Forms: 4– spectacle (5 -acul); 4 spectakil, 5 -akele, -akyl(le, 6 -akle, -akill(e; 7 specktacle, -ikill. [a. OF. spectacle (also mod.F.: see next), = It. spettacolo, Sp. and Pg. espectaculo, or ad. L. spectāculum (poet. -āclum), f. spectāre to look. Hence also G., Da., Sw. spektakel.]
I. 1. A specially prepared or arranged display of a more or less public nature (esp. one on a large scale), forming an impressive or interesting show or entertainment for those viewing it.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xxxix. 6. Hoppynge & daunceynge of tumblers and herlotis, and oþer spectakils.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Macc. v. 26. He stranglide togidre alle that camen forth to the spectacle, or biholdyng.
1542. Becon, Pathw. Prayer, A iij b. What an extreme enemy is the worlde…. Howe doth it delyghte vs with the beholdyng of the vayne spectacles therof!
1553. Eden, Treat. New Ind. (Arb.), 16. The Romaynes … were wont to put them [sc. the elephant and rhinoceros] together vpon the theater or stage, for a spectacle.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 315. The noblest horses … were ioyned together in chariots for races, courses, spectacles, games, and combats.
1617. Moryson, Itin., IV. 476. To which and to many musterings and other frequent spectacles, the people flocke in great nombers.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., II. 126. They abhorred Theaters, and publique spectacles, especially of blood.
1763. J. Brown, Poetry & Music, iv. 43. The gentle Passions, and less affecting Actions, which might fill the Spectacles of a mild and peaceful Nation.
1782. J. Warton, Ess. Pope, II. viii. 87. What solid reason can we give why the Romans … could yet never excel in tragedy, though so fond of theatrical spectacles?
1806. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, II. xii. Violent rain coming on, and continuing … during the whole of the spectacle.
c. 1854. H. Reed, Lect. Eng. Lit., ix. (1855), 290. It was a very fine spectacle, but it was nothing more than a spectacle.
1865. Lecky, Ration. (1878), I. 324. He had written a treatise dissuading the Christians of his day from frequenting the public spectacles.
b. Without article.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 375. In comyn spectacle þere me stood to beholde playes and som newe þinges.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 374. Cæsar when he was Dictator, presented in spectacle four hundred Lions.
1740. Cibber, Apol., 57. Sir William Davenant, therefore,… to make Head against their Success, was forc’d to add Spectacle and Musick to Action.
1809. Pinkney, Trav. France, 98. The French … infinitely excell every other nation in all things connected with spectacle.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, X. vi. Gorgeous imagination rather than vanity … had led the Tribune into spectacle and pomp.
1866. Carlyle, in Froude, Remin. (1881), II. 215. She was constantly in spectacle there, to herself and to the sympathetic adorers.
attrib. and Comb. 1834. Edinb. Rev., LX. 7. The spectacle-loving public of the seventeenth century.
1908. Stage Year Bk., 21. The Sins of Society..., an ingeniously conceived and vigorously worked-out spectacle play.
2. A person or thing exhibited to, or set before, the public gaze as an object either (a) of curiosity or contempt, or (b) of marvel or admiration.
In 2 Sam. xxiii. 21. the later Wycliffite version has the literal rendering ‘worthi of spectacle.’
(a) a. 1380. S. Paula, 67, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 4. To gode angeles and to men Spectacle mad forsoþe we ben.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. iv. 9. Ibid. (1382), Hebrews x. 33. In that other ȝe [were] maad a spectacle bi schenschips and tribulaciouns.
1582. N. T. (Rhem.), 1 Cor. iv. 9. We are made a spectacle to the world, and to Angels and men.
1724. Gay, Captives, V. Let her be led a public spectacle.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xii. How proud I was o’ being made a spectacle to men and angels, having stood on their pillory at the Canongate.
(b) 1609. Bible (Douay), 2 Sam. xxiii. 21. He also stroke the Ægyptian, a man worthie to be a spectacle.
1794. Godwin, Caleb Williams, 110. A man who … must stand alone the spectacle and admiration of all ages of the world.
1805–6. Cary, Dante, Inf., XXIX. 130. And his rare wisdom Abbagliato show’d A spectacle for all.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. V. xii. There he stands, with unimpeachable passivity,… a spectacle to men.
