▪ I. speech, n.1
(spiːtʃ)
Forms: α. 1–2 spræc, sprec, 2 sprace, spræche. β. 1 spæc, spec, 2 spece, 3 spæche (spache, spiche), 3–6 speche (4 spieche), 4–6 spech, 6– speech, 6–7 speach, speache; Sc. 6 speitche, 6–7 speiche.
[OE. sprǽc, spréc (later spǽc, spéc), = OFris. sprêke, sprêtse (NFris. sprêk, spriak) and sprâke (WFris. sprake, spraek, EFris. sprôk), MDu. sprāke, spraec (Du. spraak), OS. sprâka (MLG. sprâke, LG. sprâke, sprâk, etc.; hence Sw. språk, Da. sprog), OHG. sprâhha (MHG. sprâche, G. sprache), f. sprǣc- the pret. pl. stem of sprecan, specan speak v. As in the verb, the forms with spr- did not survive beyond the 12th century.]
I. 1. a. The act of speaking; the natural exercise of the vocal organs; the utterance of words or sentences; oral expression of thought or feeling.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) S 299 Sermo, spręc. c 897 K. ælfred tr. Gregory's Past. C. 274 Hit is awriten..ðætte hwilum sie spræce tiid, hwilum swiᵹᵹean. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. vi. 7 Hiᵹ wenað þæt hi sin ᵹehyrede on hyra meniᵹfealden spæce. c 1230 Hali Meid. 17 Hire forme fulst is sihðe:..Speche is hire oðer help. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7197 Stalwarde mon of speche he was. c 1330 Assump. Virg. (B.M. MS.) 628 Oure mayne þee knewe þat ilke nyȝt Bothe bi speche & by syȝt. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 783 Hold up youre hond withoute more speche. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. (1908) 53 For moche speche with oute frute is a grete vice and displesynge to god and man. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 261 Than schir Spynagrose with speche spak to the king. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xx. 4 In mekle speiche is part of vanitie. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. II. 89 Thus the thoughtes and counsailes of the minde and spirite are discouered and manifested by speach. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 377, I with leave of speech implor'd, And humble deprecation thus repli'd. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. vi. (1695) 258 This is adjusted to the true end of Speech, which is to be the easiest and shortest way of communicating our Notions. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. i. §14 Men..express their thoughts by speech. 1751 Harris Hermes Wks. (1841) 117 Since speech, then, is the joint energy of our best and noblest faculties. 1825 Scott Talism. xxii, A movement..attended with no speech and very little noise. 1864 Reader 14 May 626 The author would define human speech as a method of expressing human thought by audible sounds. 1887 Bowen æneid vi. 387 He accosts them, and first breaks silence in speech. |
| fig. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. ii. 14 There was speech in their dumbness, Language in their very gesture. |
| transf. 1866 B. Taylor Euphorion 273 The speech of winds. 1904 Swinburne Channel Passage, etc. 181 The speech of storm, the thunders of the soul. |
b. transf. The speaking or sounding of a musical instrument, organ-pipe, etc.
| 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 3377, Quickness of ‘speech’, flute-like quality of tone,..are some of the characteristics of the English harmonium. 1880 Grove's Dict. Music II. 578 The manner of testing the ‘speech’ [of an organ] by blowing the pipe with the mouth in various ways. 1881 W. E. Dickson Pract. Organ-building xii. 146 The speech of the pipe will be entirely unaltered. |
† c. fig. Mouth-piece; organ.
Obs.—1| 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India (1596) 34 Certainly he was the meane and speech of all their proceedings. |
d. spec. in
Linguistics.
= parole n. 3.
| [1924: see speech-utterance, sense 12 a below.] 1935 [see parole n. 3]. 1937 J. R. Firth Tongues of Men 16 De Saussure's famous lectures..in which the speech-language distinction is regarded as fundamental. 1953 U. Weinreich Languages in Contact ii. 9 The question of merging vs. unmerged coexistence is a problem par excellence in speech-language relations. 1964 English Studies XLV. (Suppl.) 35 A second aspect of no less importance is the distinction between ‘language’ (langue) and ‘speech’ (parole). 1974 M. Taylor in Metz's Film Lang. p. ix, Speech (parole) is the antithesis, or, rather, correlative, of language system: language system is the social aspect of language, whereas speech is the utterance, the actual practice, of a language system. |
2. a. Talk, speaking, or discourse; colloquy, conversation, conference. Commonly
const. with or
of (a person), and chiefly occurring in phrases,
esp. to have speech.
† in speech with, in negotiation with.
Obs.| (a) c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. iii. xxviii. 248 Osweo..& Ecgberht..hæfdon betweoh him spræce & ᵹeþeahte, hwæt to donne wære [etc.]. c 975 Rushw. Gosp. John xi. 47 Ᵹisomnadun..ða biscopas & æ-larwas to sprece. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives iv. 342 Se dema..æfter langsumre spræce let þa modor to þam suna. c 1200 Ormin 12803 Biforenn þatt Filippe toc To clepenn þe to spæche. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483) iv. xxiv. 70 We shalle take the right weye to the yonder lady of whiche we ben in speche. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 225 Montano and my selfe being in speech, There comes a Fellow. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1133 Adam..Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewd. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. Concl. xxvi, Again the feast, the speech, the glee. |
| (b) c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. i. xxvii. 72 Hafa ðu mid þone ilcan biscop sprece & ᵹeþeahte hwæt to donne sy. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 584 Seo cwen ða hæfde spræce wið Salomon. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS) an. 1085, æfter þisum hæfde se cyng mycel ᵹeþeaht & swiðe deope spæce wið his witan ymbe þis land. c 1275 O.E. Misc. 86 Ich hit am..þat wiþ þe holde speche. 1489 Cely Papers (Camden) 15, I am in speche wyt Hewe Brone..for money. 1596 Harington in Metam. Ajax (1814) p. xiv, To make him come to speech with him. 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. v. 62 He desires Some priuate speech with you. 1653 Holcroft Procopius, Goth. Wars ii. 60 Venetia, where having speech with Vitalius, they repented of their Errour against the Emperour. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xliii, When, in speech with each other, they expanded their blubber lips. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. ii. ii, There is speech of men in uniform with men not in uniform. |
| (c) 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. ii. 3 Praie thee..deserue well at my hands, by helping mee to the speech of Beatrice. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxxiv, Look to it that none have speech of her. 1858 M. Arnold Merope 928 A messenger..Arrived, and of the King had speech but now. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xii. 165 He had come from London to get speech of his sweetheart. |
b. With possessive pronoun, or
the and genitive: The opportunity of speaking or conversing with a person; an audience or interview with one. In phrases
to come, be admitted, bring, to (one's) speech. Now
arch. or
Obs.| c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. i. xxv. 58 Se cyning..het Agustinum mid his ᵹeferum þider to his spræce cuman. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1093, Ne mihte he beon weorðe..ure cynges spæce. 1123 Ibid. an. 1123, ær hi mihte cumen to þes papes spræce. 1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. 16 Sche is come to lond and to þe speche of hir son. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 384 b, Being admitted to his speache aboute the begynnynge of December. 1595 Raleigh Discov. Guiana 2 In all that time we came not to the speach of any Indian or Spaniard. 1640 tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. II. 169, I will bring you to the speech of her whom it represents. 1690 G. Farewell in Andros Tracts II. 187 He could never obtaine a releasement, or by any meanes come to the speech of any of their Magistrates. 1734 Col. Records Pennsylv. III. 548 They were admitted after some time to the Speech of the Prisoners. 1778 Hist. Eliza Warwick II. 49 Sir Charles's valet..soon brought her to the speech of him. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ¶65 He found the means of getting to the speech of me in private. 1821 Scott Nigel xxvii, To the speech of the King you will not come so easily, unless you..meet him alone. |
c. Mention
of a thing. Also with
no. Now
rare.
