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The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the faculty of expressing thoughts by words or articulate sounds; the power of speaking. There is none comparable to the variety of instructive expressions by speech, wherewith man alone is endowed for the communication of his thoughts. Holder.

consumed; to lose force or strength; to vanish; as, energy spends in the using of it. The sound spendeth and is dissipated in the open air. Bacon.

sembling a harpsichord, but smaller, with one string of brass or steel wire to each note, sounded by means of leather or quill plectrums or jacks. It was formerly much used. Dumb spinet. (Mus.) See Manichordon.

ids r, l, and the semivowels w, y; by others limited to f, v, th surd and sonant, and the sound of German ch, -- thus excluding the sibilants, as well as the nasals, liquids, and semivowels. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 197-208.

spire of land that stand apart, Cleft from the main. Tennyson. Tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells Just undulates upon the listening ear. Cowper.

bery; aste. The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoil. Shak.

masons; as, to spring an arcg over a lintel. -- To spring a rattle, to cause a rattle to sound. See Watchman's rattle, under Watchman. -- To spring the luff (Naut.), to ease the helm, and sail nearer to the wind than before; -- said of a vessel. Mar. Dict. -- To spring a mast or spar (Naut.), to strain it so that it…

To spit out hastily by quick, successive efforts, with a spluttering sound; to utter hastily and confusedly, without control over the organs of speech. In the midst of caresses, and without the last pretend incitement, to sputter out the basest accusations. Swift.

A sharp, shrill, disagreeable sound suddenly utered, either of the human voice or of any animal or instrument, such as is made by carriage wheels when dry, by the soles of leather shoes, or by a pipe or reed.

To cry with a sharp, shrill, prolonged sound, as certain animals do, indicating want, displeasure, or pain.

ican bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus); -- so called because one of its notes resembles the sound made in driving a stake into the mud. Called also meadow hen, and Indian hen.

A disturbance in the formation of sounds. It is due essentially to long-continued spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm, by which expiration is preented, and hence it may be considered as a spasmodic inspiration.

Strong and tight; sound; firm; as, a stanch ship. One of the closets is parqueted with plain deal, set in diamond, exceeding stanch and pretty. Evelyn.

ranular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.

idney. From whom you now must steal, and take no leave. Shak. A soft and solemn breathing sound Rose like a steam of rich, distilled perfumes, And stole upon the air. Milton.

Speaking or sounding very loud; stentorian. [Obs.] Of this stentorophonic horn of Alexander there is a preserved in the Vatican. Derham.

organs of the chest, as the heart and lungs, by conveying to the ear of the examiner the sounds produced in the thorax.

Uttering no sound; silent; as, the audience is still; the animals are still. The sea that roared at thy command, At thy command was still. Addison.

In a still manner; quietly; silently; softly. Dr. H. More. The hum of either army stilly sounds. Shak.

To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by pressing them against the finger board with the finger, or by shortening in any way the vibrating part.