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.
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.
sphūrj 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 Cæsar'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.
Hear it pronounced