speechifyv.
/ˈspiːtʃɪfʌɪ/ 1. intransitive. To make or deliver a speech or speeches; to harangue or ‘hold forth’; to speak or talk at some length or with some degree of formality.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speech-making > make a speech [verb (intransitive)]
deliverc1400
repeat1579
speak1583
perore1594
perorate1603
oratorize1620
concionatea1641
speech1684
speechify1723
oration1764
orate1780
platform1859
elocutionize1883
1723 [implied in: Briton No. 19 (1724) 84 He has an excellent Talent at Speechifying. (at speechifying n. 1a)].
1762 S. Foote Orators i. 7 And have you speechify'd yet?
1762 S. Foote Orators i. 9 I did speechify once at a vestry.
1806 Naval Chron. 15 19 Jack made..attempts to speechify.
1833 T. Moore Mem. (1854) VI. 341 Lord Lansdowne began to speechify to the German and Frenchman.
1862 W. M. Thackeray Adventures of Philip I. vii. 129 We were free to speechify,..and be as young as we liked.
2. transitive. To address in a speech or speeches.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speech-making > deliver (a speech) [verb (transitive)] > address with a speech
address1724
speech1818
speechify1862
1862 Daily Tel. 9 Sept. Who entertained the crazy egotist Wilkes,..and ‘ovated’ and speechified him?
Derivatives
ˈspeechifying adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > speech-making > [adjective] > making a speech
speechinga1734
oratorical1801
speechifying1803
1803 J. Foster Let. 18 Mar. in Life & Corr. J. Foster (1846) I. 247 The man who has just conquered his speechifying antagonist.
1826 M. Edgeworth Thoughts on Bores in Janus 65 Of the common parliamentary bore there be two orders: the silent, and the..speechifying.
1828 M. R. Mitford Our Village III. 277 There was also..a Mrs. Harden, speechifying and civil, and a Miss Harden, her daughter, civiller still.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
<
v.1723