display

▪ I. display, v.
    (dɪˈspleɪ)
    Forms: 5 desplay, dysplay, 6 displeigh. β. 5–6 des-, dysploy.
    [a. OF. despleier (-plier, -ployer), = Pr. desplegar, -pleiar, Sp. desplegar, It. dispiegare:—L. displicāre to scatter, disperse, (in late and med.L.) to unfold. See also the doublet deploy, and aphetic splay.
    In OF. displicare became orig. in inf. desplier; in tonic forms as 3 sing. pres. desplei-e; whence by subseq. confusion of tonic and atonic forms despleier, later desploier, desployer: examples of all these French varieties exist in Eng. in ply, ploy, apply, comply, imply, deploy, employ; the forms in -ploy being from Central OF., or later F.]
    1. a. trans. To unfold, expand, spread out; to unfurl (a banner, sail). Now Obs. exc. as influenced by sense 3, and understood as ‘to unfold to view’ (a banner or the like).

[1292 Britton ii. xxii. §4 Si la disseisine fust fete a banere desplaé, ou as chevaus covertz.] c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 2 Ine..displayed his banere, & went to þe bataile. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems. (Percy Soc.) 6 Ther yssed oute empresses thre, Theire here displayed. c 1460 Emare 97 The cloth was displayed sone. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxvii. 96 To sprede and dysploye the sayles. c 1500 Melusine xxi. 131 And made hys banere to be dysployed abrode. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. xxxvi. 88 There was displaide a flagge in the top of the Factorie. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 47 The old-woman carefully displayd The clothes about her round with busy ayd. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. iv. (1626) 86 With Dores display'd, the golden Palace shines. 1656 Earl of Monmouth Advt. fr. Parnass. 259 [He] displaid his sails to a prosperous west wind. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. 208 Elastick..particles, that have a continual tendency and endeavour to expand and display themselves. 1728 Pope Dunc. iii. 71 See..her sable flag display'd. 1894 C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 97 A flag was to be displayed on the discovery of a supposed enemy at sea.

intr. (for refl.) 1572 R. H. tr. Lavaterus' Ghostes & Spir. (1596) 81 When..their ensignes will not displaie abroade but fold about the stander-bearers heads.

    † b. Mil. To spread out (troops) so as to form a more extended line; = deploy v. 2. Obs.

1581 Savile Agric. (1622) 198 Agricola..fearing lest hee should bee assailed on the front and flankes both at one instant, displayed his army in length. 1581 ― Tacitus' Hist. iv. xxxv. (1591) 196 Fought with troupes displayed out thinnely in length. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 151 The Englishmen..display their ranks and..press hard upon their enemies. 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., To display (Mil.) in French déployer, to extend the front of a column.

    2. a. To lay or place (a man or animal) with the limbs extended; to extend (a limb, wing, etc.) spec. in Her.: see displayed 2.

c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 640 Toward þe cros hys bak he layde, And hys real armes oute he dysplayde. 1486 Bk. St. Albans B v iij a, Display the wynge esely and holde it betwene the ij partes of the loofe. 1539 Hilsey Primer in Three Primers (1848) 328 O Lord which hast displayed thine hands and feet, and all thy body on a cross for our sins. 1591 Spenser Virg. Gnat 240 Sleep oppressed him, Displaid on ground. Ibid. 336 Thou..Thy careles limbs in loose sleep dost display.

    † b. Carving. The technical term for: To carve (a crane). Obs.

c 1470 in Hors, Shepe & G. etc. (Caxton 1479, Roxb. repr.) 33 A crane displayed, a pecok disfigured. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 267 Dysplaye that crane. Take a crane, and vnfolde his legges, and cut of his wynges by the Ioyntes. 1804 Farley Lond. Art Cookery (ed. 10) 293.

absol. 1711–14 Spectator (J.), He carves, displays, and cuts up to a wonder.

    3. a. To open up or expose to view, exhibit to the eyes, show.

