Ex"er*cise , v. i. To exercise one's self, as under military training; to drill; to take exercise; to use action
or exertion; to practice gymnastics; as, to exercise for health or
amusement.
I wear my trusty sword,
When I do exercise.
Cowper.
Ex"er*cise (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Exercised (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Exercising (?).]
1. To
set in action; to cause to act,
move, or make exertion; to give employment to; to put in action habitually or constantly; to school or train; to exert repeatedly; to busy.
Herein do I
Exercise myself,
to have always a conscience void of offence.
Acts
xxiv. 16. 2. To exert for the
sake of training or improvement; to practice in order to develop; hence, also, to improve by practice; to discipline, and to use or to for the purpose of training; as, to exercise arms; to exercise one's self in music; to exercise troops.
About him exercised heroic games
The unarmed youth.
Milton. 3. 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; to affect; to discipline; as,
exercised with pain.
Where pain of
unextinguishable fire
Must exercise us without hope of end.
Milton. 4. To put in practice; to carry out in
action; to perform the duties of; to use; to employ; to
practice; as, to exercise authority; to exercise an office.
I
am the Lord
which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
Jer.
ix. 24. The people of the
land have used oppression and
exercised robbery.
Ezek.
xxii. 29.
Ex"er*cise (?), n. [F. exercice, L.
exercitium, from exercere,
exercitum, to drive on, keep, busy, prob. orig., to thrust or drive out of
the inclosure; ex out + arcere to shut up, inclose. See Ark.]
1. The act of
exercising; a setting in action or
practicing; employment in
the proper mode of activity; exertion; application; use; habitual activity; occupation, in general; practice.
exercise of the important function confided by the constitution to the legislature.
Jefferson.
O we will walk this world,
Yoked in all exercise of noble end.
Tennyson. 2. Exertion for the sake of training or improvement whether physical, intellectual, or moral; practice to acquire skill, knowledge, virtue, perfectness, grace, etc. "Desire of knightly exercise." Spenser.
An exercise of the eyes and
memory.
Locke.
3. Bodily exertion for the sake of keeping the organs and functions in a
healthy state; hygienic activity; as, to take
exercise on horseback.
The wise for
cure on exercise depend.
Dryden.
4. The performance of an office, a ceremony, or a religious duty.
Lewis refused even those of the
church of England . . . the public exercise of their religion.
Addison. To draw him from
his holy exercise.
Shak.
5. That which is done
for the sake of exercising, practicing, training, or promoting skill, health, mental, improvement, moral discipline, etc.; that which is
assigned or prescribed for such ends; hence, a disquisition; a lesson; a task; as, military or naval exercises; musical exercises; an
exercise in composition.
The clumsy exercises of the European tourney.
Prescott.
He seems to have taken a
degree, and performed public exercises in
Cambridge, in 1565.
Brydges.
6. That which gives practice; a trial; a test.
Patience is more oft the
exercise
Of
saints, the trial of their fortitude.
Milton. Exercise bone
(Med.), a deposit of bony matter in the
soft tissues, produced by pressure or exertion.
Hear it pronounced