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Talk; conversation; esp., idle or beguiling talk; talk intended to deceive; flattery.

Conversation; discourse; talk; diction; phrase; as, in legal parlance; in common parlance. A hate of gossip parlance and of sway. Tennyson.

Conversation; talk; parley. [Obs.] They ended parle, and both addressed for fight. Milton.

Mutual discourse or conversation; discussion; hence, an oral conference with an enemy, as with regard to a truce. We yield on parley, but are stormed in vain. Dryden. To beat a parley (Mil.), to beat a drum, or sound a trumpet, as a signal for holding a conference with the enemy.

A room for business or social conversation, for the reception of guests, etc. Specifically:

e or good humor; cheerfulness; gayety; merriment; especially, an agreeable playfulness in conversation; a jocose or humorous remark; badinage. The grave abound in pleasantries, the dull in repartees and points of wit. Addison. The keen observation and ironical pleasantry of a finished man of the world. Macaulay.…

Talk; conversation; speech; speech.[Obs.] Shak. In question, in debate; in the course of examination or discussion; as, the matter or point in question. -- Leading question. See under Leading. -- Out of question, unquestionably. "Out of question, 't is Maria's hand." Shak. -- Out of the question. See under Out. --…

th so much perspicuity, vivacity, and grace, should have been, whenever he took a part in conversation, an empty, noisy, blundering rattle. Macaulay.

guage, but formerly, as by Chaucer, also to indecent acts or conduct. The ribaldry of his conversation moved Macaulay.

To pass or go quickly in thought or conversation; as, to run from one subject to another. Virgil, in his first Georgic, has run into a set of precepts foreign to his subject. Addison.

A swift sailing boat. [Obs.] So we took a scout, very much pleased with the manner and conversation of the passengers. Pepys.

u season still with sports your serious hours. Dryden. The proper use of wit is to season conversation. Tillotson.

ce, something added to enhance enjoyment or relieve dullness; as, wit is the seasoning of conversation. Political speculations are of so dry and austere a nature, that they will not go down with the public without frequent seasonings. Addison. Seasoning tub (Bakery), a trough in which dough is set to rise. Knight.…

themselves from action. Hooker. A love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation. Bacon.

Like, or appropriate to, a sermon; grave and didactic. [R.] "Conversation . . . satirical or sermonic." Prof. Wilson. "Sermonical style." V. Knox.

tinguished; to exhibit brilliant intellectual powers; as, to shine in courts; to shine in conversation. Few are qualified to shine in company; but it in most men's power to be agreeable. Swift. To make, or cause, the face to shine upon, to be propitious to; to be gracious to. Num. vi. 25.

arline, and the smallest kinds of rope. R. H. Dana, Jr. -- Small talk, light or trifling conversation; chitchat. -- Small wares (Com.), various small textile articles, as tapes, braid, tringe, and the like. M`Culloch.

Affording opportunites for conversation; characterized by much conversation; as, a sociable party.

To talk or converse in; to utter or pronounce, as in conversation; as, to speak Latin. And French she spake full fair and fetisely. Chaucer.

he act of speaking; that which is spoken; words, as expressing ideas; language; conversation.