[f. SPEAK v.]
1. The action of the verb; talking, discoursing.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 8285. Ȝyt þer ys spekyng of vylaynye Þat longeþ vnto lecherye.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 181. Sic speking off the king thai maid.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, 228. He … dischargid þaim þe company & spekyng with of any strangiers.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VIII. 1507. Sone thai war brocht to spekyng to Wallace.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxxiii. 148. They fledde away as ferr as they might here spekyng of thenglysshmen.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 10. From the South hath scarce ever beene attempted a journey worth speaking of, to the indammagement of the North.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., p. cx. These very words of the Captains speaking were Noted down from his Mouth by the Person to whom he spake them.
1780. Mirror, No. 88. A young gentleman, who, from his correct manner of speaking, I suppose practised the law.
1825. Scott, Talism., xviii. Within an hour from the time of my speaking.
1845. Clough, New Sinai, vi. Poems (1849), 25. The Voice, Whose speaking spoke abroad … The ancient Truth of God.
b. The delivery of speeches; speech-making.
a. 1763. W. King, Polit. & Lit. Anecd. (1819), 181, note. Indeed our methodists and our enthusiasts of all denominations pretend to the gift of speaking.
1828. Whately, Rhet., in Encycl. Metrop., I. 241/1. It is evident that in its primary signification, Rhetoric had reference to public Speaking alone.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., I. i. 63. That you would not be so bitter against after-dinner speaking.
2. With possessive prons., etc.: Speech, talk; conversation, discourse.
a. 1325. Prose Psalter cxviii. 50. Þi spekyng quikened me.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 428. Gyff thow wald kep thi fewte, Thow maid nane sic speking to me.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 2810. He toke then leue at qwene Eleyne, Off here spekyng he was fayne.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xviii. 190. Sich spekyng will we spare.
1876. Morris, Sigurd (1877), 7. So sweet his speaking sounded.
1885. Athenæum, 17 Oct., 501/2. He was obliged … to mingle some plain political speaking … with his ethical teaching.
b. An instance or occasion of speech or talk; a discourse, † conference, discussion, etc.
c. 1275. Lay., 12988. Þo comen to Londene alle þeos Bruttes to one speking.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 301. In alle þis spekyng com þe tresorere Fro Edward our kyng.
1389. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 52. Also it was ordeynd … for to haue a spekyng to-gedyr thre tymes in þe ȝer.
1481. Caxton, Reynard, xvii. (Arb.), 43. Assone as this spekyng was don. Ibid. (1491), Vitas Patr. (W. de W., 1495), II. 184/2. The good relygyous … was enfourmed of this spekyng.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. iv. 148. ’Tis still a Dreame: or else … a speaking such As sense cannot vntye.
1650. Cromwell, Lett., 12 Sept., in Carlyle, Lett. & Sp. A speaking to instruction and edification.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxiii. That she was the mother of eight children at that present speaking.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Lady Geraldine’s Courtsh., xii. When a sudden silver speaking, gravely cadenced, over-rung them.
† c. pl. Things spoken; sayings, statements, words. Obs.
a. 1325. Prose Psalter cxviii. 11. Ich hidde þy spekynges in myn hert.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 49. I mot algate … make my spekynges Of love.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 42. By tokyns & ensamples, & lyke spekyngges.
1535. Coverdale, Dan. viii. 23. A kynge … which shall be wyse in darcke speakinges.
1578. Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 16. To credeit the reportis and speikingis of the saidis personis.
1653. H. More, Def. Cabbala, 177. To understand the speakings of God, according as the circumstances of the Matter naturally imply.
3. a. With adjs., as evil, fair, great, wise, etc.
1340. Ayenb., 50. Ine zenne of kueade tonge, þet is in fole spekinge.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 533/159. Whon he þe makeþ feirest spekyng Þen drede þou most his dedes suwyng.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, e iij. For all the fayre spekyng … Commyth of sechyng and fyndyng of the hare.
1535. Coverdale, Ephes. iv. 31. Let all bytternes,… roaringe, & cursed speakynge [1611 euill speaking] be farre from you.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 130. My first false speaking Was this vpon my selfe.
1611. Bible, 1 Pet. ii. 1. Laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and enuies, and euill speakings.
1721. Bailey, Malediction, an Evil Speaking or cursing.
b. With advs., as evil, soft, thick, etc.
1530. Palsgr., 274/1. Spekyng toguyder, locution.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Abbaissement de voix, a speaking soft.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. iii. 24. And speaking thicke (which Nature made his blemish) Became the Accents of the Valiant.
1639. Drumm. of Hawth., Prophecy, Wks. (1711), 180. If the speaking evil of a King be a Sin before God.
1736. Ainsworth, II. Pronunciatio,… a speaking out, or delivery of a speech.
† 4. The faculty or power of speech. Obs.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xii. (Matthias), 386. Defe men he gaf herynge, alsa to dum þe spekyne.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 140. Though the frere minour gyue syght to ye blynde,… to the domme spekyng.
5. attrib., as speaking acquaintance, distance, exercise, part, point, room, voice, etc.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. s.v., This Book is a great Help both for the speaking and the reading part.
1751. Female Foundling, II. 47. Immediately I went down into the Speaking-room [= parlour].
1852. Bristed, Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2), 289. And our acquaintance with the tongue of Dante never became, to borrow a very old Joe Miller, a speaking acquaintance.
1860. Adler, Prov. Poet., x. 216. Rudiger has already arrived within speaking distance of the enemy.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., iv. 55. The eloquence of one stimulates all the rest, some up to the speaking-point.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 355. Graduated and methodical speaking exercises.
b. In combs. denoting devices or apparatus for producing or conveying articulate sounds, as speaking-apparatus, battery, board, -machine, -pipe, telephone, † trump, etc.; speaking front, an organ-front composed of pipes that actually sound, as contrasted with dummy pipes. See also SPEAKING-TRUMPET, -TUBE.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymns Festiv., Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 315. Up then I saw an Angel take His Speaking-Trump.
1795. Phil. Trans., LXXXV. 401. By means of the speaking-pipe the workman may be directed to begin, to stop, to go fast, or slow.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, vii. 159. It has been supposed … that in the ancient speaking-machines the deception is effected by means of ventriloquism.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. VI. i. Not a unit of whom but has … his own speaking-apparatus.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 154/1. Speaking-pipes, or tubes to convey the voice from one place to another.
1879. G. Prescott, Sp. Telephone, 44. During the past year the articulating or Speaking Telephone has attracted very general interest.
1881. W. E. Dickson, Pract. Organ-building, iv. 53. It is by these means that ‘speaking fronts’ are arranged according to any design.
c. On (upon, † in) speaking terms: see TERM sb. 9 a. (Usually in negative constructions.)
1786. Mackenzie, Lounger, No. 78, ¶ 2. One half of the neighbours are scarce in speaking terms with the other.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xi. Mrs. Perkins, who has not been for some weeks on speaking terms with Mrs. Piper.
1882. ‘Edna Lyall,’ Donovan, xli. He was no longer on speaking terms with Stephen.