13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 955 Hir brest & hir bryȝt þrote bare displayed Schon shyrer þen snawe. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (1840) 161 (Mätz.) Displaieth hir crown geyn Phebus bemys brihte. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. ii. 77, I..to Sunnes parching heat display'd my cheekes. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iv. (1723) 244 By this means..the Grain-Gold, upon all the Gold Coast..is display'd. 1767 Sir W. Jones Seven Fount. Poems (1777) 46 Th' alluring stream, That through the grove display'd a silver gleam. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 Round the apartment..was displayed in close array the silver and pewter plate. 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xix. 301 More recently the Royal Banner has always displayed the Arms of England.

    b. Printing. To make more prominent (a word, line, etc.) by using larger type, wider spacing, etc.

1888 [see display n. 5].

    4. To unfold or exhibit to other senses, to observation generally, or to the mind. † a. To give utterance to, pour forth, utter. Obs.

1580 Sidney Ps. xxvii. vii, Heare, Lord, when I my voice display. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 210 A thousand warbling Notes thy throat displayes.

    b. To exhibit, make manifest, cause to be observed or perceived.

1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 12 At last the Altitonant displeaz me hiz mayn poour. 1635 Quarles Embl. ii. i. (1718) 66 Thy busie hands address Their labour to display. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xvii. 115 The..Air..sufficing..to display a considerable pressure upon the surface of the Mercury. 1762 Sir W. Jones Arcadia Poems (1777) 107 The curling eglantines display'd..an aromatick shade. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §7. 415 The new English drama..was beginning to display its wonderful powers. 1885 Manch. Exam. 16 June 4/7 The same insubordination was displayed still more offensively.

    5. a. esp. To exhibit ostentatiously; to show off, make a show of.

1628 Earle Microcosm., Bold forward Man (Arb.) 47 These few good parts hee has, hee is no niggard in displaying. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 126 Many great Divines were fain to display their eloquence. 1709 Pope Ess. on Criticism 329 The sparks with awkward vanity display What the fine gentleman wore yesterday. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 47 Their business in coming into company..[is] to display themselves. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 27 ¶8 That part of his discourse in which he most endeavoured to display his imagination.

    † b. intr. (for refl.) To make a great show or display; to act in an ostentatious manner. Obs.

1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 41 The fellow which..Displaid so saucily against your Highnesse.

    c. Ornith. intr. To engage in or use display (see display n. 2 b).

1902 Zoologist 4th Ser. VI. 197 The displaying bird crouched, upon which the pairing took place. 1936 Nature 27 June 1057/2 Birds of many species pair before they display and often pair for life. 1953 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles II. 188 A male coal tit displaying to an apparently disinterested female with her back turned to the ardent suitor. Ibid. 292 To watch a male gold-crest displaying to the lady of his choice.

    6. trans. To disclose, reveal, or show, unintentionally or incidentally; to allow to be seen or perceived, to betray.

1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 32 If you are but seene, Your armes display you; therefore put them off. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 171 He began to display..some token of suspition. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 568 All the variety of colours which flowers display. 1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. iii. 146 A grand entertainment, which displayed both the barbarism and the magnificence of the Asiatic. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 104 Having displayed your ignorance of the nature of courage.

    † 7. To set forth in representation or narrative; to depict, describe, exhibit; to set forth at large, expound; to unfold (a tale). Obs. or arch.

1726–31 Tindal Rapin's Hist. Eng. (1743) II. xvii. 156 To display in a few words the Elogy of this illustrious queen. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 79 ¶8 The princes were once displaying their felicity, and each boasting the advantages of his own dominions. 1766 Pennant Zool. (1768) I. Pref. 2 The admirable Linnæus has displayed them [arguments] at large in an oration. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. 200 Zealous to display every proof of the king's greatness of mind. 1808 Scott Marm. iv. ii, He..did his tale display.

    † 8. Med. To disperse, dissipate. Obs. [Cf. L. displicare, Varro.]

1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 84 The fat of this beast is reserved by some for heating, softening, and displaying tumours in the flesh. Ibid. 504 The use of this by reason it is very hot, is to display Ulcers and tumors in wounds.

    ¶ 9. To discover, get sight of, descry. [In Spenser and his imitators; as if ‘to unfold to one's own view’.] Obs.

1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 76 They..did at last display That wanton Lady, with her lover. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xi. 74 He..from his seat took pleasure to display The city so adorn'd with tow'rs. 1615 ― Odyss. v. 350 He might display The shady hills of the Phaeacian shore.