| c 1305 Land Cokayne 111 in E.E.P. (1862) 159 N'is no spech of no drink, Ak take inoȝ wiþ-vte swink. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 1115 Conuenyent hit is to knowe, of bathis Whil speche is mad [etc.]. 1565 Randolph in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) III. 194 The speech of this marriage to any of them all..is so much contrary to their desires that [etc.]. 1592 Arden of Feversham iv. iv. 66 But see in any case you make no speache Of the cheare we had at my Lord Cheineis. 1659 H. Thorndike Wks. (1846) II. 550 Being meant of the vine which he had speech of a little afore that. 1864 Trollope Can you forgive her? I. xix. 150 No payment of former loans had been made, nor had there been any speech of such. |
† d. to take the speech [after F.
prendre la parole], to take one's turn in conversation.
Obs.—1| 1612 Shelton Quix. i. iv. xiv. 453 Then she taking the speech, demanded..whether I was a Gentleman. |
3. a. Common or general talk; report, rumour, or current mention
of something. Freq. with
much or
great. Now
rare or
Obs. (
Cf. 9 a.)
| c 1200 Ormin 4877 All onn hæþing & o skarn Off me gaþ eȝȝwhær spæche. c 1275 Lay. 4018 Þo was mochel speche ouer al þeos kineriche of Juden þare cwene. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 31 Anon as Demephon it herde, And every man it hadde in speche, His sorwe was noght tho to seche. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne (1886) 51 Grete speche was in all þe contrey among all þe pepil long tyme after of hem. 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 930/1 And of thys trauail..I herde much speach made almost euery weeke. 1562 Child-Marriages 99 He sais he dwellid nere them, & ther was spech of such thinges, but he toke no hede of them. 1601 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. (Q.1), iii. ii. 35 Doctor Clement, what's he? I haue heard much speech of him. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 211 My Lord, I haue heard much of your Hospitalitie, but I see it is greater then the speach. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. ii. i, There comes Committee Report on that Decree.., and speech of repealing it. |
† b. Const. with inf. or clause.
Obs.| 1600 E. Blount Hosp. Incur. Fooles 309 Besides there was speech to sende fowre galliasses and twelue galleies. 1616 Sir C. Mountagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 250 There is now speech the Lord Chief Baron shall go into the King's Bench. 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative ii. 5 In the mean time before there was yet any Speech, or endeavour to settle any other Plantation in those parts. |
† c. in speech, spoken about, mentioned.
Obs.| 1602 Sir H. Savile in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 36 A fit man is sought out to be employed.., and yourself already here in speech for that service. 1617–8 Sir D. Carleton Lett. (1775) 233, I have been moved..concerning the residence of our merchant-adventurers, which hath been often attempted, and is now again in speech, to be removed from Middleburg. 1628 Hobbes tr. Thucydides (1822) 13 The truest quarrel, though least in speech, I conceive to be the growth of the Athenian power. |
II. 4. The form of utterance peculiar to a particular nation, people, or group of persons; a language, tongue, or dialect.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xviii. §2 Forðon hiora spræc is todæled on twa & [on] hundseofontiᵹ, & ælc þara spræca is todæled on maneᵹa þioda. c 1000 ælfric Gen. xi. 1 Ealle men spræcon ane spræce. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1095, Þa het he makian ænne castel..& hine on his spæce Malueisin het, þæt is on Englisc Yfel nehhebur. c 1200 Ormin Ded. 130 And tærfore hafe icc turrnedd itt Inntill Ennglisshe spæche. Ibid. 16057 To spekenn wel Wiþþ alle þede spæchess. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 665 Al was on speche ðor bi-foren, ðor woren sundri speches boren. 13.. Cursor M. 2270 (Gött.), Þat first was bot an and na ma; Nou er þer spechis sexti and tua. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 93 Gildas..turnede þese tweie lawes out of Bretoun speche in to Latyn. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) iii. 8 Þare er also many oþer diuerse cuntreezand spechez..obeyand to þe emperour. 1535 Coverdale 2 Kings xviii. 26 Speake to thy seruantes in the Syrians language,..and speake not vnto vs in the Iewes speche. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowledge iv. (1870) 137 In Scotlande they haue two sondry speches. 1603 G. Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 17 Both the ffleminges and ffrench speach alltogether worne awaie. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 74 When from the original of the People he infers the same of the Speech. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. i. (1840) 17 The several families who understood one another's speech kept together. 1840 Hood Up the Rhine 31 They deal in foreign gestures, And use a foreign speech. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. iii. 37 There are at least two sounds in the Anglo-Saxon which are unknown in our present speech. |
