Ex*cep"tion (?), n. [L.
exceptio: cf. F. exception.] 1.
The act of excepting or excluding; exclusion; restriction by
taking out something which would otherwise be included, as in a
class, statement, rule.
2. That which is excepted or taken out from
others; a person, thing, or case, specified as distinct, or not
included; as, almost every general rule has its
exceptions.
Such rare exceptions, shining in the dark,
Prove, rather than impeach, the just remark.
Cowper.
Often with to.
That proud exception to all nature's
laws.
Pope.
3. (Law) An objection, oral or
written, taken, in the course of an action, as to bail or security;
or as to the decision of a judge, in the course of a trail, or in his
charge to a jury; or as to lapse of time, or scandal, impertinence,
or insufficiency in a pleading; also, as in conveyancing, a clause by
which the grantor excepts something before granted.
Burrill.
4. An objection; cavil; dissent;
disapprobation; offense; cause of offense; -- usually followed by
to or against.
I will never answer what exceptions they can
have against our account [relation].
Bentley.
He . . . took exception to the place of their
burial.
Bacon.
She takes exceptions at your
person.
Shak.
Bill of exceptions (Law), a statement
of exceptions to the decision, or instructions of a judge in the
trial of a cause, made for the purpose of putting the points decided
on record so as to bring them before a superior court or the full
bench for review.