v. [f. L. spectāt-, ppl. stem of spectāre to look.] intr. and trans. To look or gaze (at). Hence Spectating ppl. a.
1709. in J. Ashton, Soc. Life Reign Q. Anne (1882), I. 287. A Gentleman sitting on the Coach, civilly salutes the Spectating Company.
1854. De Quincey, in ‘H. A. Page,’ Life (1877), II. xviii. 88. The thing to be spectated, or in base vulgar, the spectacle. Ibid. (1858), Wks., VII. App. 329. To the poor spectator (unless paid for spectating) [it] is sympathetically painful.