3. A thing seen or capable of being seen; something presented to the view, esp. of a striking or unusual character; a sight. Also fig.
1434. Misyn, Mending Life, 127. Odyr says þat contemplacion is free sight in þe spectakyls of wysdom.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XX. (Percy Soc.), 97. Alas! thought I, this is no spectacle To fede myn eyne, whiche ar now all blynde.
a. 1540. Barnes, Wks. (1573), 346/2. S. Augustine sayth, Let vs not loue any visible spectakilles lest … by louing shadowes we be brought in to darknes.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. i. 44. But what said Iaques? Did he not moralize this spectacle?
1648. Wilkins, Math. Magic, I. x. 66. Either of them might joyntly behold the same spectacles.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 476. The paralytic … sits, Spectatress both and spectacle, a sad And silent cypher.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., II. 15. The spectacle has in it something almost supernatural.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., 315. To observe this spectacle the back of the spectator must be turned towards the sun.
1839. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 32. How shall I describe to you the spectacle which was presented to me.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., v. I. 645. Lord Stawell … was punished by having a corpse suspended in chains at his park gate. In such spectacles originated many tales of terror.
b. The sight or view of something.
1625. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1909), III. 56. Whole rabbles of people, whose revengefull eyes never glutted themselves to behould the spectacle of our mizeries.
1658. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 138. Trobled with the specktikill of a discontented sister.
1780. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xiv. § 1. The spectacle of your suffering gives me at least for a time a feeling of pleasure.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxii. The spectacle of their hurried and harassed retreat.
1852. H. Rogers, Ecl. Faith (1853), 3. The spectacle of the interminable controversies … occupied the mind of Germany.
1874. L. Stephen, Hours in Library (1892), I. v. 185. The spectacle of a man tortured by a life-long repentance.
4. A sight, show, or exhibition of a specified character or description.
1484. Caxton, Curiall, 5. They only that ben hyest enhaunsed ben after theyr despoyntement as a spectacle of enuye, of detraction, or of hate.
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low C. Wars, 681. Both near at hand, and far off, nothing [was seen] but terrible spectacles of horrour and dying.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 415. A poor miserable captive thrall,… A spectacle of ruin or of scorn.
1746. Hervey, Medit. (1818), 48. How many dismal hours did that illustrious sufferer hang, a spectacle of woe to God, to angels, and to men!
1791. Burke, Corr. (1844), III. 219. A spectacle of suffering royalty.
1839. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 65. Such another spectacle of filthy disorder I never beheld.
b. With descriptive adjs. denoting the impression (agreeable, imposing, or otherwise) conveyed by the thing seen.
(a) 1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 115 b. The same woulde be a moste pleasaunt syght, and spectacle for the Lutherians.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 433. Your eyes being too olde to iudge of so rare a spectacle.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 6. The Gray, or Horse-Fly. Her eye is an incomparable pleasant spectacle.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 76. In the mean while Nature affords us a pleasant Spectacle for this Season.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Lady Rich, 10 Oct. The shops being all set in rows so regularly well lighted, they made up a very agreeable spectacle.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., viii. (1876), 162. The sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle.
1875. Hamerton, Intell. Life, I. vi. 31–2. To enjoy the magnificent spectacle of the universe with contented submission to its laws.
(b) 1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 40. Pitifull spectacle, as euer eye did view.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., V. vi. Whose hand presents this gory spectacle?
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., ix. 30. Which was so dreadful a spectacle to us, as we had not the power to cry out.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. iv. The beggars … gave me the most horrid spectacles … a European eye beheld.
1740. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 77. I shan’t be able to stir out this day or two, for I am a frightful spectacle!
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, I. ix. Mrs. Cadurcis indeed offered a most ridiculous spectacle.
1863. Bright, Sp., Amer., 26 March (1876), 125. Privilege has beheld an afflicting spectacle for many years past.
II. † 5. A means of seeing; something made of glass; a window or mirror. Obs.
c. 1430. Lydg., Lyfe of our Ladye (MS. Bodl. 75), fol. 19. Riȝt as þe son percyd þorouȝ glas, Thorouȝ crystal beryl or spectacle, Wiþ oute harme. Ibid. (c. 1430), Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 140. By his labour was cristened al this lond, Feith of our lord wex moor cleer than spectacle.
