| 释义 |
▪ I. spectacle, n.1|ˈspɛktək(ə)l|
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. 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.
a1340Hampole Psalter xxxix. 6 Hoppynge & daunceynge of tumblers and herlotis, and oþer spectakils. 1382Wyclif 2 Macc. v. 26 He stranglide togidre alle that camen forth to the spectacle, or biholdyng. 1542Becon 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! 1553Eden 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. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 315 The noblest horses..were ioyned together in chariots for races, courses, spectacles, games, and combats. 1617Moryson Itin. iv. 476 To which and to many musterings and other frequent spectacles, the people flocke in great nombers. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 126 They abhorred Theaters, and publique spectacles, especially of blood. 1763J. Brown Poetry & Music iv. 43 The gentle Passions, and less affecting Actions, which might fill the Spectacles of a mild and peaceful Nation. 1782J. 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? 1806J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life ii. xii, Violent rain coming on, and continuing..during the whole of the spectacle. c1854H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. ix. (1855) 290 It was a very fine spectacle, but it was nothing more than a spectacle. 1865Lecky Ration. (1878) I. 324 He had written a treatise dissuading the Christians of his day from frequenting the public spectacles.
b. Without article.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 375 In comyn spectacle þere me stood to beholde playes and som newe þinges. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 374 Cæsar when he was Dictator, presented in spectacle four hundred Lions. 1740Cibber Apol. 57 Sir William Davenant, therefore,..to make Head against their Success, was forc'd to add Spectacle and Musick to Action. 1809N. Pinkney Trav. France 98 The French..infinitely excell every other nation in all things connected with spectacle. 1835Lytton Rienzi x. vi, Gorgeous imagination rather than vanity..had led the Tribune into spectacle and pomp. 1866Carlyle in Froude Remin. (1881) II. 215 She was constantly in spectacle there, to her⁓self and to the sympathetic adorers.
attrib. and Comb.1834Edinb. Rev. LX. 7 The spectacle-loving public of the seventeenth century. 1908Stage Year Bk. 21 An ingeniously conceived..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)a1380S. Paula 67 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 4 To gode angeles and to men Spectacle mad forsoþe we ben. 1382Wyclif 1 Cor. iv. 9. 1382 ― Hebrews x. 33 In that other ȝe [were] maad a spectacle bi schenschips and tribulaciouns. 1582N. T. (Rhem.) 1 Cor. iv. 9 We are made a spectacle to the world, and to Angels and men. 1724Gay Captives v, Let her be led a public spectacle. 1818Scott 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)1609Bible (Douay) 2 Sam. xxiii. 21 He also stroke the ægyptian, a man worthie to be a spectacle. 1794Godwin Caleb Williams 110 A man who..must stand alone the spectacle and admiration of all ages of the world. 1805–6Cary Dante, Inf. xxix. 130 And his rare wisdom Abbagliato show'd A spectacle for all. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. v. xii, There he stands, with unimpeachable passivity,..a spectacle to men.
3. a. A thing seen or capable of being seen; something presented to the view, esp. of a striking or unusual character; a sight. Also fig.
1434Misyn Mending Life 127 Odyr says þat contemplacion is free sight in þe spectakyls of wysdom. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xx. (Percy Soc.) 97 Alas! thought I, this is no spectacle To fede myn eyne, whiche ar now all blynde. a1540Barnes Wks. (1573) 346/2 S. Augustine sayth, Let vs not loue any visible spectakilles lest..by louing shadowes we be brought in to darknes. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. i. 44 But what said Iaques? Did he not moralize this spectacle? 1648Wilkins Math. Magic i. x. 66 Either of them might joyntly behold the same spectacles. 1784Cowper Task i. 476 The paralytic..sits, Spectatress both and spectacle, a sad And silent cypher. 1794R. J. Sulivan View Nat. II. 15 The spectacle has in it something almost supernatural. 1829Chapters Phys. Sci. 315 To observe this spectacle the back of the spectator must be turned towards the sun. 1839F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia (1863) 32 How shall I describe to you the spectacle which was presented to me. 1849Macaulay 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.
1625in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1909) III. 56 Whole rabbles of people, whose revengefull eyes never glutted themselves to behould the spectacle of our mizeries. 1658in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 138 Trobled with the specktikill of a discontented sister. 1780Bentham Princ. Legisl. xiv. §1 The spectacle of your suffering gives me at least for a time a feeling of pleasure. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxxii, The spectacle of their hurried and harassed retreat. 1852H. Rogers Ecl. Faith (1853) 3 The spectacle of the interminable controversies..occupied the mind of Germany. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. v. 185 The spectacle of a man tortured by a life-long repentance.