5. The faculty or power of speaking, or of expressing thoughts by articulate sounds.
| ? a 1000 Laws Ethelb. §52 (Liebermann), Ᵹif spræc awyrd weorð .xii. scillingas. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 288 Ᵹif hwam seo spræc oþfylð. c 1053 O.E. Chron. (MS. C) an. 1053, Þa færinga sah he niðer wið þæs fotsetles spræce benumen. a 1175 in Napier Holy Rood-tree 8 [Me] iðuht wæs þæt mi spece me ætfeallæn wæs. c 1200 Ormin 7299 Hemm alle beþ o Domess daȝȝ Binumenn muþ & spæche. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 495 Muð bute speche, ehnen buten sihðe. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1489 No ȝede he bot ten stride, His speche les he þar. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxiii. (Bodl. MS.), Euerich beest þat is with oute lunges is with oute voice and speche. c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 517 Yef I may see hys fase, For euer of hys speche I shall hym depryue. 1587 Golding De Mornay i. 8 When in..man we..consider Speech: must wee not needes say that he was made to communicate himselfe to many? 1676 South Serm. (1715) 342 That Speech was given to the ordinary Sort of Men, whereby to communicate their Mind; but to wise Men, whereby to conceal it. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. ix. 288 The Governor..had recover'd the use of his speech. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ii. 469 Had thought been all, sweet speech had been deny'd. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 439 Soon after dawn the speech of the dying man failed. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. iii. (1878) 88 Speech, even more than reason, distinguishes man from the brute. |
| fig. 1664 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 167 Seeing upon so extraordinary occasions as these, the boldest eloquence would lose its speech. |
6. Manner or mode of speaking;
esp. the method of utterance habitual to a particular person. Usually with possessives.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 73 Soþlice þu eart of hym, & þin spræc [Hatt. sprace] þe ᵹeswutelað. c 1200 Ormin 2207 Siþþenn seȝȝde he sone anan Wiþþ all full openn spæche [etc.]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8535 He was quointe of conseil & speke [v.r. speche] & of bodi strong. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 30 No non [was] so faire of face, of spech so lufly. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 797 O goode God! how gentil and how kynde Ye semede by your speche and your visage. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xviii. 31 And be I ornat in my speiche, Than Towsy sayis [etc.]. 1535 Coverdale Mark xiv. 70 Thou art a Galilean, and thy speach soundeth euen alike. 1598 Yong Diana 347 Putting a corner of his handkercher in his mouth, bicause he would not be knowen by his speech. 1644 Milton Educ. (1738) 137 Their Speech is to be fashioned to a distinct and clear pronounciation. 1781 Cowper Table T. 346 His speech, his form, his action, full of grace. 1839 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia (1863) 67 They are languid in their deportment and speech. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. App. 725 Charmed with the handsome countenance and ready speech of the youth. |
III. 7. The result of speaking; that which is spoken or uttered:
a. With possessives, etc.: One's words, discourse, or talk.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. 192 Ðu bist ðonne..ᵹehæft mid ðinre aᵹenre spræce. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John viii. 43 Sprec min ne onᵹeattas ᵹie. c 1000 Lambeth Ps. xcviii. 172 Freabodaþ vel mærsað tunge min spæce þin. c 1075 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) an. 1070, Þa angan Thomas his spæce hu he com to Cantuuarebyri [etc.]. c 1200 Ormin 18736 All þuss he spacc onnȝæness hemm To lihhnenn þeȝȝre spæche. a 1250 Prov. ælfred (C.) 22 He was wis on his worde, and war on his speche. a 1300 Cursor M. 27932 Speche o disur, Rimes vnright, gest of Jogolur. 1382 Wyclif John viii. 43 Whi knowen ȝe not my speche? for ȝe mown not heere my word. c 1460 Vrbanit. in Babees Book (1868) 15 With þy speche þou may þe spylle. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xxv. 33 Blessed be thy speach, and blessed be thou. 1552 Huloet Dict. A j, A.A.A which is the primitive Speache or naturall voyce of a Baby. 1605 Camden Rem. (1623) 39 You may frame your speech according to the matter you must worke on. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 31 They who to States and Governours of the Commonwealth direct their Speech. 1779 Mirror No. 64, Every one seemed impatient of his neighbour's speech, and eager to have an opportunity of introducing his own. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxiii. A man, whose mixed speech of earthly wealth and unearthly..knowledge, hath in it [etc.]. 1860 Trench Serm. Westm. Abbey ix. 117 We may be quite sure that as our speech is, so we are. |
b. In general use.
part of speech: see
part n. 19.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 225 Ne ᵹehyrde næniᵹ man on his muþe oht elles nefne Cristes lof & nytte spræce. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. (1883) 299 Haliᵹ ᵹeþanc and god spæc and fullfremed worc. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1114, He wolde sprecon mid him dærne sprece. c 1205 Lay. 445 Pandrasum þene king he grette mid greiðlicre speche. c 1275 Passion our Lord 257 in O.E. Misc., Vre louerd hym onswerede myd swyþe veyre speche. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 23 Fauuel with feir speche haþ brouȝt hem to-gedere. a 1400–50 Alexander 739 Reviles he þis oþire renke with vnrid speche. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 92 b, [He] defendeth with hygh and clamorous wordes or speche his opinyon. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. i. ii. (1588) 11 The Statutes..do all (in playne speach) couple the maintenance of the Peace with the pursuing of suites. 1647 Trapp Comm. 1 Tim. v. 13 The Rabbins have a Proverb, that ten Kabs of speech descended into the world, and the women took away nine of them. 1697 tr. Burgersdicius' Logic i. xxiv. 98 Speech is either perfect or imperfect. Perfect is that that absolves the sentence; an imperfect is not. 1821 Shelley Ginevra 62 If..wildered looks, or words, or evil speech,..can impeach Our love. 1872 Huxley Physiol. vii. 184 Speech is voice modulated by the throat, tongue, and lips. 1874 Sayce Compar. Philol. i. 14 Speech is uttered thought. |
† c. = Logos.
Obs. rare.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay v. (1592) 50 The same thing which in the Trinitie we call the Sonne, the Word, the Speech. |
8. a. A certain number of words uttered by a person at one time;
esp. a more or less formal utterance or statement with respect to something.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xl. §1 Hwæðer ðu nu onᵹite hwider þios spræce wille? 971 Blickl. Hom. 195 Þa mycclan spræca..weorþaþ him þonne ealle on heaf ᵹehwyrfede. c 1000 ælfric Gen. xvii. 22 God þa astah upp..siððan he þas spræce ᵹeendod hæfde. a 1200 Vices & Virtues 11 Godes forbode, ðe me forbett alle euele spaches. a 1275 Prov. ælfred 353 Gin þu neuere leuen alle monnis spechen. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1261 Þe knyȝt with speches skere, Answared to vche a cace. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 34 Alle þing at his wille was wrouȝt wiþ a speche. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 239 Onone quhen this amyable had endit hir speche..the laif allowit hir mekle. 1548 Geste Pr. Masse G j, Yf thone be through the sayd speche autorysed to sacryfyce christis body, the other is in lyke maner. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶3 He would not suffer it to be broken off for whatsoeuer speaches or practises. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. xii. 181 Many have been the wise speeches of fools, though not so many as the foolish speeches of wise men. 1710 Tatler No. 266 ¶3, I began to make him compliments of condolence; but he started from his chair, and said, Isaac, you may spare your speeches. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxi, His quivering lip and lurking eye made her almost repent the boldness of her speech. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxix, From the speeches of these men who were my warders just now, I learn that I am a prisoner. 1841 Dickens Barn. Rudge ii, The traveller returned no answer to this speech. |
† b. An account or mention
of something.
