term of years from the funds of a school, college, or university, generally upon the result of a competitive examination. Cf. BURSARY 3 and SCHOLARSHIP.
a. c. 1525. Skelton, Replyc., 143. To gyve you exhibycion To mainteyne with your skolls.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxix. (1887), 194. They will giue a scholer some petie poore exhibition to seeme to be religious.
1598. E. Gilpin, Skial. (1878), 11. I have sized in Cambridge, and my friends a season Some exhibition for me there disburst.
b. 1631. T. Adams, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 146. An exhibition of £40 per annum for two or three years.
1692. Sir R. Bulkeley, in Evelyn’s Mem. (1857), III. 323. At St. Paul’s school he was chosen (with a small exhibition of £10 a year …) to go off to Cambridge.
1772. Hist. Rochester, 91. A yearly exhibition of five pounds was to be paid to four scholars.
1806. K. White, Lett., 30 June. My last term bill amounts only to £4 5s. 3d., after my exhibitions are deducted.
1886. Oxf. Univ. Calendar, 31. Candidates for the [Junior Mathematical] Exhibition must be Members of the University who have not exceeded eight Terms from their matriculation inclusively.
II. 4. Med. The administration of a remedy.
1785. J. Pearson, in Med. Commun., II. 77. The most proper remedy against such a diarrhœa, is the exhibition of a cathartic.
1806. Med. Jrnl., XV. 101. During the exhibition of all these medicines, purgative glysters also … were used.
1875. B. Meadows, Clin. Observ., 28. As the result of the exhibition of arsenical treatment.
III. 5. The action of exhibiting, submitting for inspection, displaying or holding up to view; manifestation; visible show or display (of a feeling, quality, etc.); an instance of this. Const. of.
1663. Barrow, Serm. (1683), I. xii. 162. The ancient exhibition of a gracious promise.
1692. Ray, Dissol. World, III. ix. (1732), 400. The Exhibition of the Messiah.
1701. Grew, Cosmol. Sacra, II. iv. § 17. 50. What are all Mechanick Works, but the Sensible Exhibition of Mathematick Eemonstrations?
1755. Magens, Insurances, I. 453. The Exhibition of the usual Clearances and Certificates.
1780. J. Harris, Philol. Enq., Wks. (1841), 427. A dramatic piece, or play, is the exhibition of an action.
1833. Chalmers, Const. Man (1835), I. v. 208. Anger, if we but study its history and actual exhibitions.
1850. Mrs. Jameson, Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863), 94. Dunstan never would have dared such an exhibition of presumption.
b. The action of producing (an object of litigation) in court.
1880. Muirhead, trans. Instit. Gaius, IV. § 157. He is pursuer who desires exhibition or restitution.
c. Sc. Law. An action for compelling production or delivery of writings.
1861. in W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot.
d. concr. Something that is exhibited; a display, sight, spectacle.
1786. W. Gilpin, Mts. & Lakes Cumbrld., I. p. xxvii. The windings of a noble river—or some other exhibition.
c. 1790. Imison, Sch. Arts, II. 51. Some excellent prints … held in great esteem among the admirers of exhibitions of this kind.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 665. William Penn, for whom exhibitions which humane men generally avoid…, hastened … to see Elizabeth Gaunt burned.
e. To make an exhibition of oneself: to behave so as to appear in a contemptible aspect. Colloq.
6. A public display (of works of art, manufactured articles, natural productions, etc.); also, the place where the display is made. In early quots. often spec. the exhibition of pictures of the Royal Academy; now applied esp. to those exhibitions on a large scale of which the ‘Great Exhibition’ held in London in 1851 was the first and typical example.
1761. Johnson, Let. Baretti, 10 June, in Boswell. The artists have instituted a yearly exhibition of pictures and statues … This year was the second exhibition.
1818. Byron, Beppo, lxxviii. No exhibition glares with annual pictures.
1824. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), II. ix. 183. Is it possible that the Exhibition has closed and ‘Silenus’ not been sold?
1851. Expositor, 11 Jan., 163/3. The Exhibition is to be no mere fancy fair or amateur show-room.
1890. (title) Catalogue of the Royal Military Exhibition.
b. attrib. and Comb.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxvii. It was too late to repair to the exhibition-room.
1861. Thornbury, Turner, I. 91. The lad’s own productions at Somerset House would have been quite enough to attract an exhibition-haunting amateur.
Hence Exhibitional a., of or pertaining to an exhibition. Exhibitionize v., nonce-wd., intr. to frequent exhibitions.
1834. New Monthly Mag., XLI. 245. Hackneyed as we are in exhibitionizing, we did not contemplate this scene without the liveliest pleasure.
1874. New-Orleans Times, 5 March, 4/3. Billiards. Rudolphe—He will Exhibitionize.
1882. J. Parker, Apost. Life (1884), III. 294. There is no touch of merely exhibitional genius.
1886. New Princeton Rev., I. 121. Madame and her suite had gone to partake of their yearly exhibitional refreshments.