4. a. A sight, show, or exhibition of a specified character or description.
1484Caxton Curiall 5 They only that ben hyest enhaunsed ben after theyr despoyntement as a spectacle of enuye, of detraction, or of hate. 1665Manley Grotius' Low C. Wars 681 Both near at hand, and far off, nothing [was seen] but terrible spectacles of horrour and dying. 1671Milton P.R. i. 415 A poor miserable captive thrall,..A spectacle of ruin or of scorn. 1746Hervey Medit. (1818) 50 How many dismal hours did that illustrious Sufferer hang, a spectacle of woe to God, to angels, and to men! 1791Burke Corr. (1844) III. 219 A spectacle of suffering royalty. 1839F. 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)1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 115 b, The same woulde be a moste pleasaunt syght, and spectacle for the Lutherians. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 433 Your eyes being too olde to iudge of so rare a spectacle. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 6 The Gray, or Horse-Fly: Her eye is an incomparable pleasant spectacle. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 76 In the mean while Nature affords us a pleasant Spectacle for this Season. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Lady Rich 10 Oct., The shops being all set in rows so regularly well lighted, they made up a very agreeable spectacle. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. viii. (1879) 162 The sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life i. vi. (1876) 31 The magnificent spectacle of the universe.
(b)1590Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 40 Pitifull spectacle, as euer eye did view. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. v. vi, Whose hand presents this gory spectacle? 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. ix. 30 Which was so dreadful a spectacle to us, as we had not the power to cry out. 1726Swift Gulliver ii. iv, The beggars..gave me the most horrid spectacles..a European eye beheld. 1740Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 77, I shan't be able to stir out this day or two, for I am a frightful spectacle! 1837Disraeli Venetia i. ix, Mrs. Cadurcis indeed offered a most ridiculous spectacle. 1863Bright Sp., Amer. 26 Mar. (1876) 125 Privilege has beheld an afflicting spectacle for many years past.
II.
†5.
a. A means of seeing; something made of glass; a window or mirror. Obs.
c1430Lydg. Lyfe of our Ladye (MS. Bodl. 75) fol. 19 Riȝt as þe son percyd þorouȝ glas, Thorouȝ crystal beryl or spectacle, Wiþ oute harme. c1430― Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 140 By his labour was cristened al this lond, Feith of our lord wex moor cleer than spectacle. 1439in 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. 1548Elyot, Specularius, he that maketh glasse windowes or spectacles, a glasiar. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 49 Should I set before your eyes, as it were a spectacle or looking glasse, men of great noblenesse and passing fame? 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 130 The first is Temperance, with a Diall and Spectacle.
†b. fig. A mirror, model, pattern, or standard.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (E.E.T.S.) 52 To all virgines merour and spectacle, Off hire merites of hevene crownyd queene. 1483Caxton G. de la Tour e iiij b, Here is a fair spectacle to euery woman to see in, and conceyue the tyme comynge. 1523Ld. 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. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 101 The erles..determined first to ryde to London, as the chefe key, and common spectacle to the whole Realme. a1575tr. 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.
1579W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 65 b, Hee [Judas] should be a notable spectacle of God's vengeance. 1632Lithgow Trav. x. 489 When the Starres of great states decline.., and [are] made the deplored-for spectacles of the inconstancy of fortune. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. 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. 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 side-pieces passing over the ears. Usually in pl.
sing.c1386[see c]. 1415Hoccleve To Sir J. Oldcastle 417 Right as a spectacle helpith feeble sighte, Whan a man on the book redith or writ. 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 27 Myn eyne bleynte Shuld be, ner helpe of a spectacle. 1589Puttenham 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. 1628Donne Sermons 289, I thank him..that assists me with a Spectacle when my sight grows old. c1640J. Smyth Lives of Berkeleys (1883) II. 408 Reading much, yet never used spectacle or other help. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Eye, This Membrane, like a Kind of Spectacle, covers the Eye.
