Speak \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. sph[=u]rj 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 C[ae]sar'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.
Speak \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.
A man purporting to speak for the "joint command" of urban guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front called at least one radio station in El Salvador to claim responsibility for the attack.
One day American tourists will arrive at Heathrow Airport and find that English taxi drivers no longer speak English, or know where to find back streets and the English bed and breakfast will call itself a motel.
But the tens of thousands of students have succeeded in breaking through the accepted barriers on political discourse and have altered, perhaps permanently, the terms in which Chinese speak of their leaders.
We need every subscription we can get," said Shine. "Some guy walked out of the building and thought we'd gone bankrupt." Shine couldn't speak long because customer service workers were passing around passes for free kisses.
Gerstner's accomplishments speak for themselves," he says.
Another of his more notable roles was that of Dr. Dolittle, who talked with the animals and taught them to speak back in the 1967 movie named for his character.
We created the context for Roe to happen." Ms. Michelman urged the women to speak out and create a renewed climate of activism for the pro-abortion movement.
It didn't occur to me that one was supposed to speak.
The events - and, where possible, the survivors - speak for themselves.
Cauley's wife would not speak to reporters.
Tonight, the Democratic and Republican leadership and I all speak with one voice in support of this agreement.
Few countries speak the same language or even have the same alphabet.
Roper, who advised the Florio campaign last year, said that in the U.S. Senate race, long-shot GOP challenger Christine Todd Whitman has been unable to force Democratic incumbent Bill Bradley to speak out about the Florio taxes.
In Atlanta, civil rights leader Joseph E. Lowery and the widow of Martin Luther King Jr. said they would lead a group of civil rights activists to New York on Monday to speak out against the threat of war in Iraq.
About that time, Elizabeth gave birth, and Zechariah suddenly could speak again, predicting a pivotal place for his new son, named John.
All the party leaders speak of the need to negotiate to resolve the legislative crisis after the election, but "they agree on little else," said an analysis in today's Yomiuri Shimbun, a conservative national daily.
Simply put, the factory's machines and computers speak the same language as the computers in sales and shipping.
But as they heard me speak, there was a frown of doubt. 'You are Jewish?' the driver asked. 'No, I'm British.' 'Oh,' he said.
When the 26 children first came to America, about two-thirds did not speak English, Oliver said.
The same day, Reagan will speak at Republican rallies in Springfield, Mo., and San Diego.
You speak about "genuine people power." About "building a rule-of-law country."
Gov. George Deukmejian planned to speak at a service Monday morning for all five children at Stockton Civic Auditorium.
Few dare to speak out in fear of reprisal.
Some speak German or Dutch, and many are accompanied by young children.
Shipilov crossed himself every time he rose to speak _ something he says he did even while locked up.
"Terry and myself would sit through those long nights and speak with great pain and remorse and longing for his daughter," Keenan said.
Its distinctive visual style lets its subjects speak for themselves.
Wellesley granted Mrs. Bush's request that she bring along Mrs. Gorbachev to speak while their husbands are holding their summit meeting.
The new union under discussion in Moscow may reassert central administration of the Soviet military, leaving Byelorussia free to develop its huge potential as a mecca, so to speak, for tourists.
To protest the Soviet Union's pressure on Lithuania, the president of Daemen College has withdrawn his invitation to a Soviet diplomat to speak at the school's commencement.