Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Spectacle
Spec′ta-cle
,Noun.
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! Shakespeare
2.
A spy-glass; a looking-glass.
[Obs.]
Poverty a
Through which he may his very friends see.
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.