▪ II. diˈsplay, n.
    [f. prec. vb.]
    1. a. The act of displaying or unfolding to view or to notice; exhibition, manifestation.

a 1680 Glanvill (J.), A glorious display of the highest form of created excellencies. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 205 ¶5 At this display of riches every eye immediately sparkled. 1767 Junius Lett. xxv. 116 You were not quite indifferent to the display of your literary qualifications. 1823 Rutter Fonthill 8 A too sudden display of the colossal dimensions..of the Abbey. 1853 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. i. 4 The display of horsetails at the gate of the Palace is the Ottoman signal of war. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xiv. 193 An occasion for the display of his powers.

    † b. The act of setting forth descriptively; a description. Obs.

1583 Stubbes (title) The Second part of the Anatomie of Abuses, containing The display of Corruptions, with a perfect description of such imperfections. 1610 J. Guillim (title) Display of Heraldry. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Display, a particular Explication. a 1714 Sharp Serm. I. v. (R.), For the more lively display of him..it will be fit that we represent him a little more particular under those several respects and capacities, in which his uprightness is principally seen and expressed.

    c. The presentation of radar echoes or signals on the screen of a cathode-ray tube; a visual presentation of data from a computer, whether by means of a cathode-ray tube or some other device; also, a device or system used for this. = visual display s.v. visual a. 6 e. Also attrib.

1945 Electronic Engin. XVII. 684 If the target is out of sight the Radar display panel is used. Ibid. 716 Photographs of the cathode-ray tube face showing..the main display. 1946 Ibid. XVIII. 265 The I.F. rather than the video is fed from the main console to the display units. 1947 L. J. Haworth in L. N. Ridenour Radar System Engin. vi. 173 Target range is displayed as a horizontal coordinate and the display is expanded in the vertical dimension. Ibid., The signals from a given target are correlated in the two displays on the basis of range and azimuth position. 1958 Listener 30 Oct. 691/1 New radar sets of much higher power, on which the display was sometimes covered with small echoes. 1960 R. S. Ledley Digital Computer & Control Engin. xxii. 756 Another scheme is to use an electroluminescent surface... Wires buried in the surface can be controlled by the computer to generate voltages, and hence light, as desired for picture displays. 1962 Huskey & Korn Computer Handbk. xviii. 21 The most common device which functions as a symbol display is the number wheel used in the odometer of an automobile. 1967 Technology Week 20 Feb. 22/1 A vigorous developmental effort is in progress..to discover whether future command and control display systems for manned space flight should use all-digital techniques. 1969 Times 21 Jan. 5/8 The computer replies with an automatic display of the patient's answer.

    2. a. An exhibition, a show; a proceeding or occasion consisting in the exhibiting of something.

1665 Glanvill Scepsis Sci. iv. Pref. (R.), Some grains must be allow'd to a rhetorical display, which will not bear the rigour of a critical survey. 1789 Cowper Queen's Visit Lond. 10 (17 March) 'Twas hard to tell of streets or squares Which formed the chief display. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic i. (1833) 6 The optical display which hallowed their ancient temples. 1845 Florist's Jrnl. 278 The display of dahlias..was most excellent. 1883 Gladstone in Glasgow Weekly Her. 9 June 1/7 Constant parades and military displays with bands and flags. 1886 A. Winchell Walks Geol. Field 210 Some of our most splendid meteoric displays.

    b. Ornith. A specialized pattern of behaviour used by birds as a visual means of communication, often in conjunction with characteristic calls. Also attrib.

1901 Zoologist 4th Ser. V. 344 Whether it was a conscious display or not..the birds could not have adopted an attitude or a position in relation to one another better adapted to show off the beauties of their plumage. 1914 Proc. Zool. Soc. 524 The Display Ceremonies..seem so very like the Displays of solitary courtship. 1933 Brit. Birds XXVII. 34, I had an opportunity of seeing the display of the male. 1937 Ibid. XXX. 274 It seems that ‘display-building’ (that is, building regarded as a manifestation of sexual excitement) is shown by the Great Crested Grebe. 1938 Ibid. XXXII. 86 The display flight was similar to that of related species. 1949 Ibid. XLII. 120 He immediately adopted the display attitude, exposing the throat at very close quarters and not attempting to turn round. 1953 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles I. 23 A description of the spring display of the hooded crow has been given by the Misses Baxter and Rintoul, who watched a bird jumping a little distance into the air and then re-alighting at the same place to repeat the performance. Ibid., The aerial display by a pair of birds also included ‘corkscrew’ or ‘figure-of-eight’ flights. 1964 A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 203/2 When two or more incompatible tendencies are present, various types of ambivalent behaviour may occur..and some instances of this have been specialised in evolution for a communicatory function and thus may be designated as displays.