Obs.| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 223 By þat wall is þe bath Byaneus made, of þe whiche baþ was raþer a speche [L. de quo supra dicitur]. |
† c. A talk or discourse between persons or
with another.
Obs.| 1469 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 23 It were well done that ye had a speech with Mr. Midleton of the forme of the pleading. 1483 Cath. Angl. 352/2 A Speche, colloquium. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 12, I hard..Ane hie speiche, at my hand, with hautand wourdis. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 507 Hitherto I have related the speech which the angel had with me. |
d. An address or discourse of a more or less formal character delivered to an audience or assembly; an oration; also, the manuscript or printed copy or report of this. Also
† His Majesty's Speech,
Speech from the Throne,
King's (or Queen's) Speech: a speech delivered by the sovereign (in person or by commission) at the opening or prorogation of Parliament; now
spec. the speech delivered by the sovereign at the opening of Parliament, written by his or her ministers and setting forth the policies and legislative programme of the Government. Also, a speech delivered by the representative of the sovereign at the opening of the legislative assembly of a member of the Commonwealth.
| 1583–4 Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 631 Maister Andro Melvile..answerit that, althocht the speitche [sc. a sermon] wer alledgit to be treasoun, yit the tryell in the first instance aucht not to be befoir the King, bot befoir the Kirk. 1603 in Jrnls. House of Commons 1547–1628 I. 146/2 His Majesty's Speech ended, Mr. Speaker..presented himself to his Majesty. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xiii. §7 Demosthenes..had ready framed a number of prefaces for orations and speeches. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 71 After him Sir Francis Bacon concluded the accusation with a very eloquent speech. 1641 Diurnall Occurrences of Parliament 20th Jan.–10th Mar. 1628 1 M. Selden reported to the House that his Majesties Speech made the last day of the Parliament, in the upper House, is also entred by his Majesties command. Ibid. 5 (heading) The Kings Speech. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 731 Some Patriot Fools to popular Praise aspire, Of Publick Speeches, which worse Fools admire. 1751 Parliamentary Hist. V. 279 Nor, like the former Speech from the Throne, is it mention'd by any Historian. 1758 Ann. Reg. 151/2 Four days after the speech was delivered, her royal highness carried it to the assembly of the States General. 1771 Junius' Lett. xlii. (1788) 237 The consideration of his Majesty's speech of 13th November 1770, and the subsequent measures of government. 1792 J. Woodforde Diary 15 Dec. (1927) III. 395 The Kings Speech in the House of Lords, a very long one. 1827 Hare Guesses (1859) 427 The difference between a speech and an essay should be something like that between a field of battle and a parade. 1844 Erskine May Law of Parl. vii. 142 The session is opened at once by the Queen's speech. Ibid. xxi. 326 On the opening of Parliament, the Queen, in her speech from the throne, addresses the commons. 1855 Dickens Lett. (1880) I. 400 They are going to print my speech in a tract-form. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 13 Jan. 1/1 The Council for the settlement of the Speech from the Throne at the opening of Parliament. 1906 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 11 Jan. 4/1 The opening [of the Legislative Assembly] will be attended with the usual ceremonies, and in the King's Speech will be indicated some of the salient points of the government policy. 1923 J. C. W. Reith in Radio Times 23 Nov. 290/3 At the opening of Parliament..our proposal to broadcast the King's Speech was..declined. 1964 Abraham & Hawtrey Parliamentary Dict. 165 A Queen's speech is read by the Lord Chancellor on proroguing Parliament, but this is never debated... This speech reviews the session which it concludes. 1971 Guardian 17 Aug. 2/1 The traditional Speech from the Throne read in Maltese by the new Governor-General. a 1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 508 As a backbencher I never dreamed of attending the Queen's Speech debates, regarding them as the most boring occasions. |
e. A school exercise or composition declaimed or recited upon speech-day.
| 1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day xviii. (ed. 3) 173 The proceedings on this anniversary begin with the ‘speeches’, delivered in ‘Upper School’, in Greek, Latin [etc.]. |
† 9. a. A report or rumour.
Obs. (
Cf. 3.)
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke vii. 17 Ða ferde þeos spæc [v.r. spræc] be him on ealle iudea. a 1400–50 Alexander 1884 For þan sall spring vp þe speche & sprede out of mynd, How I haue conquired a kyng þe kidest of þe werd. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 760 That there was a speech of a marriage to be made betwixt Mustapha and the Persian kings daughter. 1654 Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 145 There is a speech here of many tropes discharged by Cromwells consent. 1660 Essex Co. (Mass.) Crt. Rec. in Geneal. Q. Mag. III. 29 There was a speech that one Mr. Browne..had lost a mare. |
† b. A current saying or assertion.
Obs.| 1575 Gascoigne Flowers Wks. 1907 I. 64 The common speech is, spend and God will send. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 20 b, The common people haue a speache, that ground enriched with Chalke, makes a riche father, and a beggerly sonne. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. xvii. (1647) 257 It was the common speech that the Holy land had long since been wonne, but for the false Collusion of the Templars..with the Infidels. 1642 tr. Perkins' Prof. Bk. v. §411. 177 It is a common speech, That the dower of a woman ought to be assigned unto her by metes and bounds. |
† c. A phrase, term, or idiom.
Obs.| 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 676 For Borh in old Saxon signifyeth a pledge or suretye, and yet it is soe used with us in some speaches, as Chaucer sayeth; St. John to borrowe. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 399 In ancient time, a Mouse-killer was taken for an opprobrious speech. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 411 Vorsitus thinks it a speech taken from the custom of soldiers or cities. |
† 10. a. A claim, cause, or suit,
esp. of a legal nature; a law-plea.
Obs. (common in
OE.).
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxviii. 196 Ðeah hie ryhte spræce hæbben hiera yfel on him to tælonne. 961 in Thorpe Charters 203 Þæt þis æfre ᵹesett spræc wære. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Thorpe) ix. 4 Forðam þu demst minne dom and mine spræce. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 179 And ȝief he him [sc. his underling] set a speche and mid woȝedome binimeð him his biliue. a 1250 Owl & Night. 398 Þe nyhtegale..hire ofþuhte þat heo hadde Þe speche so feor uorþ iladde. Ibid. 545 Yet nis þeos speche ibroht to dome. c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 489 Frome the morowe gan this spech last Tyll don-warde went the sonne wonder fast. [Cf. 495 Whan shall your cursyd pledynge haue an ende.] c 1450 Godstow Reg. 157 The sentence of this covenaunte..was, that the said Abbesse shold withdraw her speche the which she hadde ayenst the said Symond afore the kyngis Iustice. |
† b. A manorial court in the Forest of Dean (
cf. quot. and
speech-house).
