Exact historical dictionary sense
Exercise in Webster's 1913 dictionary
The 1913 record labels exercise as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.
[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.]
Cross-verified historical senseIn Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "exercise" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[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.]" The selected historical definition says: "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."