Forms: 4–6 speker, 4–5 -ere, 5 spekar, speiker, 6 spiker, 6– speaker. [f. SPEAK v. + -ER. Cf. OFris. (for)spreker (WFris. sprekker, NFris. spreeker, spreeger), MDu. (Du.) and MLG. (LG.) spreker, OHG. sprehhari, -eri (MHG. sprechære, G. sprecher).]
1. One who speaks or talks.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 8291. Þe foule wurde þe speker dereþ.
1388. Wyclif, Ezek. ii. 1. Y herde the vois of a spekere.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5085. In speche may men spie the speker to know.
1485. Caxton, Chas. Gt., 27. Whan one spake to hym, he remembred the manere for to compryse thentencyon of the spekar.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., II. 260 b. It was laied … against hym, that he was a speaker of eiuill by Cæsar.
1565. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 394. Thair Majesteis sall require the spekar and delatar to gif his complaint or narratioun in writt.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 175. Malc. What’s the newest griefe? Rosse. That of an houres age, doth hisse the speaker.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxvi. 222. It may bee understood sometimes of the Speaker.
1725. Watts, Logic, I. iv. § 3. It implies both the Falshood of the Speech, and my Reproach and Censure of the Speaker.
1781. Cowper, Hope, 345. All speakers, yet all language at a loss.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, vii. 162. The real speaker was a full-grown woman.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, II. viii. She started up with anger in her eyes, and faced the speaker.
b. spec. One who speaks formally before a number of persons; one who addresses an audience; an orator.
c. 1400. N. T. (Paues), Acts xiv. 11. Þei called … Poule Mercurye, for he was ledar ande spekar of þo worde.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxxxii. 254. ‘Syr,’ quod Gaulter, who was ye fyrst speker, ‘me thynke he can scape none other wyse.’
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., V. ii. 166. What? a speaker is but a prater, a Ryme is but a Ballad.
1780. Mirror, No. 102. Some of our public speakers.
1828. Whately, Rhet., in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), I. 262/1. The sentiments … which it is so important that the audience should feel towards the Speaker.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxii. IV. 744. He … had scarcely taken his seat when he attained a high place among parliamentary speakers.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xvii. When the speaker’s voice ceased, a burst of applause came from the lips of the hearers.
2. With distinguishing adjs.: a. Denoting moral character, tendency to talk, or manner of speaking, as evil, fair, false, great, hasty, short, etc.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xxvi. 18. A wickid spekere delited is in his leghe.
1388. Wyclif, Job xvi. 9. A fals spekere is reisid aȝens my face.
a. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, II. i. 41. Crist had aduersaries & suffrid shreude spekers.
1483. Cath. Angl., 353/2. A schort Speker, micrologus. A grete Speker,… grandiloquus.
1570. Levins, Manip., 212. Great speaker, loquax.
1611. Bible, Ps. cxl. 11. Let not an euill speaker bee established in the earth.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., s.v. Sphinx, His unarticulate voice like that of a hasty speaker.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 66. The modest speaker is asham’d and griev’d T’engross a moment’s notice.
b. Denoting ability (or the want of it) in the use of speech. † Fair speaker, an orator.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxi. (Eugenia), 130. Quhat poetis seis, or fare spekaris.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Roll), IV. 141. Þat was a noble spekere in all manere tonges of witt and of wisdom, and cheef spekere wiþ tonge.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3806. A freike þat was fre, and a feire speiker.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, 236. A passand fayr man & a riche, & ane eloquent speker.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Alfonce, vii. A rethoryque man or fayr speker.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. ii. 111. The Gentleman is Learn’d, and a most rare Speaker.
1720. Pope, Iliad, XIX. 86. Unruly murmurs, or ill-timed applause, Wrong the best speaker, and the justest cause.
1778. Miss Burney, Evelina, lxxvii. We of the Lower House … have likewise the most able speakers.
1831. Sir J. Sinclair, Corr., II. 108. The Count de Villele was not only an able speaker, but a real statesman.
1865. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 247. Almost the worst speaker I ever heard in my life.
1871. R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, xlix. 1. Greatest speaker of any born a Roman, Marcus Tullius.
3. The member of the House of Commons who is chosen by the House itself to act as its representative and to preside over its debates. Also called Mr. Speaker and † Speaker-forth.
In 1376–7 Sir Thomas de Hungerford, app. the first person formally mentioned as holding the office, ‘avoit les paroles pur les Communes d’Engleterre en cest Parlement’ (Rolls of Parlt., II. 374/1).
c. 1400. Brut, 330. Þis same Piers was chosen to be speker for the communes in þe parlement.