Obs.| 1687 Customs Miners Dean Forest 15 §26 The Constable..shall deliver the Miners in six weeks at the Speech, that is the Court for the Wood before the Verderors,..sufficient of Timber [etc.]. |
11. slang. (See
quot.)
| 1874 Slang Dict. 303 Speech, a tip or wrinkle on any subject. On the turf a man will wait before investing on a horse until he ‘gets the speech’, as to whether it is going to try, or whether it has a good chance. To ‘give the speech’, is to communicate any special information of a private nature. |
IV. 12. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., as
speech-acoustics,
speech act,
speech-apparatus,
speech-behaviour,
speech-break,
speech-breathing,
speech-correctionist,
speech-deafness,
speech defect,
speech-element,
speech-energy,
speech-event,
speech-feeling,
speech-form,
speech-group,
speech-habit,
speech-material,
speech-melody,
speech-movement,
speech-organ,
speech-pattern,
speech-response,
speech-rhythm,
speech science,
speech-situation,
speech-sound,
speech-stuff,
speech-style,
speech-system,
speech-unit,
speech-utterance,
speech-way, etc. (Freq. in recent use.)
| 1949 Archivum Linguisticum I. i. 42 Philologists are beginning to turn away from phonetics to *speech-acoustics. 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 222 A treatment of speech acoustics up to spectrography. |
| 1946 C. Morris Signs, Lang. & Behavior ii. 37 There is no language..without the production of sign-vehicles, and it is such production which constitutes a *speech-act. 1955 J. L. Austin How to do Things with Words (1962) iv. 40 Here there is an obvious parallel with one element in lying, in performing a speech-act of an assertive kind. 1974 D. Hymes Foundations of Socio-Linguistics ii. 52 A party (speech situation), a conversation during the party (speech event), a joke within the conversation (speech act). 1982 Papers Dict. Soc. N. Amer. 1977 86 Speech acts are not predictable from code characteristics either. |
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 430/2 The machinery of respiration, of vocalization, and of enunciation, together constitute the *speech-apparatus. |
| 1931 T. H. Pear Voice & Personality ii. 22 There is the person whose *speech-behaviour adumbrates what would develop if at this point the speaker received encouragement. 1980 English World-Wide I. 283 Seven of the essays are by German-writing authors on linguistic problems of German, ranging from urban speech (Vienna) to the speech behaviour of accused in court. |
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. To Rdr., The great *Speech-break at Babel. |
| 1955 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XLVI. 54 Measures of *speech-breathing activity promised to be more immediately relevant to the changing states of tension and affect during interview. 1977 D. Fry Homo Loquens iii. 23 An interesting feature of speech breathing is that the moments at which we breathe in are far from being arranged haphazard. |
| 1972 J. L. Dillard Black English vii. 267 *Speech correctionists and educators... One Negro speech correctionist-psychologist..went so far as to indulge in a little too-elementary learning theory: language, being a learned activity, can be learned badly. |
| 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 429 To this condition Lichtheim gave the name of ‘isolated *speech-deafness’. |
| Ibid. 394 Aphasia and other *Speech Defects. |
| 1865 tr. Strauss' New Life Jesus I. Introd. 179 In the latest of our Gospels..the overweight is again on the side of the *speech-element. |
| 1943 *Speech energy [see audio frequency s.v. audio-]. |
| 1933 L. Bloomfield Language ii. 24 We have yet to examine B, the *speech-event in our story. 1948 J. R. Firth in Lingua I. 400 A speech event in a context of situation is therefore a technical abstraction from utterances and occurrences. A speech event may be sub-divided into speech items. 1976 Word 1971 XXVII. 197 In my analysis, the communicative process is divided into the threefold gradation proposed by Hymes of speech situation, speech event, and speech act. |
| 1916 L. Bloomfield in Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. XLVII. 13 Our *speech-feeling seems to distinguish quite clearly between predicating and non-predicating utterances. 1979 Amer. Speech 1976 LI. 135 The double negative is both a part of our speech-feeling and a sensible way to strengthen a negative statement. |
| 1863 W. Barnes Dorset Gloss. 9 The main marks of south-western English, as it differs from the *speech-forms of the north. |
| 1873 Earle Philol. Eng. Tongue (ed. 2) §320 Grimm bewails this seduction of the *speech-genius from the true path. |
| 1925 L. P. Smith Words & Idioms 245 Linguistically considered, England, the Dominions, and the United States may almost be regarded as one *speech-group. 1964 C. Barber Present-Day Eng. v. 124 There are phase-differences between different speech-groups, and it would be unsafe to assume that the words currently fashionable in a Birmingham rock-and-roll club were simultaneously fashionable in a West End night-club, or that the picturesque phrases used by schoolboys were still fashionable in R.A.F. messes. |
| 1928 O. Jespersen Internat. Lang. i. 26 Everybody will necessarily transfer some of his *speech-habits to the international language. 1979 M. Millar Murder of Miranda ii. 72 It's a speech habit I picked up from all the teenagers. |
| 1886 Tupper Life as Author 133 As a youth..I was, from the *speech-impediment since overcome, isolated from the gaieties of society. |
| 1912 A. D. Sheffield Grammar & Thinking vii. 188 Sentence-study..can profitably keep in view the diverse *speech-material that the pupil meets in his work with foreign languages. 1962 A. J. Bliss in Davis & Wrenn Eng. & Med. Studies presented to J. R. R. Tolkien 29 Either a fragment of speech-material has one of the rhythms which are acceptable, in which case ictus and stress inevitably coincide; or else it cannot be used in verse at all. |
| 1934 Essays & Studies XIX. 141 This *speech-melody of ordinary intercourse. 1970 English Studies LI. 278 This latter feature, also known as intonation or speech melody, is of course almost a subject in itself. |
| 1918 R. Bridges in Poems of G. M. Hopkins 96 It was at one time the author's practice to use a very elaborate system of marks, all indicating the *speech-movement. 1957 C. E. Osgood et al. Measurement of Meaning i. 12 Little or no correspondence between thought-movements and speech-movements was found. |