pl.c1430Lydg. London Lackpenny Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 105 What will you copen or by? Fyne felt hattes, or spectacles to reede? c1500Blowbol's Test. 101 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 96 No man may his letters know nor se, Allethough he looke trughe spectacles thre. 1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 11 b, Being holpen with spectacles,..they begin to read distinctlie. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 56 And because they cast up sand upon the passengers, some curious men use spectacles of glasse to preserve their eyes. 1656Ridgley Pract. Physick 129 Use of Spectacles weakneth the sight, unlesse you wear them for need. 1728Pemberton Newton's Philos. 383 Hence may be understood why spectacles made with convex glasses help the sight in old age. 1761Phil. Trans. LII. 124 Plain spectacles..do not appear to have been known till a hundred years after. 1831Brewster Optics xxxviii. 320 Spectacles and reading glasses are among the simplest and most useful of optical instruments. 1859Habits of Gd. Society iii. 154, I am one of those people who wear spectacles for fear of seeing anything with the naked eye. 1887Ruskin Præterita II. 233 Tourists who pass their time mostly in looking at black rocks through blue spectacles.
transf.1593Shakes. 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.
1423Test. Ebor. (Surtees) III. 75 De xxs receptis pro pare de spectakeles de argento et deaurato. 1463Bury Wills (Camden) 15 A peyre spectaclys of syluir and ouyr gylt. 1529More 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. 1589Puttenham 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. 1666Pepys Diary 24 Dec., I this evening did buy me a pair of green spectacles, to see whether they will help my eyes or no. 1726Swift Gulliver i. ii, A pair of spectacles (which I sometimes use for the weakness of mine eyes). 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 374 On the other side is another cardinal with a large pair of spectacles on his nose. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. xxiii. (1842) 590 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.
c1386Chaucer Wife's T. 347 Povert a spectacle is, as thinkith me, Thurgh which he may his verray frendes se. 1579W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 16 He that putteth on the Christall spectacles of Gods word. 1598R. Barckley Felic. Man (1631) 648 We behold our owne faults with spectacles that make things shew lesse. 1606Proc. agst. Late Traitors 356 False informations, which are rightly called the spectacles of error. 1644Jessop Angel Ephesus 62 One of late looking on his words with an Episcopall paire of spectacles, blesseth himselfe at the reading of them. 1676Hobbes Iliad Pref., They that..look upon it with the oldest spectacles of a Critick, may approve it. 1711Countrey-Man's Lett. 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]. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 5 They offer you the spectacles they did not use. 1889Spectator 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.
1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 3 The horse with his spetacles and covering. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. 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.
1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 422 Noctua triplasea. The dark Spectacle. Noctua asclepiades. The light Spectacle. 1832J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & M. 92 The Dark Spectacle (Abrostola triplasia) appears in July. Ibid., The Spectacle (Abrostola Asclepiadis) appears the end of July.
b. Zool. A marking resembling a pair of spectacles.
1884Coues Key N. Amer. Birds 815 Spectacled Guillemot... A pair of white spectacles on the eyes, and whitish about base of bill. 1908E. M. Gordon Indian Folk Tales viii. (1909) 76 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. Cf. pair n.1 2 b. † Also (rarely) in sing., a score of zero in one innings.
1835Bell's Life 13 Sept. 3/4 Good put a spectacle on him first ball. 1865F. Lillywhite's Guide to Cricketers 27 The ominous ‘spectacles’ have been worn by the best sighted men. 1892in W. A. Bettesworth Chats Cricket Field (1910) 455. 1893 Whitaker's Alm. 613 Unlucky enough to make spectacles for his side against Middlesex. 1898Globe 1 Sept. 5/5 Yesterday in a match..he made a pair of spectacles. 1907E. V. Lucas Hambledon Men 230 It is believed he never made two noughts, or ‘a pair of spectacles’, in any match of note! 1979Wisden Cricket Monthly Dec. 21/3 Who got a ‘pair of spectacles’ for Yorkshire on his first appearance?
8. a. pl. The glazed openings in the cab-screen of a locomotive.
1878F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 503 We..see through the ‘spectacles’ of the powerful little engine..that [etc.]. 1896B'ham Weekly Post 15 Feb. 8/7 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 connexion with a railway semaphore.
1881Standard 17 Dec. 2/5 When we got to the up-distant signal I called..attention to the fact that the arm and spectacle were thickly covered with snow. 1889G. 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.).
1889Pall Mall G. 11 Mar. 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, spectacle lens, spectacle-mark, spectacle years; spectacle-seller, spectacle-user, spectacle-wiper; spectacle-bestrid, spectacle-blurred, spectacle-less, spectacle-like, spectacle-shaped adjs.
1784Cowper Task ii. 439 At conventicle, where worthy men..strain celestial themes Through the prest nostril, *spectacle-bestrid.
