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cussion; especially, an acrimonious or invective harangue; a strain of abusive or railing language; a philippic. The ephemeral diatribe of a faction. John Morley.

with unlimited power. Invested with the authority of a dictator, nay, of a pope, over our language. Macaulay.

ords in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems. His diction blazes up into a sudden explosion of prophetic grandeur. De Quincey.

A book containing the words of a language, arranged alphabetically, with explanations of their meanings; a lexicon; a vocabulary; a wordbook. I applied myself to the perusal of our writers; and noting whatever might be of use to ascertain or illustrate any word or phrase, accumulated in time the materials of a dictiona…

as, didactic essays. "Didactical writings." Jer. Taylor. The finest didactic poem in any language. Macaulay.

The theory which maintains that the primitive elements of language are reflex expressions induced by sensory impressions; that is, as stated by Max Müller, the creative faculty gave to each general conception as it thrilled for the first time through the brain a phonetic expression; -- jocosely so called from the analo…

lestial body. Direct action. (Mach.) See Direct-acting. -- Direct discourse (Gram.), the language of any one quoted without change in its form; as, he said "I can not come;" -- correlative to indirect discourse, in which there is change of form; as, he said that he could not come. They are often called respectively by…

To treat of; to expose or set forth in language. [Obs.] The life of William Tyndale . . . is sufficiently and at large discoursed in the book. Foxe.

Rudeness of behavior or language; ill manners; manifestation of disrespect; incivility. Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy. Herbert.

Artificial language or manner assumed for deception; false appearance; counterfeit semblance or show. That eye which glances through all disguises. D. Webster.

, passions, etc. Wretches divested of every moral feeling. Goldsmith. The tendency of the language to divest itself of its gutturals. Earle.

im write her a divorcement. Deut. xxiv. 1. The divorcement of our written from our spoken language. R. Morris.

air does not concern the person denoted by the subject of have. "Philology has to do with language in its fullest sense." Earle. "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah 2 Sam. xvi. 10.

A translation of the Scriptures into the English language for the use of English-speaking Roman Catholics; -- done from the Latin Vulgate by English scholars resident in France. The New Testament portion was published at Rheims, A. D. 1582, the Old Testament at Douai, A. D. 1609-10. Various revised editions have since…

One of two or more words in the same language derived by different courses from the same original from; as, crypt and grot are doublets; also, guard and ward; yard and garden; abridge and abbreviate, etc.

Of or pertaining to the Dravida. Dravidian languages, a group of languages of Southern India, which seem to have been the idioms of the natives, before the invasion of tribes speaking Sanskrit. Of these languages, the Tamil is the most important.

The language spoken in Holland.

a subject; a singer dwells on a note. They stand at a distance, dwelling on his looks and language, fixed in amazement. Buckminster.

To take in with the ears; to hear. [Sportive] "I eared her language." Two Noble Kinsmen.

The people on the globe. The whole earth was of one language. Gen. xi. 1.