Definition of "exercise"

exercise

/ˈɛk.sə.saɪz/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural exercises
1. (countable) Any activity designed to develop or hone a skill or ability.
  Quotations
  Where noyse of armes, or vew of martiall guize / Might not reuiue desire of knightly exercize.
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 25
  an exercise of the eyes and memory
  1693, [John Locke], “§178”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […]
2. (countable, uncountable) Activity intended to improve physical, or sometimes mental, strength and fitness.
  Quotations
  This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] He was smooth-faced, and his fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's apportionment.
  1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
  Regular mental exercise keeps the circuits of the brain active and healthy and reduces the risk of dementia.
  2018, Timothy R. Jennings, The Aging Brain, page 107
3. A setting in action or practicing; employment in the proper mode of activity; exertion; application; use.
  Quotations
  exercise of the important function confided by the constitution to the legislature
  December 8, 1801, Thomas Jefferson, first annual message
  O we will walk this world, / Yoked in all exercise of noble end.
  1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […]
4. The performance of an office, ceremony, or duty.
  Quotations
  Lewis […] refused even those of the church of England […] the public exercise of their religion.
  1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
  He doth entreat your Grace, my noble lord, To visit him tomorrow or next day. To draw him from his holy exercise.
  c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]
5. (obsolete) That which gives practice; a trial; a test.
  Quotations
  But patience is more oft the exerciſe / Of Saints, the trial of thir fortitude,
  1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], page 77
verb
third-person singular simple present exercises, present participle exercising, simple past and past participle exercised
1. To exert for the sake of training or improvement; to practice in order to develop.
2. (intransitive) To perform physical activity for health or training.
3. (transitive) To use (a right, an option, etc.); to put into practice.
  Quotations
  The people of the land haue vsed oppression, and exercised robbery, and haue vexed the poore and needie: yea, they haue oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Ezekiel 22:29
4. (now often in passive) To occupy the attention and effort of; to task; to tax, especially in a painful or vexatious manner; harass; to vex; to worry or make anxious.
  Quotations
  Where pain of unextinguiſhable fire / Muſt exerciſe us without hope of end
  1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 88–89
5. (obsolete) To set in action; to cause to act, move, or make exertion; to give employment to.
  Quotations
  And herein doe I exercise my selfe to haue alwayes a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Acts 24:16
  Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence.
  1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, page 18

Definition of "exercise"

exercise

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations