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vely simply. Bacon. Give me some breath, some little pause, my lord, Before I positively speak herein. Shak. I would ask . . . whether . . . the divine law does not positively require humility and meekness. Sprat. Positively charged or electrified (Elec.), having a charge of positive electricity; -- opposed to Ant: neg…

To talk much and to little purpose; to be loquacious; to speak foolishly; to babble. To prate and talk for life and honor. Shak. And make a fool presume to prate of love. Dryden.

arence. "Rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect." Bacon. A graceful presence bespeaks acceptance. Collier. Presence chamber, or Presence room, the room in which a great personage receives company. Addison." Chambers of presence." Bacon. -- Presence of mind, that state of the mind in which all its faculties a…

Spoken or speaking prettily. [Colloq.]

To shift or turn from one side to the other, from the direct course, or from truth; to speak with equivocation; to shuffle; to quibble; as, he prevaricates in his statement. He prevaricates with his own understanding. South.

The act of piercing or puncturing with a sharp point. "There is that speaketh like the prickings of a sword." Prov. xii. 18 [1583].

To the letter; with accurateness. "All this I speak in print." Shak. -- Out of print. See under Out. -- Print works, a factory where cloth, as calico, is printed.

able results; useful consequences; benefit; avail; gain; as, an office of profit, This I speak for your own profit. 1 Cor. vii. 35. If you dare do yourself a profit and a right. Shak.

Indulging in protracted discourse; tedious; wearisome; -- applied to a speaker or writer.

One who speaks for another. Jeffrey.

To utter articulately; to speak out or distinctly; to utter, as words or syllables; to speak with the proper sound and accent as, adults rarely learn to pronounce a foreign language correctly.

One inspired or instructed by God to speak in his name, or announce future events, as, Moses, Elijah, etc.

To speak; to converse. [Obs.] There shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice, Proposing with the prince and Claudio. Shak.

A speaker; an orator. [Obs.] Shak.

The ordinary language of men in speaking or writing; language not cast in poetical measure or rhythm; -- contradistinguished from verse, or metrical composition. I speak in prose, and let him rymes make. Chaucer. Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. Milton. I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely de…

Writing prose; speaking or writing in a tedious or prosy manner. Sir W. Scott.

spoken of as animated beings; also, a figure by which an absent person is introduced as speaking, or a deceased person is represented as alive and present. It includes personification, but is more extensive in its signification.

assertion; an obscure saying; an enigma; a parable. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. John xvi. 29.

To turn into a proverb; to speak in proverbs.

A word, or a manner of speaking, peculiar to a province or a district remote from the mother country or from the metropolis; a provincial characteristic; hence, narrowness; illiberality. M. Arnold.