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Speech - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Speech : (noun)
1: the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an
audience; "he listened to an address on minor Roman
poets" [syn: address]
2: (language) communication by word of mouth; "his speech was
garbled"; "he uttered harsh language"; "he recorded the
spoken language of the streets" [syn: speech
communication, spoken communication, spoken language,
language, voice communication, oral communication]
3: something spoken; "he could hear them uttering merry
speeches"
4: the exchange of spoken words; "they were perfectly
comfortable together without speech"
5: your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself
orally; "his manner of speaking was quite abrupt"; "her
speech was barren of southernisms"; "I detected a slight
accent in his speech" [syn: manner of speaking, delivery]
6: a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of
discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" [syn: lecture,
talking to]
7: words making up the dialogue of a play; "the actor forgot
his speech" [syn: actor's line, words]
8: the mental faculty or power of vocal communication;
"language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals"
[syn: language]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Speech : \Speech\, n. [OE. speche, AS. sp?c, spr?, fr. specan,
sprecan, to speak; akin to D. spraak speech, OHG. spr[=a]hha,
G. sprache, Sw. spr?k, Dan. sprog. See Speak.]
1. The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the
faculty of expressing thoughts by words or articulate
sounds; the power of speaking.
There is none comparable to the variety of
instructive expressions by speech, wherewith man
alone is endowed for the communication of his
thoughts. --Holder.
2. he act of speaking; that which is spoken; words, as
expressing ideas; language; conversation.
Note: Speech is voice modulated by the throat, tongue, lips,
etc., the modulation being accomplished by changing the
form of the cavity of the mouth and nose through the
action of muscles which move their walls.
O goode God! how gentle and how kind Ye seemed by
your speech and your visage The day that maked
was our marriage. --Chaucer.
The acts of God . . . to human ears Can nort
without process of speech be told. --Milton.
3. A particular language, as distinct from others; a tongue;
a dialect.
People of a strange speech and of an hard language.
--Ezek. iii.
6.
4. Talk; mention; common saying.
The duke . . . did of me demand What was the speech
among the Londoners Concerning the French journey.
--Shak.
5. formal discourse in public; oration; harangue.
The constant design of these orators, in all their
speeches, was to drive some one particular point.
--Swift.
6. ny declaration of thoughts.
I. with leave of speech implored, . . . replied.
--Milton.
Syn: Syn. Harangue; language; address; oration. See
Harangue, and Language.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Speech : \Speech\, v. i. & t.
To make a speech; to harangue. [R.]
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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SPEECH. A formal discourse in public.
2. The liberty ofSpeech : is guaranteed to members of the legislature,
to counsel in court in debate.
3. The reduction of a speech to writing and its publication is a libel,
if the matter contained in it is libelous; and the repetition of it upon
occasions not warranted by law, when the matter is slanderous, will be
slander and. tho character of the speaker will be no protection to him from
an action. 1 M. & S. 273; 1 Esp. C. 226 Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t. See Debate;
Liberty of speech.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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