sb. Also 7 soliloquie. [ad. L. sōliloquium (introduced by St. Augustine), f. sōli-, sōlus alone + loqui to speak.
In the following quot. the reference is to St. Augustine’s Liber Soliloquiorum:
c. 1380. in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 91. Þat he dispised so riches, [in] Þe bok Soliloquijs he bereþ witnes.]
1. An instance of talking to or conversing with oneself, or of uttering one’s thoughts aloud without addressing any person.
In quot. 1629 stressed on the first and third syllables.
1604. R. Cawdrey, Table Alph. (1613), Soliloquie, priuate talke.
1629. Quarles, Argalus & Parthenia, I. Wks. (Grosart), III. 254/1. His pining thoughts, and her projecting feares; His soliloquies, and her secret teares.
1699. Garth, Dispens., V. (ed. 2), 59.
| He finds no respite from his anxious Grief, | |
| Then seeks, from this Soliloquy, relief. |
1756–82. J. Warton, Ess. Pope, I. vi. 297. It is indeed no other than a passionate soliloquy.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, III. x. 359. This enthusiastic soliloquy was interrupted by a rustling noise in the hall.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., II. xxxiv. 210. She had hurried on through her story, with a wild, passionate utterance;… sometimes speaking as in a soliloquy.
b. A literary production representing or imitating a discourse of this nature.
1641. J. S. (title), Soliloqvies Theologicall.
1649. Milton, Eikon., Wks. 1851, III. 336. As to the Author of these Soliloquies [etc.].
c. 1675. Rochester, Satyr agst. Mankind, 74, Poems 1691, 93. All this we know … From Patricks Pilgrim, Sibbs Soliloquies.
1718. Prior, Solomon, Pref., Wks. 1892, II. 83. The whole poem is a soliloquy: Solomon is the person that speaks.
1770. (title) The Soliloquy, a poem, occasioned by a late decision.
1856. R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (ed. 4), II. 5. The mysticism of the West has produced … soliloquies, sermons, and treatises of divinity.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, vi. 183. The soliloquies of Hamlet or the profound philosophy of Troilus and Cressida must have been lost upon the groundlings of Elizabeth’s days.
2. Without article: The act of talking to oneself; soliloquizing.
a. 1668. Davenant, News from Plymouth, Wks. (1673), 7/1. You will find it Such a feast of Soliloquy, and without disturbance, As yet you never tasted.
1738. Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe (title), Devout Exercises of the Heart, in Meditation and Soliloquy.
1839. H. Reeve, in J. K. Laughton, Mem. (1898), I. 104. Macaulay is laying waste society with his waterspouts of talk; people in his company burst for want of an opportunity of dropping in a word; he confounds soliloquy and colloquy.
Hence Soliloquy v., to address (oneself) in a soliloquy. rare–1.
1757. Mrs. Griffith, Lett. Henry & Frances (1766), III. 106. Upon such an Occasion as this, one should naturally soliloquy themselves thus [etc.].
