Also 6 spokisman, 7 spoksman, spookesman, spoaksman, spoakesman. [Irreg. f. spoke, pa. pple. of SPEAK v., on analogy of craftsman, etc. Cf. the earlier SPEAKMAN.]
† 1. An interpreter. Obs. rare.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 43 b. Mythrydate spake … to men of xxii rymes, euery man in his owne langage, without any spokisman.
1556. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, Transl. Ep. A ij. Themistocles … entertayned most honorably with the King of Persia, willed vpon a time to tell his cause by a spokesman.
2. One who speaks for or on behalf of another or others; esp. in later use, one who is chosen or deputed to voice the opinions or represent the views of a body, party, etc.; a mouthpiece.
Freq. from c. 1550 to c. 1650 and in recent use.
a. 1540. Barnes, Wks. (1573), 354. Vnto God … wee neede no spokesman nor no mediatour but alonely a deuoute mynde.
c. 1585. Faire Em, III. 734. He hath been an earnest spokesman in your cause.
1610. J. Dove, Advt. Seminaries, 22. He would be for him insteed of an interpreter, and a spokesman for him with God.
1651. Fuller, Abel Rediv., 540. This our Robert, whose zeale for the truth … preferred him without any other friend or spokesman.
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., I. (1721), 28. People cannot join in publick Prayers, except they have a Spokesman or Speaker.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), IV. lx. 521. The spokesman of the committee, one Duglass, began with a severe aspect [etc.].
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ix. II. 462. The king gave an audience to all the bishops who were then in London…. The primate was spokesman.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1875), III. 297. The Barons prayed him to be their spokesman with the Duke.
b. transf. The chief representative or exponent of a movement, period, etc.
1828. Carlyle, in Foreign Rev., II. 95. [Goethe] made himself the spokesman of his generation. Ibid. (1840), Heroes, iii. (1904), 98. Dante is the spokesman of the Middle Ages.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1877), I. 9. The romantic narrative of which Geoffrey of Monmouth is the chief spokesman.
3. † a. The speaker or chairman of a legislative or administrative body. Obs. rare.
1607. in M. H. Peacock, Hist. Wakefield Gram. Sch. (1892), 55. Of the Spokesman or President Governour:… the Governours beinge come together, the Spokesman … shall delyver up the keyes of his office.
b. A public speaker, esp. one who formally addresses a deliberative or legislative assembly.
Not always clearly distinct from sense 2.
1663. Boyle, Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos., I. iii. 58. The Master, or that other person of the Society, who is most capable and the best spoakesman, is by a kind of natural right engag’d to the duty of returning praise.
1693. Freke, Ess., Apology, 4. There is many an excellent Spokesman that makes a bad Writer.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Dial. Dead, Wks. 1711, IV. 38. I was long of the Court of Aldermen, and one of the chief Spoaks-men of the Common-Council.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, I. ix. A rough table, from which they besought Pandulpho to address the people. The pale citizen, with some pain and shame, for he was no practised spokesman, was obliged to assent.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, xxii. Some were in close … discussion; others were listening with keen interest to a single spokesman.
transf. 1885. Encycl. Brit., XVIII. 323. Psittacus erithacus … is the most accomplished spokesman of the whole group [of parrots].
Hence Spokesmanship, the office or position of spokesman.
1851. Morning Chron., 7 Nov., 4/2. There is great significance in the selection of M. Berryer himself for the spokesmanship of opposition.
1870. Athenæum, 26 Nov., 686. Then had Guðmund Thorgeirsson the spokesmanship-at-law for twelve years.
1889. Daily News, 25 Jan., 6/4. He felt there was some fitness in his spokesmanship that evening, for he was the representative of an institution [etc.].