    3. Show, ostentation.

1816 Byron Parisina xvii, He died, as erring man should die, Without display, without parade. 1838 Emerson Nature, Lit. Ethics Wks. (Bohn) II. 214 Fatal to the man of letters, fatal to man, is the lust of display. 1870 ― Soc. & Solit., Domestic Life Ibid. III. 45 A house kept to the end of display is impossible to all but a few women.

    4. Printing. The selection and arrangement of types so as to call attention to important parts of the subject matter: used in regard to title-pages and advertisements.

1824 J. Johnson Typographia II. 588 An alteration in the method of display and a new mode in the arrangement of the matter, became now very general.

    5. a. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 4) display-ad (colloq.), display-face, display-heading; display-case, a case (see case n.² 7 a) in which items are displayed for inspection; also display cabinet; display hand, (a) one who sets up display-type; (b) a pyrotechnist employed chiefly to assist in firework displays; display-letter, -type, a letter or type used for displaying printed matter; cf. 4 above; display lighting, lighting used to illuminate objects, buildings, etc., on display; display-stand, a stand, rack, shelf, etc. for displaying goods; display window orig. U.S., a large shop-window in which merchandise is displayed; display-work (see quot.).

1919 Mencken Amer. Lang. v. 160 Want-ad, display-ad. 1930 A. Bennett Imperial Palace xxxvi. 250 Display-ads of the kind you're putting now in London dailies.

1933 Connoisseur Nov. 348/2 Two Chippendale display cabinets in the Chinese taste. 1965 M. Spark Mandelbaum Gate iii. 73 The crib-figures..were spread about on the glass top of a display cabinet.

1950 ‘N. Shute’ Town like Alice 328 A glass counter and display-case full of women's things.

1948 H. Missingham Student's Guide Commerc. Art ii. 80 Display faces..comprise the larger sizes of letters used for newspaper headlines, titlepages, and headings or displayed advertisements.

1896 Daily News 1 Dec. 12/7 (Advt.), Compositor.― First-class Jobbing and Display Hand seeks situation. 1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §148 Display hand..; pyrotechnist: assists at firework display, lighting fuses [etc.].

1907 ‘Mark Twain’ in N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 4 According to the display-heading—‘Rich Woman Fell Down Cellar’. 1919 B. Sherbow Making Type Work 35 Too Many Capital Letters in a Display Heading Confuse the Eye.

1855 W. B. Wood Recoll. of Stage xxiii. 452 Proclaiming the name of the star in display letters a foot or a yard long.

1950 Ann. Reg. 1949 465 Restrictions were still imposed on shop-window, advertisement, and display lighting.

1863 Boston Herald 15 Mar. 4/1 Printers and editors may look out for late sights and display type. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes 536 Display type, the largest and specially designed type faces used to attract attention.

1934 Webster, Display window. 1945 Steinbeck Cannery Row xi. 47 The final climax came with the front of Holman's bootery broken out and the party trying on shoes in the display window. 1964 C. Buchanan Traffic in Towns 67 Conventional shopping streets with display windows facing pavements.

1888 Jacobi Printer's Voc. 32 Display work, Type displayed, such as titles, headings, and jobbing work, is thus termed to distinguish it from ordinary solid composition.

    b. Mus. Designating a piece of music that specially displays the performer's skill or virtuosity.

1959 Listener 9 July 76/3 This is a display piece; it shows off an orchestra's virtuosity. Ibid. 17 Dec. 1093/2 Hindemith's thirty-four-year-old Concerto for Orchestra, a rollicking piece of display music. 1961 Ibid. 9 Nov. 789/3 The big coloratura aria of Zerbinetta..unhappily revives the most regrettable features of the old display aria.

Oxford English Dictionary