Deeper Dive: talk

Talk (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Talked (?); p. pr. & vb. n.Talking.] [Cf. LG. talk talk, gabble, Prov. G. talken to speak indistinctly; or OD. tolken to interpret, MHG. tolkan to interpret, to tell, to speak indistinctly, Dan. tolke to interpret, Sw. tolka, Icel. t?lka to interpret, t?lkr an interpreter, Lith. tulkas an interpreter, tulkanti, tulkōti, to interpret, Russ. tolkovate to interpret, to talk about; or perhaps fr. OE. talien to speak (see Tale, v. i. & n.).]
1. To utter words; esp., to converse familiarly; to speak, as in familiar discourse, when two or more persons interchange thoughts.
I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you. Shak.
2. To confer; to reason; to consult.
Let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Jer. xii. 1.
3. To prate; to speak impertinently. [Colloq.]
To talk of, to relate; to tell; to give an account of; as, authors talk of the wonderful remains of Palmyra. "The natural histories of Switzerland talk much of the fall of these rocks, and the great damage done." Addison. -- To talk to, to advise or exhort, or to reprove gently; as, I will talk to my son respecting his conduct. [Colloq.]
Talk , v. t.
1. To speak freely; to use for conversing or communicating; as, to talk French.
2. To deliver in talking; to speak; to utter; to make a subject of conversation; as, to talk nonsense; to talk politics.
3. To consume or spend in talking; -- often followed by away; as, to talk away an evening.
4. To cause to be or become by talking. "They would talk themselves mad." Shak.
To talk over. (a) To talk about; to have conference respecting; to deliberate upon; to discuss; as, to talk over a matter or plan. (b) To change the mind or opinion of by talking; to convince; as, to talk over an opponent.
Talk , n.
1. The act of talking; especially, familiar converse; mutual discourse; that which is uttered, especially in familiar conversation, or the mutual converse of two or more.
In various talk the instructive hours they passed. Pope.
Their talk, when it was not made up of nautical phrases, was too commonly made up of oaths and curses. Macaulay.
2. Report; rumor; as, to hear talk of war.
I hear a talk up and down of raising our money. Locke.
3. Subject of discourse; as, his achievment is the talk of the town.
Syn. -- Conversation; colloquy; discourse; chat; dialogue; conference; communication. See Conversation.


-- Webster's unabridged 1913







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