elocution
(ɛləˈkjuːʃən)
Forms: 6 elocucion, -sion, -syon, eloquution, 6– elocution.
[ad. L. ēlocūtiōn-em, n. of action f. ēloqui to speak out: cf. eloquence.
Sense 1 is identical with the meaning of elocutio as used by Roman rhetoricians. Sense 4, which has been evolved from the etymology without regard to Latin usage, corresponds to what the Romans expressed by pronuntiatio.]
† 1. a. Oratorical or literary expression of thought; literary ‘style’ as distinguished from ‘matter’; the power or art of appropriate and effective expression. Obs.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xi. i, Elocusion with the powre of Mercury, The matir enorneth right well facundyously. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 4 Elocucion is an appliyng of apte wordes and sentences to the matter founde out to confirme the cause. 1586 Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 19 Why should we think so basely of this? rather then of her sister, I meane Rhetoricall Eloquution. 1634 Habington Castara (Arb.) 11 How unhappie soever I may be in the elocution, I am sure the Theame is worthy enough. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 167 A Person of good Learning and Elocution. 1731 Bailey vol. II, Elocution (with Rhetoricians) consists in apt expressing, and a beautiful order of placing of words. 1844 Lingard Hist. Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. xi. 171 Your..acquaintance with those forms of elocution in which it is expressed. |
† b. concr. A mode of expression.
Obs.| a 1679 Hobbes Rhet. (1840) 492 Elocutions are made decent: 1. By speaking feelingly..2. By speaking as becomes the person of the speaker, etc. |
† 2. Eloquence, oratory;
concr. in
pl. harangues.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 39 a, How shall I arme myne elocution. 1631 Massinger Emp. East ii. i, She'll tire me with Her tedious elocutions. 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 49 She began to be taken with his elocution. 1649 Milton Eikon. 241 To stirr the constancie of any wise man is..above the genius of his cleric elocution. 1715–20 Pope Iliad iii. 283 When he speaks, what elocution flows! 1791 Cowper Iliad ix. 549 Both elocution and address in arms. |
3. Oral utterance; way or manner of speaking. Now only with some notion of 4.
| 1623 Cockeram, Elocution, vtterance. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 747 Whose taste..Gave elocution to the mute. 1754 Richardson Grandison (1781) II. xxix. 274 He had a lively and easy elocution. 1794 Godwin Cal. Williams 18 For this Mr. Tyrrel was indebted to a boisterous and overbearing elocution. 1795 Burke Let. Wks. VII. 371 You have a natural, fluent, and unforced elocution. 1846 Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. i. i. ii. §7 The clear and vigorous elocution of useless and senseless words. |
4. The art of public speaking so far as it regards delivery, pronunciation, tones, and gestures; manner or style of oral delivery. Also
attrib.| 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3), Elocution, good vtterance of speech. 1678 Phillips, Elocution, proper Speech, handsome utterance. 1739 Cibber Apol. (1756) I. 87 True theatrical elocution. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxvii, It..served to give zest and peculiarity to the style of elocution. 1864 Sat. Rev. 13 Dec. 819/1 The worst of the other system, that of boarding-schools and ‘elocution-masters’, is that, etc. |
Hence
eloˈcutional a.,
eloˈcutionally adv.| 1933 Times Lit. Suppl. 30 Mar. 220/3 Sentence-form being in the main elocutional, there may be sentences without locutional sentence-form. |
| 1932 A. H. Gardiner Theory Speech & Lang. v. 322 No sentence can be really elocutionally formless, since utterance itself imposes a certain minimum of form. |