speaking

speaking
    adj 1: capable of or involving speech or speaking; "human beings
           --the speaking animals"; "a speaking part in the play"
           [ant: {nonspeaking}, {walk-on}]
    n 1: the utterance of intelligible speech [syn: {speaking},
         {speech production}]
    2: delivering an address to a public audience; "people came to
       see the candidates and hear the speechmaking" [syn: {public
       speaking}, {speechmaking}, {speaking}, {oral presentation}]
    

Speak \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. sph[=u]rj 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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Till at the last spake in this manner. --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. --1 Sam. iii.
                                                  9.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To express opinions; to say; to talk; to converse.
      [1913 Webster]

            That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set,
            as the tradesmen speak.               --Boyle.
      [1913 Webster]

            An honest man, is able to speak for himself, when a
            knave is not.                         --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            During the century and a half which followed the
            Conquest, there is, to speak strictly, no English
            history.                              --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To utter a speech, discourse, or harangue; to adress a
      public assembly formally.
      [1913 Webster]

            Many of the nobility made themselves popular by
            speaking in Parliament against those things which
            were most grateful to his majesty.    --Clarendon.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To discourse; to make mention; to tell.
      [1913 Webster]

            Lycan speaks of a part of Caesar's army that came to
            him from the Leman Lake.              --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To give sound; to sound.
      [1913 Webster]

            Make all our trumpets speak.          --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. To convey sentiments, ideas, or intelligence as if by
      utterance; as, features that speak of self-will.
      [1913 Webster]

            Thine eye begins to speak.            --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   {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.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To say; tell; talk; converse; discourse; articulate;
        pronounce; utter.
        [1913 Webster]
    

Speaking \Speak"ing\, a.
   1. Uttering speech; used for conveying speech; as, man is a
      speaking animal; a speaking tube.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Seeming to be capable of speech; hence, lifelike; as, a
      speaking likeness.
      [1913 Webster]

   {A speaking acquaintance}, a slight acquaintance with a
      person, or one which merely permits the exchange of
      salutations and remarks on indifferent subjects.

   {Speaking trumpet}, an instrument somewhat resembling a
      trumpet, by which the sound of the human voice may be so
      intensified as to be conveyed to a great distance.

   {Speaking tube}, a tube for conveying speech, especially from
      one room to another at a distance.

   {To be on speaking terms}, to be slightly acquainted.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Speaking \Speak"ing\, n.
   1. The act of uttering words.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Public declamation; oratory.
      [1913 Webster]
    

109 Moby Thesaurus words for "speaking":
      ESP, accents, answer, articulate, breathing, chatter, comment,
      commerce, communication, communion, congress, connection, contact,
      conversation, converse, correspondence, dealing, dealings,
      debating, declamation, demagogism, discourse, elocution, eloquence,
      eloquent, exchange, faithful, forensics, free-speaking,
      free-spoken, gab, homiletics, information, interaction,
      interchange, intercommunication, intercommunion, intercourse,
      interplay, language, lecturing, lifelike, linguistic act,
      linguistic intercourse, living, locution, loud-speaking,
      loud-spoken, message, natural, oral communication, oratory,
      outspoken, palaver, parol, parole, phonation, plain-speaking,
      plain-spoken, platform oratory, prattle, public speaking,
      pyrotechnics, rabble-rousing, rapping, realistic, reply, response,
      rhetoric, sequence of phonemes, social intercourse, soft-speaking,
      soft-spoken, speech, speech act, speech circuit, speech situation,
      speechcraft, speechification, speeching, speechmaking, string,
      stump speaking, talk, talkative, talking, telepathy,
      the spoken word, to the life, tongue, touch, traffic, truck,
      true to life, true to nature, true-speaking, two-way communication,
      utterance, utterance string, verbalization, vocable, voice,
      well-spoken, word, word of mouth, wordcraft, words, yakkety-yak,
      yakking