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 429/1 The voice..may possess the peculiar conditions of those distinctions which constitute *speech-notes. |
| 1925 Grattan & Gurrey Our Living Lang. p. xxi, Sounds are produced and modified by the position of *speech-organs. 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 217 Theory of the syllable must be based on the articulatory movements of speech organs. |
| 1936 G. K. Zipf Psycho-Biology of Lang. v. 195 One infers the nature of *speech-patterns from the exemplifications of the patterns, i.e. the configurations of speech-elements. 1969 M. Pugh Last Place Left xxix. 207 His speech patterns were as elaborate as ever, but his voice was no longer so well modulated. 1974 Howard Jrnl. XIV. 80 The restricted and elaborate codes which characterize the speech patterns of the lower and middle classes respectively. |
| 1927 G. A. de Laguna Speech Development ii. 36 The correlation between the *speech-response and its objective conditions is a correlation between independently variable elements of resonse and independently variable elements of the external situation. |
| 1910 G. Saintsbury Hist. Man. Eng. Prosody iv. iii. 316 The presence of closely allied forms [of the alliterative line], in the different Scandinavian and Teutonic languages, assumes..a natural rise from some *speech-rhythm or tune-rhythm proper to the race and tongue. 1976 J. Lee Ninth Man 275 His poor father with the snicker-provoking Germanic speech rhythms. |
| 1933 Amer. Speech VIII. 37/1 Graduate curricula in *speech science, phonetics, speech psychology, and rhetoric. 1977 Whitaker's Almanack 1978 530 First degrees..are awarded..in Speech Science by the University of Sheffield. |
| 1953 English Studies XXXIV. 258 ‘Man’ and ‘garden’ in this context denote..definite, individualized concepts... Taken out of the context (or of the *speech-situation) they are semantically colourless. 1980 English World-Wide I. i. 99 This is still used..if at least one of the participants in a speech situation has not been educated in English or..Bahasa Malaysia. |
| 1840 Geo. Eliot Let. 21 Dec. (1954) I. 77 Pray bring Phonarthron—*speech-sound is a boon that I often need—I shall expect from it..a key to the classic Oriental and Sclavonic tongues. 1869 Ellis E.E. Pronunc. i. Introd. 1 In order to write intelligibly on speech sounds, some systematic means of representing them must be adopted. |
| 1934 Joyce Let. 9 Aug. (1966) III. 316 Also why for you make me big *speechstuff about Frankee Doodles? |
| 1936 J. Kantor Objective Psychol. Gram. xi. 156 As a test of the validity of the *speech-style conception we may inquire into its applicability to speech studies. 1978 Amer. Speech LIII. 66 Samarin notes that speech styles of glossolalia are socioculturally determined, as are speech styles of English prayers. |
| 1946 H. Jacob On Choice of Common Lang. ii. ii. 96 Inflected systems are highly resistant to simplification... However, most of the European *speech-systems have progressed considerably in the right direction. 1964 English Studies XLV. (Suppl.) 37 Whereas Aristotle started from..‘speech’ (parole), these philosophers had the speech-system (langue) in mind. |
| 1820 W. Tooke Lucian I. 230, I can make *speech-traps, in which I catch those who talk with me. |
| 1936 G. K. Zipf Psycho-Biology of Lang. 233 A sentence is a speech-element, or a *speech-unit. 1949 C. E. Bazell in Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague V. 77 This succession of speech-units need not answer to anything in the system. |
| 1924 L. Bloomfield in Mod. Lang. Jrnl. Feb. 319 Actual *speech-utterance, la parole, varies not only as to matters not fixed by the system..but also as to the system itself. 1956 J. Whatmough Language 42 There is an inverse relationship between frequency of occurrence and the comparative perspicuity that accompanies the utilization of a speech-utterance. |
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 431/2 Respiration and *speech-voice training will follow. |
| 1931 H. Shenton Internat. Communication i. 46 This approach to the problem might well be called a study of the *speech⁓ways of mankind. 1955 English Studies XXXVI. 17 Current Elizabethan usage, harking back to much older, popular speechways. 1972 H. Kurath Studies in Area Linguistics i. 12 Any native speaker's usage is in a large measure representative of the speechways of a social or age group in his community. |
| 1887 Morris Odyssey ix. 258 Yet even so with *speech-words I answered again and spake. |
b. With agent-nouns, verbal
ns., or present
pples., as
speech analyser,
speech-bringer,
speech-trainer,
speech-writer;
speech-bereaving,
speech-getting,
speech-making,
speech-shunning,
speech-training, etc.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. Wks. (Grosart) IV. 224 The speech-shunning sores, and sight-acking botches of theyr vnsatiate intemperance. 1608 Day Hum. out of Breath iii. ii, If speech-bereaving love will let thee speak. 1717 Rowe Poems Wks. 1728 I. 79 That Tyburn-Tribe of speech-making Non-jurors. 1798 Coleridge Tears in Solit. 57 A vain, speech-mouthing, speech-reporting Guild. 1834 J. S. Mill in Monthly Repos. VIII. 419 One of our politicians..reproached him..with being a λογογράϕος, or speech-writer. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. i. ii, Their miraculous healer and speech-bringer is rapt away. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. ii. 13 The whole process of speech-getting. 1933 Amer. Speech VIII. 11/1 To complete any gaps there may be in the speech training of the members. 1955 T. H. Pear Eng. Social Differences 99 Many people..flare up at any suggestion (except from a speech-trainer consulted voluntarily) of possible improvements in their speech. 1973 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics XVIII. 90 Using the speech analyzer..we then recorded an intonation curve (in Hz) for each sentence on photo-sensitive paper. 1976 H. Wilson Governance of Britain iv. 88 The transatlantic custom of using speech-writers, recently imported into Britain for the use of certain eminent politicians and others, is only to be deplored. 1977 P. Strevens New Orientations Teaching of Eng. vii. 86 Young learners will learn best through mimicry with speech training games for interest and for special points of difficulty, but with little or no use of phonetics. |
c. With past
pples., as
speech-bound,
speech-famed,
speech-flooded.
