exposition
(ɛkspəʊˈzɪʃən)
Forms: 4–5 exposicioun, 4–6 exposicion, -yon, (4 exposission), 5 expositioun, -ycion, -yon, (6 exposytion), 6– exposition.
[a. F. exposition, ad. L. expositiōn-em, n. of action f. expōnĕre (pa. pple. exposit-us): see expone.]
† 1. a. The action of putting, or the condition of being put, out of a place; expulsion. Cf. expose v. 1. Obs. rare.
| 1530 Palsgr. 218/1 Exposytion, exposition. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 819/2 No time of taryenge betwene their [angels'] synne and their exposicion. |
b. esp. The action of putting (a child) out in the open; abandonment to chance;
= exposure 1 b.
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxvi. (1887) 136 To disburden a common weale of vnnecessary number..by exposition..of enfantes. 1654 R. Codrington tr. Justin's Hist. 8 Hearing of the exposition of this royall Infant. 1747 Orig. Hum. Appetites i. ¶5 in Parr Metaph. Tracts 18th C. (1837), The exposition of children without distinction..either of family or sex. 1869 Lecky Europ. Mor. I. i. 47 The murder or exposition of the children of poor parents. 1875 Poste Gaius i. Comm. (ed. 2) 65. |
† 2. Situation with respect to the quarter of the heavens; ‘aspect’.
Obs. = exposure 3.
| 1688 Lett. Pres. State Italy 145 The water within them is in a full exposition to the Sun. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 128 An Easterly Exposition. 1710 London & Wise Compl. Gard. (1719) 268 Those sorts which blow only in good Expositions. 1758 Jortin Erasm. I. 76 Erasmus..ascribes the plague..partly to the..bad exposition of the houses. 1775 Johnson Journ. W. Isl. Wks. X. 413 By choosing an advantageous exposition, they can raise all the more hardy esculent plants. 1834 Beckford Italy II. 107 The exposition..is singularly happy; skreened by sloping hills. |
3. a. The action of putting out to public view; an instance of this; a display, show, exposure.
† Also (
rarely)
= exposure 1 c, d.
| 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. xvi. §2 The Synagogue had been thrown out to an inglorious Exposition and Contempt. 1788 Trifler xviii. 245 The country 'squires dreaded the exposition of their rustic conversation to the ordeal of her criticism. Ibid. xxiv. 318 The exposition of these absurdities..should be forwarded by every man of sense. 1834 Beckford Italy I. 4 There happened to be an exposition of the holy wafer. 1835 Browning Paracelsus 128 Grown Grey in the exposition of such antics. 1836 New Monthly Mag. XLVI. 3 The practice of exposition on the pillory. 1844 Pugin Gloss. 182 The Exposition of any Relic without an authentication has been strictly prohibited. 1884 Catholic Dict. 331 The Host after High Mass (the Mass of Exposition) is placed on a throne above the altar..Relics and images must be removed from the Altar of Exposition. |
b. After
mod.French use;
= exhibition 6.
| 1851 Illustr. London News 29 Mar. 259/1 This Exposition usually takes place annually in the Louvre. 1851 Geo. Eliot Let. 5 Aug. (1954) I. 358 She seems to prefer London... A glance or two at the Exposition she thinks would do her no harm. 1868 Sala Notes & Sk. Paris Exhibition ii. 15 The Universal Exposition of 1867; that, you know..is the official designation. 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap 270 Paint! The last Exposition warrants me Plenty of people must ply brush with toes. 1879 Howells L. Aroostook (1883) II. 126 Typical villages of the different civilisations at the international expositions. 1891 Soc. of Arts, Title of Paper 11 Dec. 9 The World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. |
4. a. The action or process of setting forth, declaring, or describing, either in speech or writing.
| 1460 Earl of Marche in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 5 I. 10 We have charged your servant..for to declare..certayne things..Wherefore we beseche your graciouse lordeschip..to here him in exposicion of the same, and to his relacion to yeve ful feith and credence. 1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhet. II. 78 In the conduct and exposition of his arguments, he [Cicero] may and ought to be imitated. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 66 Clear exposition was the only thing needed to convert him to the new theory. |
b. A statement in which any matter is set forth in detail.
