Definition: speech

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

speech
     n 1: a formal spoken communication delivered to an audience; "he
          listened to an address on minor Roman poets" [syn: address]
     2: communication by word of mouth; "his speech was slurred";
        "the telephone greatly increased the range of speech
        communication"; "he uttered harsh language"; "he recorded
        the spoken language of the streets" [syn: speech
        communication, spoken language, language, voice
        communication, oral communication]
     3: something spoken; "he could hear them uttering merry
        speeches"
     4: the exchange of spoken words; "they were perfectly
        comfortable together without speech"
     5: your characteristic style or manner of expressing yourself
        orally; "his manner of speaking was quite abrupt"; "her
        speech was barren of southernisms"; "I detected a slight
        accent in his speech" [syn: manner of speaking, delivery]
     6: a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of
        discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" [syn: lecture,
         talking to]
     7: words making up the dialogue of a play; "the actor forgot
        his lines" [syn: actor's line, words]
     8: the mental faculty or power of vocal communication;
        "language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals"
        [syn: language]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Speech \Speech\, n. [OE. speche, AS. sp?c, spr?, fr. specan,
   sprecan, to speak; akin to D. spraak speech, OHG. spr[=a]hha,
   G. sprache, Sw. spr?k, Dan. sprog. See Speak.]
   1. The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the
      faculty of expressing thoughts by words or articulate
      sounds; the power of speaking.

            There is none comparable to the variety of
            instructive expressions by speech, wherewith man
            alone is endowed for the communication of his
            thoughts.                             --Holder.

   2. he act of speaking; that which is spoken; words, as
      expressing ideas; language; conversation.

   Note: Speech is voice modulated by the throat, tongue, lips,
         etc., the modulation being accomplished by changing the
         form of the cavity of the mouth and nose through the
         action of muscles which move their walls.

               O goode God! how gentle and how kind Ye seemed by
               your speech and your visage The day that maked
               was our marriage.                  --Chaucer.

               The acts of God . . . to human ears Can nort
               without process of speech be told. --Milton.

   3. A particular language, as distinct from others; a tongue;
      a dialect.

            People of a strange speech and of an hard language.
                                                  --Ezek. iii.
                                                  6.

   4. Talk; mention; common saying.

            The duke . . . did of me demand What was the speech
            among the Londoners Concerning the French journey.
                                                  --Shak.

   5. formal discourse in public; oration; harangue.

            The constant design of these orators, in all their
            speeches, was to drive some one particular point.
                                                  --Swift.

   6. ny declaration of thoughts.

            I. with leave of speech implored, . . . replied.
                                                  --Milton.

   Syn: Syn. Harangue; language; address; oration. See
        Harangue, and Language.
Speech \Speech\, v. i. & t.
   To make a speech; to harangue. [R.]