| 1761 Churchill Rosciad 30 Was speech-fam'd Q―n himself to hear him speak. 1870 Rossetti Poems, House Life xxii, The speech-bound sea-shell's low importunate strain. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. iii. lxxiv. II. 611 England has since 1876 become the most speech-flooded country in the world. |
13. Special combs.:
speech area, (
a) a region of the brain involved in the comprehension or production of speech, a speech-centre; (
b) a geographical area with a distinct speech type;
speech-centre (see
quots.);
speech chain Linguistics, an utterance regarded as a sequence of elements;
speech clinic, a centre for the treatment of speech defects;
speech code Cryptology, a simple verbal code formed by the regular substitution of secret words;
speech coil, a coil that drives the cone of a loud-speaker according to the signal current flowing in it;
speech-community Linguistics, a group of persons sharing a language or variety of a language;
speech-craft, the knowledge or science of speech;
speech-crier, one who hawked the ‘last dying speeches’ of criminals;
speech-day, the day at the end of the school year upon which exercises are declaimed and the annual prizes distributed in certain public schools;
speech island Linguistics, a small area inhabited by speakers of a language or dialect other than that spoken in the surrounding areas;
speech pathology, the study and treatment of defective speech; hence
speech pathologist;
speech physiology, the study of the physical production of speech sounds;
speech-prefix, in the text of a play: the name or description of the speaker(s) of a line or lines, set at the head of each speech;
speech psychology, the study or application of psychological methods and techniques useful in learning to speak a language; also
speech psychologist;
speech-reading, the action on the part of deaf and dumb persons of comprehending speech by watching the movements of a speaker's mouth; so
speech-reader;
speech recognition, the process of identifying and interpreting or responding to the sounds produced in human speech;
speech recognizer, a machine capable of responding to the content of speech;
speech-room, the room or hall at Harrow School in which speeches are delivered;
speech-song = Sprechgesang;
speech stretcher Phonetics (see
quot. 1972);
speech synthesizer, a machine designed to generate sounds imitative of the human voice and recognizable as meaningful speech;
speech therapy, the training of patients in the production of a full range of speech sounds; hence
speech therapist, one who practises this;
speech-to-noise ratio, the signal-to-noise ratio of speech.
| 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 638/2 (in figure) *Speech area. 1913 Q. Rev. Jan. 124 Over a large portion of the highest level of the brain the special work of each group of cells or ‘area’ is now known. If our speech-areas are diseased we cannot speak. 1933 [see dialect 2 b]. 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 95 Speech areas can be delineated and sub⁓divided on the basis of heteroglosses. 1968 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. I. xxiv. 52/1 (caption) The three speech areas [sc. Broca's area, superior area, Wernicke's area] shown on the left cerebral cortex. |
| 1879 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v. Centre, *Speech centre,..a cortical centre situated in the region of the posterior extremity of the third left frontal convolution. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 759 In their opinion this bundle..connects the cortical centre for sight with the auditory speech-centre. |
| 1950 D. Jones Phoneme 1 Nearly every utterance, or ‘*speech chain’, is made up of a large number of small elements. 1953 C. E. Bazell Linguistic Form i. 5 But the smaller the number of choices, at any one point of the speech-chain, the smaller the probability of open juncture. 1963 Denes & Pinson (title) The speech chain: the physics and biology of spoken language. |
| 1963 R. I. McDavid Mencken's Amer. Lang. 320 The spread of technical medical terminology to education, as clinic (yielding reading clinic and *speech clinic). 1976 New Yorker 15 Nov. 146/2 A young man..who took a Ph.D. in speech pathology at Iowa in 1936 and then left to set up a speech clinic and research centre. |
| 1973 ‘A. Hall’ Tango Briefing xviii. 221 Fred was the standard *speech-code name for any third member of an active cell. |
| 1928 Wireless World 6 June 603/2 (caption) Various gauges of wire for *speech coil. 1934 Discovery Oct. 301/2 The 2-in. speech coil attached to the 11-in. cone works in a flux density of 11,500. 1975 G. J. King Audio Handbk. vi. 132 The speech coil is composed of inductance, distributed capacitance and resistance. |
| 1894 G. E. Karsten in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. IX. 327 It is pre-eminently the *speech-community which moulds the individual's language. 1911 L. Bloomfield in Jrnl. Eng. & Gmc. Philol. X. 629 A language is formed (i.e., a new speech-community is segregated) by definite changes in the outer surroundings of a group of people. 1950 R. A. Hall Leave your Language Alone! x. 153 Theoretically, it might be possible to keep an otherwise-normal speech-community hermetically sealed off from all outside sources of borrowing. 1978 K. Hudson Jargon of Professions 10 Speech communities are no longer as self⁓contained as they were. |
| 1573 R. Lever Arte Reason 6 The arte of measuring, witcrafte, *speachcraft, starre-crafte, &c. 1878 W. Barnes (title), An Outline of English Speech-Craft. |
| 1856 J. Ballantine Poems 68 Ilk wee *speech-crier, Ilk lazy ballant singin' idler. 1870 H. Lonsdale Life R. Knox vi. 109 Speech-criers of the last horrid doings of Burke and the doctors. |
| 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxiv, He used to go down on *speech-days..and scatter new shillings among the boys. 1898 G. W. E. Russell Coll. & Recoll. xxxv. 482 The budding scholar..declaimed his verses on Speech-day. |
| 1888 M. D. Learned in Amer. Jrnl. Philol. IX. 65 We are to seek the causes which have contribued to the formation of this important *speech-island in the domain of German dialects. 1933 [see Lusatian n. and a.]. 1957 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxvii. 5 In one instance, that of stone boat, there is an additional speech island along the Mississippi, opposite St. Louis. 1978 Amer. Speech LIII. 44 A large speech island appears in the German-settlement area of Missouri and Illinois. |
| 1972 J. L. Dillard Black English vii. 267 A linguistically sophisticated *speech pathologist like Joan Baratz. 1982 Amer. Speech LVII. 213 Speech pathologists, audiologists,..and many others have had some introduction to formal linguistic analysis. |
| 1931 L. E. Travis Speech Path. p. vii, *Speech pathology is in its growing pains. 1976 New Yorker 15 Nov. 148/2 One of his advisers suggested that he sign up instead for the graduate program in speech pathology at the University of Iowa. |
| 1936 G. K. Zipf Psycho-Biology of Lang. iii. 96 The experimental phoneticist..attempts to determine by his laboratory study of *speech-physiology what changes [in a language] are possible. 1961 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 222 A treatment..of speech physiology by means of X-ray stills and films. |
