sb. pl. [f. CALLISTHENIC a.; cf. gymnastic-s. Mod.F. has callisthenie, repr. a regularly formed Gr. *καλλισθένεια ‘beautiful strength.’] ‘Gymnastic exercises suitable in the physical education of girls’ (Littré); ‘training calculated to develop the beauty of the human figure, and to promote elegant and graceful movement’ (Craig). (Chiefly a term of young ladies’ boarding-schools.)
1847. in Craig.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. vi. 168. Most large institutions of learning have their gymnasia, where some theory of calisthenics is taught.
1871. Daily News, 5 Jan., 6/6. The exercises, perhaps, should be called ‘callisthenics,’ rather than gymnastics, as they … consist simply in rhythmical movements with wooden rings and light wands, to the sound of piano music.
1872. T. G. Thomas, Dis. Women, 57. A set of romping school-girls could as profitably laugh by rule as really enjoy and improve by exercise under the eye of an instructress or professor of calisthenics.
