spectacle
(noun) a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase ‘make a spectacle of’ yourself
spectacle
(noun) an elaborate and remarkable display on a lavish scale
spectacle
(noun) something or someone seen (especially a notable or unusual sight); “the tragic spectacle of cripples trying to escape”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
spectacle (plural spectacles)
An exciting or extraordinary scene, exhibition, performance etc.
An embarrassing or unedifying scene or situation.
(usually, in the plural) 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.
(figuratively) An aid to the intellectual sight.
(obsolete) A spyglass; a looking-glass.
The brille of a snake.
(rail) A frame with different coloured lenses on a semaphore signal through which light from a lamp shines at night, often a part of the signal arm.
• (exciting event): show; pageant
• (optical instrument): glasses, eyeglasses, specs
Source: Wiktionary
Spec"ta*cle, n. Etym: [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.
Definition: 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.
Definition: Fig.: An aid to the intellectual sight. Shakespeare . . . needed not the spectacles of books to read nature. Dryden.
Syn.
– Show; sight; exhibition; representation; pageant.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
3 April 2025
(noun) an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity; “how big is that part compared to the whole?”; “the team is a unit”
The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.
