Speak (?), v. i. [imp.Spoke (?) (Spake (?) Archaic); p. p.Spoken (?) (Spoke, Obs. or Colloq.); p. pr. & vb. n. Speaking.] [OE. speken, AS. specan, sprecan; akin to OF.ries. spreka, D. spreken, OS. spreken, G. sprechen, OHG. sprehhan, and perhaps to Skr. sphūrj to crackle, to thunder. Cf. Spark of fire, Speech.]

1. To utter words or articulate sounds, as human beings; to express thoughts by words; as, the organs may be so obstructed that a man may not be able to speak.

Till at the last spake in this manner. Chaucer.

Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. 1 Sam. iii. 9.

2. To express opinions; to say; to talk; to converse.

That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set, as the tradesmen speak. Boyle.

An honest man, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. Shak.

During the century and a half which followed the Conquest, there is, to speak strictly, no English history. Macaulay.

3. To utter a speech, discourse, or harangue; to adress a public assembly formally.

Many of the nobility made themselves popular by speaking in Parliament against those things which were most grateful to his majesty. Clarendon.

4. To discourse; to make mention; to tell.

"Lycan speaks of a part of Cæsars army that came to him from the Leman Lake." Addison.

5. To give sound; to sound.

Make all our trumpets speak. Shak.

6. To convey sentiments, ideas, or intelligence as if by utterance; as, features that speak of self-will.

Thine eye begins to speak. Shak.

To speak of, to take account of, to make mention of. Robynson (More\s Utopia). -- To speak out, to speak loudly and distinctly; also, to speak unreservedly. -- To speak well for, to commend; to be favorable to. -- To speak with, to converse with. "Would you speak with me?" Shak.

Syn. -- To say; tell; talk; converse; discourse; articulate; pronounce; utter.

Speak (?), v. t.

1.To utter with the mouth; to pronounce; to utter articulately, as human beings.

They sat down with him upn ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him. Job. ii. 13.

2. To utter in a word or words; to say; to tell; to declare orally; as, to speak the truth; to speak sense.

3. To declare; to proclaim; to publish; to make known; to exhibit; to express in any way.

It is my father;s muste To speak your deeds. Shak.

Speaking a still good morrow with her eyes. Tennyson.

"And for the heavens wide circuit, let it speak The makers high magnificence." Milton.

Report speaks you a bonny monk. Sir W. Scott.

4. 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.

5. To address; to accost; to speak to.

[He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair. Ecclus. xiii. 6.

each village senior paused to scan And speak the lovely caravan. Emerson.

To speak a ship (Naut.), to hail and speak to her captain or commander.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913