Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OS-TENT-A'TION, n. [L. ostentatio.]

1. Outward show or appearance. Shak.
2. Ambitions display; vain show; display of any thing dictated by vanity, or intended to invite praise or flattery. Ostentation of endowments is made by boasting or self-commendation. Ostentation often appears in works of art and sometimes in acts of charity. He knew that good and bountiful minds are sometimes inclined to ostentation. Atterbury. The painter is to make no ostentation of the means by which he strikes the imagination. Reynolds.
3. A show or spectacle. [Not used.] Shak.