# spectacle
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English spectacle, from Middle French spectacle, from Latin spectāculum (“a show, spectacle”), from spectō (“to see, behold”), frequentative of speciō (“to see”). See species. Doublet of spectaculum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈspɛktəkl̩/
* Hyphenation: spec‧ta‧cle
* Audio (UK):(file)

### Noun

spectacle (plural spectacles)
* An exciting or extraordinary scene, exhibition, performance etc.
    The horse race was a thrilling spectacle.
** 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vi], page 100, column 1:VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.
** 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games
    In movie terms, it suggests Paul Verhoeven in Robocop/Starship Troopers mode, an R-rated bloodbath where the grim spectacle of children murdering each other on television is bread-and-circuses for the age of reality TV, enforced by a totalitarian regime to keep the masses at bay.
* An embarrassing or unedifying scene or situation.
    He made a spectacle out of himself.
* Attributive form of spectacles.
** 1858 August 14, Peleg Parsley Bell, “Seeing the World. Letter No. 5. […] Still in London.”, in The Flag of Our Union, volume XIII, number 33, Boston, Mass.: M[aturin] M[urray] Ballou, page 260, column 2:Some very interesting relics of Adam and Eve were shown us, that were brought from America; such as a fine-tooth comb, made of thorns, a part of a pair of leather spectacle frames, without glasses, a boot jack made of ebony, and a set of pawpaws of props, with the backs filled with a hard substance, resembling lava.
* The brille of a snake.
* (rail transport) 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.

#### Synonyms

* (exciting event): show; pageant
* (optical instrument): glasses, eyeglasses, specs

#### Derived terms

* bespectacled
* counterspectacle
* make a public spectacle of oneself
* make a spectacle of oneself
* spectacle case
* spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch
* superspectacle

#### Related terms

* species
* spectacular
* speculate

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Further reading

* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “spectacle”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* Railway semaphore signal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* “spectacle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

## French
### Etymology

From Latin spectaculum, from spectare (“to look”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /spɛk.takl/
* Hyphenation: spec‧ta‧cle
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

spectacle m (plural spectacles)
* a show, a spectacle, a performance, a concert
    Ils ont estimé qu’il est divertissant et qu’il se démarque nettement du spectacle actuel.They thought it was entertaining and that there was a clear difference between it and the current show.
* a sight, a showing, a display
    Devant un tel spectacle ils se jetèrent à genoux pleurant les morts de leurs compatriotes.They went down on their knees crying for the deaths of their fellow countrymen at this atrocious sight.

#### Derived terms

* s’offrir en spectacle
* se donner en spectacle

#### Descendants

* → Czech: spektákl
* → German: Spektakel
** → Danish: spektakel
** → Norwegian Bokmål: spetakkel
** → Norwegian Nynorsk: spetakkel
* → Polish: spektakl
* → Romanian: spectacul, spectacol
* → Russian: спекта́кль (spektáklʹ)
** → Uzbek: spektakl
** → Yakut: испэктээк (ispekteek)

### Further reading

* “spectacle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Middle English
### Noun

spectacle
* something that helps understanding
** 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Wyfe of Bathes Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:Pouert a spectacle is, as thynketh me / Through which one may his very frendes se(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Descendants

* English: spectacle