Definitions for: Speak


[v] express in speech; "She talks a lot of nonsense"; "This depressed patient does not verbalize"
[v] exchange thoughts; talk with; "We often talk business"; "Actions talk louder than words"
[v] use language; "the baby talks already"; "the prisoner won't speak"; "they speak a strange dialect"
[v] give a speech to; "The chairman addressed the board of trustees"
[v] make a characteristic or natural sound; "The drums spoke"



Webster (1913) Definition: Speak, v. i. [imp. Spoke(SpakeArchaic); 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.


Speak, v. t.
1. 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. 13.

2. To utter in a word or words; to say; to tell; to declare
orally; as, to speak the truth; to speak sense.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. To address; to accost; to speak to.

[He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair.
--Ecclus.
xiii. 6.

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.

Synonyms: address, mouth, talk, utter, verbalise, verbalize

See Also: babble, bark, bay, begin, blab, blabber, blaze away, blubber, blubber out, blunder out, blurt, blurt out, bumble, butterfly, cackle, carry on, chant, chat up, chatter, cheek, clack, communicate, continue, converse, coquet, coquette, dally, deliver, discourse, dissertate, dogmatise, dogmatize, drone, drone on, ejaculate, enthuse, falter, flirt, gabble, generalise, generalize, gibber, go on, gossip, gulp, harangue, hiss, inflect, intercommunicate, intone, jabber, jaw, keynote, level, lip off, mash, maunder, memorialise, memorialize, modulate, monologuise, monologuize, mouth off, mumble, murmur, mussitate, mutter, open up, orate, palaver, philander, phonate, piffle, pontificate, prate, prattle, present, proceed, rabbit on, rant, rap, rasp, rattle on, rave, read, romance, run on, shoot one's mouth off, shout, sibilate, sing, siss, sizz, slang, slur, smatter, snap, snarl, snivel, soliloquise, soliloquize, sound, speak, speak for, speak in tongues, speak up, spiel, spout, stammer, stutter, swallow, talk about, talk down, talk of, talk turkey, tattle, tittle-tattle, troll, twaddle, vocalise, vocalize, whiff, whine, whisper, yack, yack away, yap away

Try our:
Scrabble Word Finder

Scrabble Cheat

Words With Friends Cheat

Hanging With Friends Cheat

Scramble With Friends Cheat

Ruzzle Cheat



Related Resources:
d letter animals
animals starting with o