1414. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 22. The sentence & the entente axked by the Speker mouthe.
c. 1435. Chron. Lond. (1905), 50. Sir John Cheyne excusid him ffor the Speker fforth ffor the Comvnes, ffor dyuers Infirmites … that he hadde.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. (1811), 486. Wherfore the sayde commons prayed by the mouth of theyr speker [etc.].
a. 1577. Sir T. Smith, Commw. Eng., II. ii. (1584), 40. The speakers office is as brieflie and as plainely as he may to declare the effect thereof to the house.
1641. King’s Sp. to Parlt., 2 Dec. It is no ways in Answer to Master Speakers learned Speech.
1654. Whitelock, Mem. (1732), 52. [The king] himself entred into the house; at which the speaker rose out of his chair, and stood below.
1707. J. Chamberlayne, Pres. St. Gt. Brit., I. II. (1708), 114. Before the choice of a Speaker, all the Members of the House of Commons take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy.
1741. Johnson’s Debates (1787), II. i. 4. The new House of Commons being met, the Usher came from the House of Lords, with His Majesty’s commands for their immediate attendance, when they were ordered to chuse a Speaker.
1818. Evans’ Parl. Deb., 16. On a message from the lords, Mr. Speaker and several members attended to hear the speech of the lords commissioners read by the Lord Chancellor.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVII. 274/2. As yet he is only Speaker elect, and as such presents himself on the following day, in the house of lords.
1901. L. Courtney, Working Const. U. K., 90. If any vacancy occurs whilst Parliament is in existence, a writ is issued by Mr. Speaker.
fig. 1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1860), 7. The chiefe actor in the pageant of my braine, and high speaker in the Parlament of my deuise.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. ii. 18. The Speaker in his Parliament;… th’imagine Voyce of Heauen it selfe.
b. More fully in Speaker of (the) Parliament.
1460. Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 230. It was answerd be Petir de la Mar, Knyte, and Speker of the Parlement.
a. 1500. Bale’s Chron., in Six Town Chron. (1911), 136. And the comones chosen Sir William Oldhall Knight wt þe duk of york speker of the parliament.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Demiurgus,… an officer that proposed all thinges to the people whervpon they should intreate: as the speaker of the parliament amonge vs.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), Speaker of the Parliament, an Officer in that High Court, who is as it were the common mouth of all the rest.
c. The presiding officer or chairman of the House of Lords, now the Lord Chancellor, or one acting as his deputy or substitute. Also † Lord Speaker.
1660. Pepys, Diary, 26 April. I hear, that about twelve of the Lords met and had chosen my Lord of Manchester Speaker of the House of Lords.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v., The one [is] termed the Lord Speaker of the House of Peers, and the other the Speaker of the House of Commons.
1707. J. Chamberlayne, Pres. St. Gt. Brit. (1710), 96. The Lord Chancellor or Keeper (who usually is Speaker of the House of Lords).
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XIII. 761/2. The speaker of the house of lords … is the lord chancellor,… or any other appointed by the king’s commission [etc.].
1867. Chambers’s Encycl., IX. 24/2. The Speaker of the Lords may speak or vote on any question.
1891. Law Times, XCII. 123/2. The Lord Chancellor need not be a member of the House of Lords of which he is the Speaker.
d. A similar president in other assemblies.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Proloquutor,… the Speaker or Chair-man of each Convocation-house, or of a Synod, is so termed.
1728. S. Jeake, Charters Cinque Ports, 91. In both these Courts,… the Head Officer … sits as Chief, and is called in Speeches addressed to him Mr. Speaker.
1789. Constit. U. S., 1. § 2. The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers.
4. One who speaks in place of, or on behalf of, another or others.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, G j. Princes you know in parliament houses haue their speakers, to declare their pleasures, and ease themselues.
1782. J. Brown, Nat. & Revealed Relig., II. ii. (1796), 129. He is the great Speaker for us to God, in his ancient engagements and his continual intercession.
5. One who proclaims or celebrates. rare–1.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. ii. 70. After my death, I wish … No other speaker of my liuing Actions,… But such an honest Chronicler as Griffith.
6. As a title of books containing pieces adapted for recitation or reading aloud.
1774. W. Enfield (title), The Speaker: or, Miscellaneous Pieces, selected from the Best English Writers.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Speaker,… a book for school-reading.
1879. Webster, Suppl., Speaker, a book containing selected pieces for declamation. (U.S.)
7. As second element: One who speaks a particular language.
1899. Daily News, 2 Oct., 6/4. A population of industrial English-speakers…. A population of pastoral Dutch-speakers.