1439. in Sir W. Dugdale, Monast. Angl. (1823), IV. 553/2. We ordeyne … that ye … have no lokyng nor spectacles owte warde, thorght the wiche ye mythe falle in worldly dilectacyone.
1548. Elyot, Specularius, he that maketh glasse windowes or spectacles, a glasiar.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 49. Should I set before your eyes, as it were a spectacle or looking glasse, men of great noblenesse and passing fame?
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 130. The first is Temperance, with a Diall and Spectacle.
† b. fig. A mirror, model, pattern or standard.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (E.E.T.S.), 52. To all virgines merour and spectacle, Off hire merites of hevene crownyd queene.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, e iiij b. Here is a fair spectacle to euery woman to see in, and conceyue the tyme comynge.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cccc. 695. This harde and peryllous aduenture myght well be to hym a spectacle all his lyfe after, and an ensample to all other.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 101. The erles … determined first to ryde to London, as the chefe key, and common spectacle to the whole Realme.
a. 1575. trans. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden, No. 36), 217. Knowing the owld sayde sawe, that preestes weare the spectacle and looking glasse of the whole worlde.
† c. An illustrative instance or example. Obs.
1579. W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, 65 b. Hee [Judas] should be a notable spectacle of God’s vengeance.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 489. When the Starres of great states decline…, and [are] made the deplored-for spectacles of the inconstancy of fortune.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. viii. (1674), 10. Through their Masters ingratitude and cruelty … they became the spectacle of all brutish usage.
6. A device for assisting defective eyesight, or for protecting the eyes from dust, light, etc., consisting of two glass lenses set in a frame which is supported on the nose, and kept in place by wires passing over the ears. Usually in pl.
sing. c. 1386. [see c].
1415. Hoccleve, To Sir J. Oldcastle, 417. Right as a spectacle helpith feeble sighte, Whan a man on the book redith or writ.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 27. Myn eyne bleynte Shuld be, ner helpe of a spectacle.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxv. (Arb.), 311. There be artes and methodes … by which the naturall is in some sorte relieued, as th’eye by his spectacle.
1623. Donne, Sermons, 289. I thank him … that assists me with a Spectacle when my sight grows old.
c. 1640. J. Smyth, Lives of Berkeleys (1883), II. 408. Reading much, yet never used spectacle or other help.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Eye, This Membrane, like a Kind of Spectacle, covers the Eye.
pl. c. 1430. Lydg., London Lackpenny, Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 105. What will you copen or by? Fyne felt hattes, or spectacles to reede?
c. 1500. Blowbol’s Test., 101, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 96. No man may his letters know nor se, Allethough he looke trughe spectacles thre.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 11 b. Being holpen with spectacles,… they begin to read distinctlie.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 56. And because they cast up sand upon the passengers, some curious men use spectacles of glasse to preserve their eyes.
1656. Ridgley, Pract. Physick, 129. Use of Spectacles weakneth the sight, unlesse you wear them for need.
1728. Pemberton, Newton’s Philos., 383. Hence may be understood, why spectacles made with convex glasses help the sight in old age.
1761. Phil. Trans., LII. 124. Plain spectacles … do not appear to have been known till a hundred years after.
1831. Brewster, Optics, xxxviii. 320. Spectacles and reading glasses are among the simplest and most useful of optical instruments.
1859. Habits of Gd. Society, iii. 154. I am one of those people who wear spectacles for fear of seeing anything with the naked eye.
1887. Ruskin, Præterita, II. 233. Tourists who pass their time mostly in looking at black rocks through blue spectacles.
transf. 1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. ii. 112. I … bid mine eyes be packing…, And call’d them blinde and duskie Spectacles.
b. In phr. a pair of spectacles. † Also without of.
1423. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), III. 75. De xxs receptis pro pare de spectakeles de argento et deaurato.
