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Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative. Ulysses, adds he, was the most eloquent and most silent of men. Broome. This new-created world, whereof in hell Fame is not silent. Milton.

Honestly; unfeignedly; without dissimulation; as, to speak one's mind sincerely; to love virtue sincerely.

Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere. I speak it with a single heart. Shak.

itle, used in addressing a man, without being prefixed to his name; -- used especially in speaking to elders or superiors; sometimes, also, used in the way of emphatic formality. "What's that to you, sir" Sheridan.

A tittle of respect formerly used in speaking to elders and superiors, but now only in addressing a sovereign.

also, to watch; as, to sit up with a sick person. "He that was dead sat up, and began to speak." Luke vii. 15.

Fig.: To leave matters unnoticed, as in reading, speaking, or writing; to pass by, or overlook, portions of a thing; -- often followed by over.

the dissemination of malicious tales or suggestions to the injury of another. Whether we speak evil of a man to his face or behind his back; the former way, indeed, seems to be the most generous, but yet is a great fault, and that which we call "reviling;" the latter is more mean and base, and that which we properly c…

Not loudly; faintly; timidly. [Obs. or Humorous] You may speak as small as you will. Shak.

To flatter; to use blandishment. Because I can not flatter and speak fair, Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive and cog. Shak.

Speaking smoothly; plausible; flattering; smooth-tongued.

Sharp in reply; apt to speak angrily or testily; easily provoked; tart; peevish. The taunting address of a snappish missanthrope. Jeffrey. -- Snap"pish*ly, adv. -- Snap"pish*ness, n.

To speak crossly; to talk in rude, surly terms. It is malicious and unmanly to snarl at the little lapses of a pen, from which Virgil himself stands not exempted. Dryden.

To inssinuate contempt by a covert expression; to speak derisively. I could be content to be a little sneared at. Pope.

To speak through the nose; to breathe through the nose when it is obstructed, so as to make a broken sound. One clad in purple Eats, and recites some lamentable rhyme . . . Snuffling at nose, and croaking in his throat. Dryden.

Speaking softly; having a mild or gentle voice; hence, mild; affable.

fellowship in gain and loss, in honor and dishonor, in victory and defeat, a being, so to speak, all in the same boat. Trench. The solidarity . . . of Breton and Welsh poetry. M. Arnold.

A cant or whining mode of speaking, especially in preaching or praying. [Scot.] Jamieson.

air that shall strike the organs of hearing with a perceptible effect. "And first taught speaking trumpets how to sound." Dryden. How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues! Shak.

A board or structure placed behind or over a pulpit or rostrum to give distinctness to a speaker's voice.