Ex-pōse'1, v. t.
(eks-pōz'), v. t. [imp. & p. p. EXPOSED; p. pr. & vb. n. EXPOSING.] [Fr. exposer, Lat. exponere, expositum, from ex, out of, from, and ponere, to place; Pr. expauzar, from Lat. ex, out of, from, and pausare, to pause, pausa, a pause, stop, Catal. exposar. Cf. APPOSE and DEPOSE.]
Sense 1. To set forth; to lay out; to place in a position to be seen; as, to expose goods for sale; to expose pictures to public inspection.
Sense 2. To lay forth to view, as an opinion, or the like; to make exposition of; to promulgate; to explain; as, he exposed the principles of the science.
Sense 3. To deprive of cover or protection; to lay bare; to put in an uncovered or unsheltered position; to lay open to attack or danger; to render accessible to any thing which may affect, especially detrimentally; as, to expose one's self to the heat of the sun, or to cold, or to insult or danger; to expose an army to destruction.
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel. Shak.
Sense 4. To deprive of concealment; to lay open to public inspection, as a thing that shuns publicity, something criminal, shameful, or the like; as, to expose the faults of a neighbor.
You only expose the follies of men, without arraigning their vices. Dryden.
Sense 5. To divulge the reprehensible practices of; to lay open to general condemnation or contempt by making public the character or arts of; as, to expose a cheat or liar.
To expose a child, to disown and abandon it; to cast it out to chance; to withdraw paternal care from it during infancy, leaving it to perish or be adopted by others.