1463. Bury Wills (Camden), 15. A peyre spectaclys of syluir and ouyr gylt.
1529. More, Dyaloge, I. Wks. 147/1. And so should the scripture stand them in as good stede, as a paire of spectacles shold stand a blinde freer.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxv. (Arb.), 311. No lesse to be laughed at, then for one that can see well inough, to vse a paire of spectacles.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 24 Dec. I this evening did buy me a pair of green spectacles, to see whether they will help my eyes or no.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, I. ii. A pair of spectacles (which I sometimes use for the weakness of mine eyes).
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), III. 374. On the other side is another cardinal with a large pair of spectacles on his nose.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xxiii. (1842), 599. A pair of spectacles, with side as well as front glasses.
c. fig. A means or medium through which anything is viewed or regarded; a point of view, prepossession, prejudice, etc.
c. 1385. Chaucer, Wife’s T., 347. Povert a spectacle is, as thinkith me, Thurgh which he may his verray frendes se.
1579. W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, 16. He that putteth on the Christall spectacles of Gods word.
1598. Barkcley, Felic. Man (1631), 648. We behold our owne faults with spectacles that make things skew lesse.
1606. Proc. agst. Late Traitors, 356. False informations, which are rightly called the spectacles of error.
1644. C. Jessop, Angel of Ephesus, 62. One of late looking on his words with an Episcopall paire of spectacles, blesseth himselfe at the reading of them.
1676. Hobbes, Iliad, Pref. They that … look upon it with the oldest spectacles of a Critick, may approve it.
1711. Countrey-Man’s Lett. to Curat, 29. All the world hitherto had thought, these Horses and Chariots of Fire had been the Prophets Guard not his Danger; But they have wanted the Doctor’s Spectacles.
1861. [see ROSE-COLOURED a. 3].
1869. J. Martineau, Ess., II. 5. They offer you the spectacles they did not use.
1889. Spectator, 28 Dec. He early recognised that it is a scholar’s duty to interpret what he sees simply, without the spectacles of prepossession.
† d. A device for restricting the view of horses.
In both passages a rendering of It. occhiali.
1632. J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 3. The horse with his spectacles and covering.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Pol. Touchstone, in Advts. fr. Parnass., 395. The jealous Spaniards keep … a caveson upon his nose, a bit in his mouth, a spectacle on his eyes, as if they were afraid of him.
7. a. ellipt. A species of moth.
1819. G. Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 422. Noctua triplasea. The dark Spectacle. Noctua asclepiades. The light Spectacle.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & Moths, 92. The Dark Spectacle (A[brostola] triplasia …) appears in July. Ibid. The Spectacle (A[brostola] Asclepiadis …) appears the end of July.
b. Zool. A marking resembling a pair of spectacles.
1884. Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds, 815. Spectacled Guillemot…. A pair of white spectacles on the eyes, and whitish about base of bill.
1908. E. M. Gordon, Indian Folk Tales, viii. 71. Two varieties of cobrā, one with the spectacles and the other without them.
c. pl. A batsman’s score of two zeros or ‘duck’s eggs’ in a cricket match of two innings. Freq. in a pair of spectacles.
1892. in W. A. Bettesworth, Chats Cricket Field (1910), 455.
1893. Whitaker’s Alm., 613. Unlucky enough to make spectacles for his side against Middlesex.
1898. Globe, 1 Sept., 5/5. Yesterday in a match … he made a pair of spectacles.
8. a. pl. The glazed openings in the cab-screen of a locomotive.
1878. F. S. Williams, Midl. Railw., 503. We can now see through the ‘spectacles’ of the powerful little engine … that [etc.].
1896. Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, 15 Feb., 2/3. The lid of the sand box was blown off, and, rising in the air, was shot through the spectacles of the engine.
b. The device consisting of two frames containing respectively red and green glass worked at night in connection with a railway semaphore.
1881. Standard, 17 Dec., 2/5. When we got to the up-distant signal I called Mr. Alcock’s attention to the fact that the arm and spectacle were thickly covered with snow.
1889. G. Findlay, Eng. Railway, 68. With the arm is a frame containing coloured glasses, and termed ‘spectacles.’
c. A mechanical device attached to a phonograph (see quot.).
