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Language; speech; dialect. [Slang]

und the orifice of the mouth in man and many other animals. In man the lips are organs of speech essential to certain articulations. Hence, by a figure they denote the mouth, or all the organs of speech, and sometimes speech itself. Thine own lips testify against thee. Jeb xv. 6.

A principle, practice, form of speech, or other thing of local use, or limited to a locality.

Speech or discourse; a phrase; a form or mode of expression. " Stumbling locutions." G. Eliot. I hate these figures in locution, These about phrases forced by ceremony. Marston.

mposed of dactyls and trochees so arranged as to produce a movement like that of ordinary speech.

A mode of reporting speeches without using shorthand, -- a number of reporters, each in succession, taking down three or four words. Brande & C.

A word; reason; speech. H. Bushell.

, looks, tone, or manner. "Lovely to look on." Piers Plowman. Not one so fair of face, of speech so lovely. Robert of Brunne. If I had such a tire, this face of mine Were full as lovely as is this of hers. Shak.

drupes. The sap of the tree is glutinous, and gives a persistent black stain. -- Maiden speech, the first speech made by a person, esp. by a new member in a public body. -- Maiden tower, the tower most capable of resisting an enemy.

ature; having the qualities of a man, esp. the nobler qualities; manly. " Gentle, manlike speech." Testament of Love. " A right manlike man." Sir P. Sidney. In glaring Chloe's manlike taste and mien. Shenstone.

is love mature in ear. Tennison. How shall I meet, or how accost, the sage, Unskilled in speech, nor yet mature of age Pope.

tency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can. How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health ! Spenser. For what he [the king] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible. Bacon. For of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these:…

Using soft words; plausible; affectedly or timidly delicate of speech; unwilling to tell the truth in plain language. "Mealy-mouthed philanthropies." Tennyson. She was a fool to be mealy-mouthed where nature speaks so plain. L'Estrange. -- Meal"y-mouth`ness, n.

To degrade by speech or action.

An act of ridicule or derision; a scornful or contemptuous act or speech; a sneer; a jibe; a jeer. Fools make a mock at sin. Prov. xiv. 9.

Insulting or contemptuous action or speech; contemptuous merriment; derision; ridicule. The laughingstock of fortune's mockeries. Spenser.

womanly in act or bearing; free from undue familiarity, indecency, or lewdness; decent in speech and demeanor; -- said of a woman. Mrs. Ford, the honest woman, the modest wife. Shak. The blushing beauties of a modest maid. Dryden.

harms and the sexual relation; purity of thought and manners; due regard for propriety in speech or action. Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty. Shak. Modesty piece, a narrow piece of lace worn by women over the bosom. [Obs.] Addison.

To vary or inflect in a natural, customary, or musical manner; as, the organs of speech modulate the voice in reading or speaking. Could any person so modulate her voice as to deceive so many Broome.

A speech uttered by a person alone; soliloquy; also, talk or discourse in company, in the strain of a soliloquy; as, an account in monologue. Dryden.