| 1959 N. & Q. June 213/1 It is therefore recommended that for the last speech of ‘Elder Worthy’ on I, 60..the *speech-prefix ‘Young Worthy’ be substituted. 1978 Studies in Eng. Lit.: Eng. Number (Tokyo) 12 There are eleven Latin speech-prefixes. The first five are ‘Omn.’ for all the characters on the stage. |
| 1937 Palmer & Hornby Thousand-Word Eng. i. 21 It is in the nature of a designed plateau (as *speech-psychologists call it), that is..a given stage..at which the learner may pause. |
| 1921 H. E. Palmer Princ. Lang.-Study 19 A logical order of progression in accordance with principles of *speech-psychology. 1933 Amer. Speech VIII. iv. 37/1 There are graduate curricula in speech science, phonetics, speech psychology, and rhetoric. |
| 1911 J. K. Love Deaf Child 161 The best speakers amongst the deaf and dumb are not always the best *speech-readers. |
| 1891 R. Elliott Elem. Lang. Deaf Pref. p. v, *Speech and lip-reading should form the medium of communication and explanation. |
| 1953 Fry & Denes in W. Jackson Communication Theory xxx. 426 (heading) Mechanical *speech recognition. Ibid. 427 The reasons for the failure of these..systems becomes clear when the mechanism of human speech recognition is considered. 1970 New Scientist 30 Apr. 216/2 Research on speech-recognition devices is still in its extreme infancy. 1980 TWA Ambassador Oct. 25/1 A second went to Bell Telephone Laboratories for a computerized speech-recognition system that can respond to human sentences. |
| 1953 W. Jackson Communication Theory 431 Any mechanical *speech recognizer requires for its operation a considerable amount of linguistic information. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xi. 162 A ‘normal’ speech recognizer would recognise words regardless of the speaker. |
| 1880 Trevelyan Hist. C. J. Fox ii. 50 Fox..was always to the front both in the *speech-room and the debating society. 1884 Jrnl. Educ. 1 Sept. 347/2 My memory takes me back some five-and-twenty years to the old speech-room at Harrow. |
| 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Speech-song. [1925 Song-speech: see Sprechgesang.] 1946 E. Blom Everyman's Dict. Mus. 580/1 Speech-song,..a term for a kind of singing that approximates to speech and touches the notes, indicated by special signs, without intoning them clearly at the proper pitch. 1959 Listener 17 Dec. 1093/2 The Roman practice of narrating during Holy Week the Evangelists' accounts of the Passion in a stylized speech⁓song (tonus lectionis). 1976 P. Stadlen in D. Villiers Next Year in Jerusalem 324 The Bible's casual hint at Moses' ‘heavy tongue’..[is] realized, by having Moses engage in speech song while..Aaron is made to sing. |
| 1948 M. Joos Acoustic Phonetics (Lang. Monogr. No. 23) 129 The usefulness of the *speech stretcher for phonetic demonstration is immense. 1972 Hartmann & Stork Dict. Lang. & Linguistics 216/2 Speech stretcher, a device used in phonetic research to slow down recorded speech without changing the pitch or distorting it in any other way. |
| 1953 Jrnl. Acoustical Soc. Amer. XXV. 735/1 A *speech synthesizer would be required to simulate..closely the actual dimensions of the vocal tract. 1970 Times Lit. Suppl. 23 July 787/4 If the zealous phoneticist is dissatisfied with the acoustics of a real human voice he can nowadays, it seems, ring down for a speech synthesizer, couple it up to his computer, and manufacture ideal vowel sounds. |
| 1933 S. M. Stinchfield Speech Disorders i. 10 A clinician, psychologist or *speech therapist might suspect that one of the following conditions would be found in such a case. The child may be deaf, or some childhood illness may have slowed up his rate of development. 1975 M. Kenyon Mr Big ii. 21 A speech therapist..who'd insisted that correct speech being a matter of breath control for six months he would simply have to learn to breathe. |
| 1933 S. M. Stinchfield Speech Disorders vii. 141 It is worthwhile to spend some time in reviewing the more important types of nervous disorders, in order to better understand their implications, in undertaking *speech therapy. 1976 E. Ward Hanged Man xl. 267, I took the speech therapy and the office-boy jobs. |
| 1951 Engineering 23 Feb. 226/3 Those concerned with the telephone apparatus..have paid much attention to questions of speech intelligibility, but in its broad aspects the matter is of direct interest to most shop executives. It is not their business to design loud speakers, but they are certainly concerned with the *speech-to-noise ratio in workshops. 1981 Amer. Speech XXXVI. 221 Monosyllabic, bisyllabic, and trisyllabic words presented for identification in seven different speech-to-noise ratios. |
▪ II. speech, n.2 ?
U.S. [app. repr. an OE. *ᵹespǽce, f. spáce spoke n.] (See
quot.)
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2261/1 Speech, of a wheel, the hub with the spokes, without the fellies and tire. |
▪ III. speech, v. (
spiːtʃ)
[f. speech n.1] † 1. trans. To drive
out by means of speech.
Obs.—1| 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. i. 67 Doe but recount (for I must speech out this timorousnesse from thy head and heart). |
2. To say or state in a speech or speeches.
rare.
| 1682 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 54 (1713) II. 90 The Bills of Exclusion and Association (whatever was Speech'd or Resolv'd to the contrary) are not now thought [etc.]. a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 229 In speeching to the jury, one and the same matter, over and over again, the waste of time would be so great that..there would scarce be an end. |
3. To make a speech to; to address in a speech;
dial., to speak or talk to. Also with
compl.| 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris ii. 35 Your Lordship, having speeched to death Some hundreds of your fellow-men, Next speeched to Sovereigns' ears,—and..at last Speeched down the Sovereign of Belfast. 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xv. viii. IV. 119 Upon which I immediately turned about to our own Regiment; speeched them, and made them huzzah. 1877–86 in Linc. glossaries. |
4. intr. To make or deliver a speech or speeches. Also with
it. Now
rare.
| (a) 1684 Wood Life 8 Nov., Mr. Charles Hickman..speech'd it in laudem Thomae Bodley in the Schola linguarum. c 1720 Fable Widow & Cat iv. in Prior's Wks. (1907) 383 But in a saucy manner He Thus Speech'd it like a Lechmere: ‘Must I [etc.].’ a 1734 North Lives (1826) I. 230 He was positive not to permit more than one counsel of a side to speech it to the jury. |
| (b) 1710 Acc. Last Distemper T. Whigg i. 9 He stood up upon the Bulks in Westminster-Hall, and speech'd against him from Morning till Night. 1821 Blackw. Mag. IX. 82 Lambton speeching till the lights are gone. 1824 in Spirit Public Jrnls. (1825) 203 Tom Moore to Lord Lansdown is tipsily speeching. 1835 Fraser's Mag. XI. 612 He was fêted and speeched unto at divers and sundry towns. 1864 A. Thomson in Remin. (1904) I. xviii. 299 Yesterday I speeched well at St. Andrews. |
b. To direct a speech or speeches
at a person. Also
dial., to speak
with some one.
| 1826 Scott Woodst. xxi, Have I not been speeched at by their orators. 1888 K. Saunders Diamonds 30 He hasn't speeched wi' me much. |