▪ I. lisp, n.1
(lɪsp)
[f. lisp v.]
The action or an act of lisping.
| a 1625 Fletcher & Massinger Elder Bro. ii. ii, Love those that love good fashions, Good clothes and rich, they invite men to admire'm That speake the lispe of Court, Oh, 'tis great learning! 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode i. i, Bell. What a pretty lisp he has! Dor. Ho, that he affects in imitation of the people of Quality of France. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 27 ¶5 She has naturally a very agreeable Voice and Utterance, which she has chang'd for the prettiest Lisp imaginable. 1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 21 Nov., They all affect a little soft lisp. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxxvi, A young lady of sixty-five,..who spoke with an engaging lisp. 1869 J. Eadie Galatians 303 The childlike lisp in the word Abba and its easy labial pronunciation. |
b. transf. A sound resembling a lisp, e.g. the rippling of water, the rustle of leaves.
| 1855 Browning Popularity viii, As if they still the water's lisp heard Through foam the rock-weeds thresh. 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn, 1st Interlude 55 Wild birds gossiping overhead, And lisp of leaves, and fountain's fall. 1864 Swinburne Atalanta 68 The mother of months..Fills the shadows and windy places With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain. |
▪ II. lisp, v.
(lɪsp)
pa. tense and pa. pple. lisped (lɪspt). Forms: 1 *wlispian, (áwlyspian), 4 wlispe, 4–6 lysp(e, 4–5, ? 7 lipse, (5 lyspyn), 6–7 lispe, 7– lisp. (Also 7–9 jocularly lithp.)
[OE. *wlispian (known only in comb. áwlyspian), f. wlisp, wlips adj., lisping; cf. MLG. wlispen, wilspen, LG., Du. lispen, Sw. läspa, Da. læspe to lisp, OHG. lisp adj., stammering, OHG., MHG. lispen to trip in speaking, lisp, mod.G. lispeln to lisp.]
1. intr. To speak with that defect of utterance which consists in substituting for (s) and (z) sounds approaching (θ) and (ð); either by reason of a defect in the organs of speech or as an affectation. Also, loosely, to speak with child-like utterance, falteringly or imperfectly.
| a 1100 MS. Junius 23, lf. 142 b in Mod. Lang. Notes (1889) May 279/1, And seo tunge awlyspaþ, seo þe ær hæfde ful recene spræce. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 393 In spek wlispyt he sum deill. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 264 Somwhat he lipsed, for his wantownesse To make his englissh sweete vp on his tonge. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 306/2 Lyspyn yn speche, sibilo. 1530 Palsgr. 612/2 He lyspeth a lytell, but it becometh hym well. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 323 He can carue too, and lispe. 1600 ― A.Y.L. iv. i. 34 Looke you lispe, and weare strange suites. 1604 Middleton F. Hubburd's Tales Wks. (Bullen) VIII. 80 She had a humour to lisp often, like a flattering wanton. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 111 As a nurse to a child..lisps in broken language. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 492 ¶4, I can move with a speaking mien, can look significantly, can lisp, can trip, can loll. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 128 As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, I lisp'd in numbers, for the numbers came. 1786 F. Burney Diary 13 Aug., Lady Charlotte is very handsome,..she unfortunately lisps very much. 1827 Keble Chr. Y. 3rd Sund. Lent, As little children lisp, and tell of Heaven. |
2. trans. To utter with a lisp or lispingly (also with out). In extended use, to utter with childlike, imperfect, or faltering articulation; to give imperfect utterance or articulation to (lit. and fig.).
| 1620 Sanderson Serm. I. 157 As nurses talk half syllables, and lipse out broken language to young children. 1651 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xxx. 239 The Statute of Henry the fourth concerning Heresie doth lispe some such Power. 1661 Boyle Style of Script. (1675) 28 Vouchsafing to lisp mysteries to those that would be deterred by any other way of expressing them. 1702 Pope Dryope 81 When first his infant voice shall..lisp his mother's name. 1718 Freethinker No. 17 ¶6 Her Maid trips in, and lisps out to me, that her Lady is gone to Bed. 1750 Gray Elegy 23 No Children run to lisp their Sire's Return. 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 64 Pray send me the Report that you speak of, in which they begin to lisp their intentions. 1819 Metropolis III. 174 Lady tho and tho, lithpth out an Insipid. 1834 Macaulay Pitt Ess. (1887) 319 Newcastle sent for Pitt, hugged him,..and lisped out the highest compliments. 1838 Lytton Alice 62 ‘And me, too’, lisped Sophia—the youngest hope. 1855 Browning Cleon 3 The light wave lisps ‘Greece’. |
Hence lisped ppl. a.
| a 1851 J. Baillie Basil ii. iv. Wks. (1851) 27 The lisp'd flattery of a cunning child. |