- exhibition
- early 15c., from O.Fr. exhibicion, from L. exhibitionem (nom. exhibitio), from exhibere "to show, display," lit. "to hold out," from ex- "out" + habere "to hold" (see habit). Exhibit (v.) is from late 15c. The noun meaning "document or object produced as evidence in court" is from 1620s; transf. use of exhibit A "important piece of evidence" is 1906. Exhibitionist, exhibitionism is 1893, in Craddock's transl. of Krafft-Ebing.