exercise

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

exercise of the important function confided by the constitution to the legislature. Jefferson. [ 1913 Webster ]

O we will walk this world,
Yoked in all exercise of noble end. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

An exercise of the eyes and memory. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Bodily exertion for the sake of keeping the organs and functions in a healthy state; hygienic activity; as, to take exercise on horseback; to exercise on a treadmill or in a gym. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

The wise for cure on exercise depend. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The performance of an office, a ceremony, or a religious duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lewis refused even those of the church of England . . . the public exercise of their religion. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

To draw him from his holy exercise. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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; arithmetic exercises. [ 1913 Webster ]

The clumsy exercises of the European tourney. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

He seems to have taken a degree, and performed public exercises in Cambridge, in 1565. Brydges. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. That which gives practice; a trial; a test. [ 1913 Webster ]

Patience is more oft the exercise
Of saints, the trial of their fortitude. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Exercise bone (Med.), a deposit of bony matter in the soft tissues, produced by pressure or exertion. [ 1913 Webster ]