| 1388 Wyclif 2 Macc. ii. 13 These same thingis weren put in discripciouns and exposiciouns [Vulg. commentariis] of Neemye. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxx. 241 For the which dede, after the exposycion of some auctours the sayd erle was punysshed. 1552 Huloet, Exposition, commentarium. 1842 A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 189 If we look to the exposition of the objects of eating already given. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xvi. 311 The author of the theory has at various times published expositions of his views. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. i. 10 Of the great expositions of feudal custom, most are from Northern France. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. & Ferns 504 A question..that does not belong to the present anatomical exposition. |
c. Music. (See
quots.)
| 1869 Ouseley Counterp. xxiii. 178 Every fugue must commence with what is called ‘the exposition’ of the subject and answer. By this is simply meant the first entry of the subject, answer, and countersubject. 1880 ― in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 568/2 After the exposition is completed by the successive and regular entry of every part. 1889 Grove Dict. Mus. IV. 630/2 In forms of the harmonic order the term Exposition is commonly used of the first half of a movement in Binary form, because that part contains the statement of the two principal subjects. 1947 A. Einstein Mus. in Romantic Era vii. 67 The exposition of the first is a perfect example of demoniac explosion, while, in the first movement of the C-major Symphony the exposition is a piece of inexorable consummation. 1959 Westrup & Harrison Collins Mus. Encycl. 230/1 Exposition, the statement of the musical material on which a movement is based... In a movement in sonata form it..consists in the presentation of the principal thematic material partly in the tonic key and partly in a subsidiary key or keys. |
5. a. The action of expounding or explaining; interpretation, explanation. Also an instance or mode of this; an explanation, interpretation.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter Comm. 19 Hit nedeth exposicyon. 1340 ― Pr. Consc. 3856 An exposicion Of þe haly godspelle in a lesson. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶969 The exposicioun of this holy praier..I bitake to these maystres of theology. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxiii. 271 (Harl. MS.) The exposicion of theise vers is this. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 237 You know the Law, your exposition Hath beene most sound. 1672 Sir T. Browne Lett. Friend xix. (1881) 140 Some dreams I confess may admit of easie and feminine exposition. 1699 Bentley Phal. 302 The other Exposition, that makes Μοσχος the name of an Harper. 1729 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 II. 39 The unaccountable expositions that are put upon some of my works. 1741–3 Wesley Jrnl. (1749) 69 Attending the expositions of the persons commonly called Methodists. 1795 Wythe Decis. Virginia 8 This exposition of the testament fulfilleth the intention of him who made it. 1868 E. Edwards Raleigh I. xxvii. 690 It was..suggested..that Bacon's exposition of the law was unsound. 1877 Sparrow Serm. ix. 122 The exposition of the Bible. |
| Comb. 1826 Bentham in Westm. Rev. VI. 500 Exposition-requiring terms. |
b. An expository article or treatise; a commentary.
| 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. Ded. 1 Specialy to gader eld exposiciones upon Scripture into o colleccion. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 553/1 In his exposicion vpon the first pistle of saint John. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 107 The reading of such expositions of Scriptures as are writ by..sincere followers of Christ. 1685 A. Lovell tr. Simon's Relig. & Cust. East. Nations 149 They have..Expositions on those Books. 1773 Mrs. Chapone Improv. Mind (1774) I. 66 The Prophecies..you had better..read..with a good exposition. |
c. Logic. (In various senses: see
quots.)
| 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. ii. 4 b, There be two parts of Logike, Exposition of the nature of argumentes, and Disposition of the same. Ibid. i. ii. 6 Exposition, the first part of Logike, declareth the particular affection and nature of every severall argument. 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 139 Quantity is determined two ways; one by the sense, when some sensible object is set before it..which way of determining is called exposition. 1837–8 Sir W. Hamilton Logic xxiv. (1866) II. 12 It [a declaration] is called an Exposition, when the evolution of a notion is continued through several explications. 1860 Veitch & Mansel Hamilton's Logic I. 263 note, The term Exposition (ἔκθεσις) is employed by Aristotle and most subsequent logicians to denote the selection of an individual instance whose qualities may be perceived by sense, in order to prove a general relation apprehended by the intellect. |
Hence
expoˈsitional a., of the nature of an exposition; explanatory.
expoˈsitionary a., inclined to exposition or setting forth in detail.
| 1845 Mozley Blanco White, Ess. 1884 II. 138 All those creeds..the simply expositional and interpretative form of the original revealed truth..—all this is thrown aside. 1867 J. Garfield in Century Mag. Jan. 1884, 413/2 Spurgeon..accompanied his reading with sensible..expositional comments. 1882 J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool i. xviii, He was of an argumentative and expositionary turn of mind. |