Search the Dictionary

A transitional sound in speech which is produced by the changing of the mouth organs from one definite position to another, and with gradual change in the most frequent cases; as in passing from the begining to the end of a regular diphthong, or from vowel to consonant or consonant to vowel in a syllable, or from one c…

Flattery; adulation; smooth speech. Now to plain dealing; lay these glozes by. Shak.

egant; easy; agreeable in appearance; as, a graceful walk, deportment, speaker, air, act, speech. High o'er the rest in arms the graceful Turnus rode. Dryden. -- Grace"ful*ly, adv. Grace"ful*ness, n.

The science which treats of the principles of language; the study of forms of speech, and their relations to one another; the art concerned with the right use aud application of the rules of a language, in speaking or writing.

To conform to the Greek custom, especially in speech.

Grotesque action, speech, or manners; grotesque doings. "The sustained grotesquery of Feather-top." K. L. Bates.

action of have not or has not; as, I hain't, he hain't, we hain't. [Colloq. or illiterate speech.] [Written also han't.]

half conscious. "Half loth and half consenting." Dryden. Their children spoke halfin the speech of Ashdod. Neh. xiii. 24

A contraction of have not, or has not, used in illiterate speech. In the United States the commoner spelling is hain't.

A speech addressed to a large public assembly; a popular oration; a loud address a multitude; in a bad sense, a noisy or pompous speech; declamation; ranting. Gray-headed men and grave, with warriors mixed, Assemble, and harangues are heard. Milton.

An intermission or hesitation of speech, with a sound somewhat like haw! also, the sound so made. "Hums or haws." Congreve.

To use reservations and qualifications in one's speech so as to avoid committing one's self to anything definite. The Heroic Stanzas read much more like an elaborate attempt to hedge between the parties than . . . to gain favor from the Roundheads. Saintsbury.

A phrase or form of speech in accordance with genius and construction or idioms of the Greek language; a Grecism. Addison.

In the following part of this (writing, document, speech, and the like).

A stammering; a faltering in speech.

Unready in speech. Baxter.

A faltering in speech; stammering. Swift.

The unconscious saying, in speech or in writing, of that which one does not intend to say; -- frequently the very reverse of the thought which is present to consciousness. R. G. White.

A figure of speech by which one form of a noun, verb, or pronoun, and the like, is used for another, as in the sentence: "What is life to such as me" Aytoun.

An idiom or mode of speech peculiar to the Irish. Todd.