soliloquy, n.
(səˈlɪləkwɪ)
Also 7 soliloquie.
[ad. L. sōliloquium (introduced by St. Augustine), f. sōli-, sōlus alone + loqui to speak.
In the following quot. the reference is to St. Augustine's Liber Soliloquiorum: c 1380 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 91 Þat he dispised so riches, [in] Þe bok Soliloquijs he bereþ witnes.]
1. An instance of talking to or conversing with oneself, or of uttering one's thoughts aloud without addressing any person.
In quot. 1629 stressed on the first and third syllables.
| 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph. (1613), Soliloquie, priuate talke. 1629 Quarles Argalus & Parthenia i. Wks. (Grosart) III. 254/1 His pining thoughts, and her projecting feares; His soliloquies, and her secret teares. 1699 Garth Dispens. iv. 53 He finds no respite from his anxious Grief, Then seeks from this Soliloquy relief. 1756–82 J. Warton Ess. Pope I. vi. 297 It is indeed no other than a passionate soliloquy. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxv, This enthusiastic soliloquy was interrupted by a rustling noise in the hall. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiv, She had hurried on through her story with a wild, passionate utterance;..sometimes speaking as in a soliloquy. |
b. A literary production representing or imitating a discourse of this nature.
| 1641 J. S. (title), Soliloqvies Theologicall. 1649 Milton Eikon. Wks. 1851 III. 336 As to the Author of these Soliloquies [etc.]. c 1675 Rochester Satyr agst. Mankind 74 All this we know..From Patrick's Pilgrim, Sibbs Soliloquies. 1718 Prior Solomon Pref., Wks. 1892 II. 83 The whole poem is a soliloquy: Solomon is the person that speaks. 1770 (title), The Soliloquy: a poem, occasioned by a late decision. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. 5 The mysticism of the West has produced..soliloquies, sermons, and treatises of divinity. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets vi. 183 The soliloquies of Hamlet..must have been lost upon the groundlings of Elizabeth's days. |
2. Without article: The act of talking to oneself; soliloquizing.
| a 1668 Davenant News from Plymouth Wks. (1673) 7 You will find it Such a feast of Soliloquy,..As yet you never tasted. 1738 Mrs. Rowe (title), Devout Exercises of the Heart in Meditation and Soliloquy. 1839 H. Reeve in J. K. Laughton Mem. (1898) I. 104 He confounds soliloquy and colloquy. |
Hence soˈliloquy v., to address (oneself) in a soliloquy. rare—1.
| 1757 E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (1767) III. 106 Upon such an Occasion as this, one should naturally soliloquy themselves thus. |