spectacle

noun

1. An exciting or extraordinary scene, exhibition, performance etc.

   “The horse race was a thrilling spectacle.”

   “VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.”

   “22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Gameshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/ In movie terms, it suggests Paul Verhoeven in Robocop/Starship Troopers mode, an R-rated bloodbath where the grim spectacle of children murdering each other on television is bread-and-circuses for the age of reality TV, enforced by a totalitarian regime to keep the masses at bay.”

2. An embarrassing or unedifying scene or situation.

   “He made a spectacle out of himself.”

3. (attributive, form-of)Attributive form of spectacles.

   “Some very interesting relics of Adam and Eve were shown us, that were brought from America; such as a fine-tooth comb, made of thorns, a part of a pair of leather spectacle frames, without glasses, a boot jack made of ebony, and a set of pawpaws of props, with the backs filled with a hard substance, resembling lava.”

4. The brille of a snake.
5. A frame with different coloured lenses on a semaphore signal through which light from a lamp shines at night, often a part of the signal arm.