1932W. Faulkner Light in August (1933) xiii. 291 Misshapen, with his gray stubble and his dark *spectacle-blurred eyes.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. II. 179/1 In the manufacture of blue steel *spectacle-frames. 1898Watts-Dunton Aylwin xv. iii, A strongly marked indented line..made by long-continued pressure of the spectacle frame.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 2899 Concave, convex, and meniscus *spectacle lenses.
1889Longman's Mag. Oct. 619 Her brother's helplessness in his *spectacleless condition.
1663Gerbier Counsel 13 Those *Spectacle-like cant Windows, which are of Glasse on all sides. 1796P. Russell Indian Serpents Coromandel 8 The spectacle-like mark on the hood.
1895Oracle Encycl. II. 98 Specimens [of the Cobra] destitute of the *spectacle-mark come from the E. Indies.
1648Hexham ii, Een bril..verkooper, a *Spectacle..Seller. 1847A Smee Vision 50 The knowledge possessed by even the better order of spectacle-sellers.
1802Shaw Gen. Zool. III. i. 409 The neck marked above by a large black and white *spectacle-shaped spot.
1838Wellington Lett. to Miss J. (1890) 102, I return..the *Spectacle Wipers which you was so good as to send me.
1657R. 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.)
1827Griffith tr. Cuvier V. 69 Phyllostoma Perspicillatum (*Spectacle Bat).
1787Latham Suppl. Gen. Syn. Birds I. 50 *Spectacle Owl..is less stout than the Cinereous Owl. 1829Griffith tr. Cuvier VI. 83 The Spectacle Owl,..Strix perspicillata.
1802Shaw Gen. Zool. III. ii. 409 *Spectacle Snake... The Coluber Naja, or Cobra de Capello, is a native of India. 1840Penny Cycl. XVI. 60/2 The Asiatic species.., Spectacle-snake of the English,..may be considered as the type of the genus.
1783Latham 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.
1597Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 108 A *specta[c]le cace, vjd. 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2079/4 Lost.., a Black Shagreen Spectacle-Case. 1866J. Martineau Ess. I. 47 The spectacle-case may well be empty, if the glasses are already on the nose.
1863Appleby's Handbk. Mach. & Iron Work 92 *Spectacle Clues, all sizes—Black, 35/0 per cwt. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 200/1 Ear-ring clew... Spectacle clew.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. No. 2887 Lump of Brazilian pebble, from which slabs are cut and ground into *spectacle eyes.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2257 *Spectacle-furnace,..a furnace with two tap-holes, one above the other.
1900Daily Express 19 June 5/7 Alongside the driver is a fireman,..frowning..through the *spectacle plate.
1895Meredith Amazing Marriage xvi, Ben received a second spanking cracker on the *spectacles-seat.
1728Chambers 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.
▪ II. ‖ spectacle, n.2|spɛktakl|
[F.: see prec.]
1. = spectacle n.1 1.
1749Chesterfield Lett. ccviii. (1792) 294 Go to whatever assemblies or spectacles people of fashion go to. 1768Earl Carlisle in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) II. 336, I shall go to Fontainbleau on Saturday next. It is to be extremely dull; no spectacle at court. 1792A. Young Trav. France 217 If cheapness of living, spectacles, and pretty women, are a man's objects.., let him live at Venice. 1801Helen M. Williams Fr. Rep. I. xi. 110 The love of a spectacle is, you know, the ruling passion of the Parisians. 1837Lockhart Scott III. xi. 370 So mounted,..he witnessed the great closing spectacle on the Champ de Mars.
2. spec. A piece of stage-display or pageantry, as contrasted with real drama.
1752T. Scrope in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) I. 149 Their spectacles were very grand, and their stage far surpasses ours; but their plays, in my opinion, fall as far short. 1835T. Mitchell Acharn. of Aristoph. 1059 note, The progress of the piece evidently requires here some little pageant or spectacle. 1860Once a Week 14 July 70/1 The young Thespians..had to appear as Peace and Plenty, amidst a great display of red-light, at the end of a grand spectacle, which was drawing uncommonly well.
▪ III. ˈspectacle, v. rare.
[f. spectacle n.1]
1. trans. To scrutinize through spectacles.
a1734North Lives (1826) III. 131 The barons, each one after another, spectacled it over and over, and scarce believed their own eyes. 1888Murdoch Readings Ser. ii. 47 Oh, ye may spectacle me as much as ye like, my fine man.
2. To provide with spectacles.
1880Sat. Rev. No. 1295. 235 Of late years the practice of putting children into spectacles has increased with alarming rapidity... Spectacling them may be a wholesome preventive. |