DIALECT

n.

2 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)


1.
n.

Means or mode of expressing thoughts; language; tongue; form of speech. This book is writ in such a dialect As may the minds of listless men affect. Bunyan. The universal dialect of the world. South.

2.
n.

The form of speech of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned. In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a standard English language. Earle. [Charles V.] could address his subjects from every quarter in their native dialect. Prescott.


← DIAL D — all words DIALECTAL →