 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Speak \Speak\, verb (used without an object) [imp. {Spoke}({Spake}Archaic); p. p. {Spoken}({Spoke}, Obs. or Colloq.); p. pr. & vb. n. {Speaking}.] [OE. speken, AS. specan, sprecan; akin to OF.ries. spreka, D. spreken, OS. spreken, G. sprechen, OHG. sprehhan, and perhaps to Skr. sph[=u]rj to crackle, to thunder. Cf. {Spark} of fire, {Speech}.]
1. To utter words or articulate sounds, as human beings; to express thoughts by words; as, the organs may be so obstructed that a man may not be able to speak.
Till at the last spake in this manner. --Chaucer.
Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. --1 Sam. iii. 9.
2. To express opinions; to say; to talk; to converse.
That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set, as the tradesmen speak. --Boyle.
An honest man, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. --Shak.
During the century and a half which followed the Conquest, there is, to speak strictly, no English history. --Macaulay.
3. To utter a speech, discourse, or harangue; to adress a public assembly formally.
Many of the nobility made themselves popular by speaking in Parliament against those things which were most grateful to his majesty. --Clarendon.
4. To discourse; to make mention; to tell.
Lycan speaks of a part of C[ae]sar's army that came to him from the Leman Lake. --Addison.
5. To give sound; to sound.
Make all our trumpets speak. --Shak.
6. To convey sentiments, ideas, or intelligence as if by utterance; as, features that speak of self-will.
Thine eye begins to speak. --Shak.
{To speak of}, to take account of, to make mention of. --Robynson (More's Utopia).
{To speak out}, to speak loudly and distinctly; also, to speak unreservedly.
{To speak well for}, to commend; to be favorable to.
{To speak with}, to converse with. ''Would you speak with me?'' --Shak.
Syn: To say; tell; talk; converse; discourse; articulate; pronounce; utter.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Speaking \Speak"ing\, noun
1. The act of uttering words.
2. Public declamation; oratory.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Speaking \Speak"ing\, adjective
1. Uttering speech; used for conveying speech; as, man is a speaking animal; a speaking tube.
2. Seeming to be capable of speech; hence, lifelike; as, a speaking likeness.
{A speaking acquaintance}, a slight acquaintance with a person, or one which merely permits the exchange of salutations and remarks on indifferent subjects.
{Speaking trumpet}, an instrument somewhat resembling a trumpet, by which the sound of the human voice may be so intensified as to be conveyed to a great distance.
{Speaking tube}, a tube for conveying speech, especially from one room to another at a distance.
{To be on speaking terms}, to be slightly acquainted.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
speaking
adjective
1: capable of or involving speech or speaking; "human beings--the speaking animals"; "a speaking part in the play" [syn: {speaking(a)}] [ant: {nonspeaking}]
2: capable of speech; "the speaking animal" [syn: {speaking(a)}, {speech-endowed}]
noun
1: the utterance of intelligible speech [syn: {speech production}]
2: delivering an address to a public audience; "people came to see the candidates and hear the speechmaking" [syn: {public speaking}, {speechmaking}, {oral presentation}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
109 Moby Thesaurus words for "speaking": ESP, accents, answer, articulate, breathing, chatter, comment, commerce, communication, communion, congress, connection, contact, conversation, converse, correspondence, dealing, dealings, debating, declamation, demagogism, discourse, elocution, eloquence, eloquent, exchange, faithful, forensics, free-speaking, free-spoken, gab, homiletics, information, interaction, interchange, intercommunication, intercommunion, intercourse, interplay, language, lecturing, lifelike, linguistic act, linguistic intercourse, living, locution, loud-speaking, loud-spoken, message, natural, oral communication, oratory, outspoken, palaver, parol, parole, phonation, plain-speaking, plain-spoken, platform oratory, prattle, public speaking, pyrotechnics, rabble-rousing, rapping, realistic, reply, response, rhetoric, sequence of phonemes, social intercourse, soft-speaking, soft-spoken, speech, speech act, speech circuit, speech situation, speechcraft, speechification, speeching, speechmaking, string, stump speaking, talk, talkative, talking, telepathy, the spoken word, to the life, tongue, touch, traffic, truck, true to life, true to nature, true-speaking, two-way communication, utterance, utterance string, verbalization, vocable, voice, well-spoken, word, word of mouth, wordcraft, words, yakkety-yak, yakking
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |