exercise

Meanings

Noun

• Any activity designed to develop or hone a skill or ability.
• Activity intended to improve physical, or sometimes mental, strength and fitness.
• A setting in action or practicing; employment in the proper mode of activity; exertion; application; use.
• The performance of an office, ceremony, or duty.
• That which gives practice; a trial; a test.

Verb

• To exert for the sake of training or improvement; to practice in order to develop.
• To perform physical activity for health or training.
• To use (a right, an option, etc.); to put into practice.
• 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 set in action; to cause to act, move, or make exertion; to give employment to.

Origin

• From Middle English exercise, from Old French exercise, from Latin exercitium.