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To play the Italian; to speak Italian. Cotgrave.

To utter sarcastic or scoffing reflections; to speak with mockery or derision; to use taunting language; to scoff; as, to jeer at a speaker. But when he saw her toy and gibe and jeer. Spenser.

A house for a dog or for dogs, or for a pack of hounds. A dog sure, if he could speak, had wit enough to describe his kennel. Sir P. Sidney.

To speak affectedly. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. John vii. 17. The peasant folklore of Europe still knows of willows that bleed and weep and speak when hewn. Tylor.

A fault in speaking or in composition, which consists in too frequent use of the letter l, or in doubling it erroneously.

The characteristic mode of arranging words, peculiar to an individual speaker or writer; manner of expression; style. Others for language all their care express. Pope.

sometimes loosely given to certain nations, esp. the French, Spanish, and Italians, who speak languages principally derived from Latin. Latin Union, an association of states, originally comprising France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy, which, in 1865, entered into a monetary agreement, providing for an identity in t…

hak. -- To laugh down. (a) To cause to cease or desist by laughter; as, to laugh down a speaker. (b) To cause to be given up on account of ridicule; as, to laugh down a reform. -- To laugh one out of, to cause one by laughter or ridicule to abandon or give up; as, to laugh one out of a plan or purpose. -- To laugh t…

uidance; direction; as, to take the lead; to be under the lead of another. At the time I speak of, and having a momentary lead, . . . I am sure I did my country important service. Burke.

act of lying; falsehood; a lie or lies. [Archaic] Spenser. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing. Ps. v. 6. Blessed be the lips that such a leasing told. Fairfax. Leasing making (Scots Law), the uttering of lies or libels upon the personal character of the sovereign, his court, or his family. Bp. Burnet.…

, i, To lie; to speak falsely. [Obs.] Chaucer.

as, the hypothenuse and two legs of a right-angled triangle. On one's legs, standing to speak. -- One's last legs. See under Last. -- To have legs (Naut.), to have speed. -- To stand on one's own legs, to support one's self; to be independent.

Using, or interlarded with, pretentious words; bombastic; as, a lexiphanic writer or speaker; lexiphanic writing.

An essential constituent of life, esp: the blood. The words that I speak unto you . . . they are life. John vi. 63. The warm life came issuing through the wound. Pope

h form a certain number of feet, according to the measure. In the preceding line Ulysses speaks of Nausicaa. Broome.

re speech; hypocrisy. Bale. -- Lip reading, the catching of the words or meaning of one speaking by watching the motion of his lips without hearing his voice. Carpenter. -- Lip salve, a salve for sore lips. -- Lip service, expression by the lips of obedience and devotion without the performance of acts suitable to s…

To speak with imperfect articulation; to mispronounce, as a child learning to talk. As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame, I lisped in numbers came. Pope.

Unwillingness; reluctance. A general silence and loathness to speak. Bacon.

A method of speaking or acting peculiar to a certain district; a local idiom or phrase.