Spectacle : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: Spectacle	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for Spectacle
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
spectacle n something or someone seen (especially a notable or unusual sight); "the tragic spectacle of cripples trying to escape" an elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase `make a spectacle of' yourself
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Spectacle \Spec"tacle\, n. [F., fr. L. spectaculum, fr. spectare to look at, to behold, v. intens. fr. specere. See {Spy}.] 1. Something exhibited to view; usually, something presented to view as extraordinary, or as unusual and worthy of special notice; a remarkable or noteworthy sight; a show; a pageant; a gazingstock. O, piteous spectacle? O, bloody times! --Shak. 2. A spy-glass; a looking-glass. [Obs.] Poverty a spectacle* is, as thinketh me, Through which he may his very friends see. --Chaucer. 3. pl. An optical instrument consisting of two lenses set in a light frame, and worn to assist sight, to obviate some defect in the organs of vision, or to shield the eyes from bright light. 4. pl. Fig.: An aid to the intellectual sight. Shakespeare . . . needed not the spectacles of books to read nature. --Dryden. Syn: Show; sight; exhibition; representation; pageant.