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The act of talking to one's self; a discourse made by one in solitude to one's self; monologue. Lovers are always allowed the comfort of soliloquy. Spectator.

A discourse on health, or the science of promoting and preserving health.

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.

One who utters or pronounces a discourse; usually, one who utters a speech in public; as, the man is a good speaker, or a bad speaker.

formal discourse in public; oration; harangue. The constant design of these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point. Swift.

usiness. I was engaged in conversation upon a subject which the people love to start in discourse. Addison.

To astonish; to overpower; to bewilder. William was quite stunned at my discourse. De Foe.

ught as exhibits the spirit and faculty of an artist; choice or arrangement of words in discourse; rhetorical expression. High style, as when that men to kinges write. Chaucer. Style is the dress of thoughts. Chesterfield. Proper words in proper places make the true definition of style. Swift. It is style alone by whic…

That of which anything is affirmed or predicated; the theme of a proposition or discourse; that which is spoken of; as, the nominative case is the subject of the verb. The subject of a proposition is that concerning which anything is affirmed or denied. I. Watts.

; grand; solemn; stately; -- said of an impressive object in nature, of an action, of a discourse, of a work of art, of a spectacle, etc.; as, sublime scenery; a sublime deed. Easy in words thy style, in sense sublime. Prior. Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong. Longfellow.

An under reader in the inns of court, who reads the texts of law the reader is to discourse upon. [Eng.] Crabb.

Refinement; extreme acuteness; subtlety. Intelligible discourses are spoiled by too much subtility in nice divisions. Locke.

A small part of a sentence or discourse; anything concise or short; a particle. Before any syllable of the law of God was written. Hooker. Who dare speak One syllable against him Shak.

A compendium containing the heads of a discourse, and the like; an abstract.

A figure by which synonymous words are used to amplify a discourse.

arts so arranged as to exhibit a general view of the whole; an abstract or summary of a discourse; a syllabus; a conspectus. That the reader may see in one view the exactness of the method, as well as force of the argument, I shall here draw up a short synopsis of this epistle. Bp. Warburton.

ich is told; an oral relation or recital; any rehearsal of what has occured; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story. "The tale of Troy divine." Milton. "In such manner rime is Dante's tale." Chaucer. We spend our years as a tale that is told. Ps. xc. 9.

To utter words; esp., to converse familiarly; to speak, as in familiar discourse, when two or more persons interchange thoughts. I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you. Shak.

That course of thought which holds on through a discourse; the general drift or course of thought; purport; intent; meaning; understanding. When it [the bond] is paid according to the tenor. Shak. Does not the whole tenor of the divine law positively require humility and meekness to all men Spart.

A discourse or composition on which a note or commentary is written; the original words of an author, in distinction from a paraphrase, annotation, or commentary. Chaucer.