- Exercise bone
- Exercise Ex"er*cise, n. [F. exercice, L. exercitium, from
exercere, exercitum, to drive on, keep, busy, prob. orig., to
thrust or drive out of the inclosure; ex out + arcere to shut
up, inclose. See {Ark}.]
1. The act of exercising; a setting in action or practicing;
employment in the proper mode of activity; exertion;
application; use; habitual activity; occupation, in
general; practice.
[1913 Webster]
exercise of the important function confided by the constitution to the legislature. --Jefferson. [1913 Webster]
O we will walk this world, Yoked in all exercise of noble end. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
2. Exertion for the sake of training or improvement whether physical, intellectual, or moral; practice to acquire skill, knowledge, virtue, perfectness, grace, etc. ``Desire of knightly exercise.'' --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
An exercise of the eyes and memory. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
3. Bodily exertion for the sake of keeping the organs and functions in a healthy state; hygienic activity; as, to take exercise on horseback; to exercise on a treadmill or in a gym. [1913 Webster +PJC]
The wise for cure on exercise depend. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
4. The performance of an office, a ceremony, or a religious duty. [1913 Webster]
Lewis refused even those of the church of England . . . the public exercise of their religion. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
To draw him from his holy exercise. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
5. That which is done for the sake of exercising, practicing, training, or promoting skill, health, mental, improvement, moral discipline, etc.; that which is assigned or prescribed for such ends; hence, a disquisition; a lesson; a task; as, military or naval exercises; musical exercises; an exercise in composition; arithmetic exercises. [1913 Webster]
The clumsy exercises of the European tourney. --Prescott. [1913 Webster]
He seems to have taken a degree, and performed public exercises in Cambridge, in 1565. --Brydges. [1913 Webster]
6. That which gives practice; a trial; a test. [1913 Webster]
Patience is more oft the exercise Of saints, the trial of their fortitude. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
{Exercise bone} (Med.), a deposit of bony matter in the soft tissues, produced by pressure or exertion. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
