speak

speak is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 11 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.2. 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.
  2. 2.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.
  3. 3.To discourse; to make mention; to tell. Lycan speaks of a part of Cæsar's army that came to him from the Leman Lake. Addison.
  4. 4.To give sound; to sound. Make all our trumpets speak. Shak.
  5. 5.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.
  6. 6.To utter with the mouth; to pronounce; to utter articulately, as human beings. They sat down with him upn ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him. Job. ii.
  7. 7.2. To utter in a word or words; to say; to tell; to declare orally; as, to speak the truth; to speak sense.
  8. 8.To declare; to proclaim; to publish; to make known; to exhibit; to express in any way. It is my father;s muste To speak your deeds. Shak. Speaking a still good morrow with her eyes. Tennyson. And for the heaven's wide circuit, let it speak The maker's high magnificence. Milton. Report speaks you a bonny monk. Sir W. Scott.
  9. 9.To talk or converse in; to utter or pronounce, as in conversation; as, to speak Latin. And French she spake full fair and fetisely. Chaucer.
  10. 10.To address; to accost; to speak to. [He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair. Ecclus. xiii.
  11. 11.each village senior paused to scan And speak the lovely caravan. Emerson. To speak a ship (Naut.), to hail and speak to her captain or commander.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Synonyms (Webster's 1913)

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is speak.

Sources

  • Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
  • Synonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
  • Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/word/speak
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