3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Speak \Speak\, v. i. [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 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Speak \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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
speak
v 1: express in speech; "She talks a lot of nonsense"; "This
depressed patient does not verbalize" [syn: {talk}, {utter},
{mouth}, {verbalize}, {verbalise}]
2: exchange thoughts; talk with; "We often talk business";
"Actions talk louder than words" [syn: {talk}]
3: use language; "the baby talks already"; "the prisoner won't
speak"; "they speak a strange dialect" [syn: {talk}]
4: give a speech to; "The chairman addressed the board of
trustees" [syn: {address}]
5: make a characteristic or natural sound; "The drums spoke"
[also: {spoken}, {spoke}]