1889. Edison, in Pall Mall Gaz., 11 March, 1/1. I have just finished some improvements in the spectacle (a term given to the mechanical device holding the receiver and transmitter).
9. attrib. and Comb. (in sense 6), as spectacle-frame, lens, -mark, years; spectacle-seller, -user, -wiper; spectacle-bestrid, -less, -like, -shaped adjs.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 439. At conventicle, where worthy men … strain celestial themes Through the prest nostril, *spectacle-bestrid.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., II. 179/1. In the manufacture of blue steel *spectacle-frames.
1898. Watts-Dunton, Aylwin, XV. ii. (1899), 407–8. A strongly marked indented line … made by long-continued pressure of the spectacle frame.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 2899. Concave, convex, and meniscus *spectacle lenses.
1889. M. Rowan, in Longman’s Mag., Oct., 619. Her brother’s helplessness in his *spectacleless condition.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 13. Those *Spectacle-like cant Windows, which are of Glasse on all sides.
1796. P. Russell, Indian Serpents Coromandel, 8. The spectacle-like mark on the hood.
1895. Oracle Encycl., II. 98/2. Specimens [of the Cobra] destitute of the *spectacle-mark come from the E. Indies.
1648. Hexham, II. Een bril … verkooper, a *Spectacle … Seller.
1847. A. Smee, Vision, 50. The knowledge possessed by even the better order of spectacle-sellers.
1802. Shaw, Gen. Zool., III. I. 409. The neck marked above by a large black and white *spectacle-shaped spot.
1838. Wellington, Lett. to Miss J. (1890), 102. I return … the *Spectacle Wipers which you was so good as to send me.
1657. R. Austen, Fruit-trees, ii. 10. What a shame is it for a man to begin to learne his letters and to spell at *spectacle yeares!
b. In names of animals or birds having markings round the eyes, or elsewhere, suggestive of a pair of spectacles, as spectacle bat, owl, snake, thrush, warbler. (Cf. SPECTACLED a. 2.)
1827. Griffith, trans. Cuvier, V. 69. Phyllostoma Perspicillatum (*Spectacle Bat).
1787. Latham, Suppl. Gen. Syn. Birds, I. 50. *Spectacle Owl … is less stout than the Cinereous Owl.
1829. Griffith, trans. Cuvier, VI. 83. The Spectacle Owl,… Strix perspicillata.
1802. Shaw, Gen. Zool., III. II. 409. *Spectacle Snake…. The Coluber Naja, or Cobra de Capello, is a native of India.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVI. 60/2. The Asiatic species…, Spectacle-snake of the English,… may be considered as the type of the genus.
1783. Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, II. I. 61. *Spectacle Thrush. Ibid., 452. *Spectacle Warbler … [has] a naked yellowish wrinkled skin, which encircles the eye all round, giving the appearance of wearing spectacles.
10. Special combs.: spectacle-case, a case of leather or other material in which spectacles are kept when not in use; spectacle clew, a form of double clew for a sail; spectacle eye, a spectacle glass; spectacle furnace (see quot.); spectacle plate, = sense 8 a; spectacles-seat, slang, the nose; † spectacle telescope, a binocular telescope or field-glass.
1597. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 108. A *specta[c]le cace, vjd.
1690. Lond. Gaz., No. 2079/4. Lost…, a Black Shagreen Spectacle-Case.
1866. J. Martineau, Ess., I. 47. The spectacle-case may well be empty, if the glasses are already on the nose.
1863. Appleby’s Handbk. Mach. & Iron Work, 92. *Spectacle Clues, all sizes—Black, 35/0 per cwt.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 200/1. Ear-ring clew…. Spectacle clew.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., No. 2887. Lump of Brazilian pebble, from which slabs are cut and ground into *spectacle eyes.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2257. *Spectacle-furnace,… a furnace with two tap-holes, one above the other.
1900. Daily Express, 19 June, 5/7. Alongside the driver is a fireman,… frowning … through the *spectacle plate.
1895. G. Meredith, Amazing Marriage, xvi. Ben received a second spanking cracker on the *spectacles-seat.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., F. Cherubin, a Capuchin, describes a kind of *Spectacle-Telescopes, for the viewing of remote Objects with both Eyes; hence called Binoculi.
