Language

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Language \Lan"guage\, n. [OE. langage, F. langage, fr. L. lingua
     the tongue, hence speech, language; akin to E. tongue. See
     {Tongue}, cf. {Lingual}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Any means of conveying or communicating ideas;
        specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the


        voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the
        organs of the throat and mouth.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Language consists in the oral utterance of sounds which
           usage has made the representatives of ideas. When two
           or more persons customarily annex the same sounds to
           the same ideas, the expression of these sounds by one
           person communicates his ideas to another. This is the
           primary sense of language, the use of which is to
           communicate the thoughts of one person to another
           through the organs of hearing. Articulate sounds are
           represented to the eye by letters, marks, or
           characters, which form words.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The expression of ideas by writing, or any other
        instrumentality.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The forms of speech, or the methods of expressing ideas,
        peculiar to a particular nation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. The characteristic mode of arranging words, peculiar to an
        individual speaker or writer; manner of expression; style.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Others for language all their care express. --Pope.
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     5. The inarticulate sounds by which animals inferior to man
        express their feelings or their wants.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. The suggestion, by objects, actions, or conditions, of
        ideas associated therewith; as, the language of flowers.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              There was . . . language in their very gesture.
                                                    --Shak.
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     7. The vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or
        department of knowledge; as, medical language; the
        language of chemistry or theology.
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     8. A race, as distinguished by its speech. [R.]
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              All the people, the nations, and the languages, fell
              down and worshiped the golden image.  --Dan. iii. 7.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     9. Any system of symbols created for the purpose of
        communicating ideas, emotions, commands, etc., between
        sentient agents.
        [PJC]
  
     10. Specifically: (computers) Any set of symbols and the
         rules for combining them which are used to specify to a
         computer the actions that it is to take; also referred to
         as a {computer lanugage} or {programming language}; as,
         JAVA is a new and flexible high-level language which has
         achieved popularity very rapidly.
         [PJC]
  
     Note: Computer languages are classed a low-level if each
           instruction specifies only one operation of the
           computer, or high-level if each instruction may specify
           a complex combination of operations. {Machine language}
           and {assembly language} are low-level computer
           languages. {FORTRAN}, {COBOL} and {C} are high-level
           computer languages. Other computer languages, such as
           JAVA, allow even more complex combinations of low-level
           operations to be performed with a single command. Many
           programs, such as databases, are supplied with special
           languages adapted to manipulate the objects of concern
           for that specific program. These are also high-level
           languages.
           [PJC]
  
     {Language master}, a teacher of languages. [Obs.]
  
     Syn: Speech; tongue; idiom; dialect; phraseology; diction;
          discourse; conversation; talk.
  
     Usage: {Language}, {Speech}, {Tongue}, {Idiom}, {Dialect}.
            Language is generic, denoting, in its most extended
            use, any mode of conveying ideas; speech is the
            language of articulate sounds; tongue is the
            Anglo-Saxon term for language, esp. for spoken
            language; as, the English tongue. Idiom denotes the
            forms of construction peculiar to a particular
            language; dialects are varieties of expression which
            spring up in different parts of a country among people
            speaking substantially the same language.
            [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Language \Lan"guage\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Languaged}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Languaging}.]
     To communicate by language; to express in language.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that
           they have a double sense.                --Fuller.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  language
       n 1: a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or
            conventional symbols; "he taught foreign languages";
            "the language introduced is standard throughout the
            text"; "the speed with which a program can be executed
            depends on the language in which it is written" [syn: {linguistic
            communication}]
       2: (language) communication by word of mouth; "his speech was
          garbled"; "he uttered harsh language"; "he recorded the
          spoken language of the streets" [syn: {speech}, {speech
          communication}, {spoken communication}, {spoken language},
           {voice communication}, {oral communication}]
       3: a system of words used in a particular discipline; "legal
          terminology"; "the language of sociology" [syn: {terminology},
           {nomenclature}]
       4: the cognitive processes involved in producing and
          understanding linguistic communication; "he didn't have
          the language to express his feelings" [syn: {linguistic
          process}]
       5: the mental faculty or power of vocal communication;
          "language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals"
          [syn: {speech}]
       6: the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number; "his
          compositions always started with the lyrics"; "he wrote
          both words and music"; "the song uses colloquial language"
          [syn: {lyric}, {words}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  482 Moby Thesaurus words for "language":
     Abnaki, Afghan, Afghani, Afrikaans, Afro-Asiatic, Ainu, Akan,
     Akkadian, Albanian, Aleut, Algonquian, Algonquin, Amharic,
     Anatolian, Anatolic, Andaman, Annamese, Anzanite, Apache, Arabic,
     Aramaic, Araucanian, Arawak, Arawakan, Armenian, Arulo, Aryan,
     Assamese, Athapaskan, Austral, Austronesian, Avestan, Aymara,
     Aztec, Balinese, Baluchi, Bashkir, Basque, Batak, Bellacoola,
     Bengali, Berber, Bhili, Bihari, Bikol, Bini, Blackfoot,
     Blaia Zimondal, Brahui, Brythonic, Buginese, Burmese, Burushaski,
     Buryat, Bushman, Byelorussian, Cantonese, Carolinian, Caspian,
     Castilian, Catalan, Caucasian, Chad, Cham, Cheremis, Cherokee,
     Chibcha, Chibchan, Chin, Chinese, Chinookan, Chuvash, Coptic,
     Cornish, Cuman, Czech, Dafla, Dalmatian, Danish, Dinka, Dravidian,
     Dutch, Dyak, Edo, Efatese, Egyptian, Elamitic, English, Eskimo,
     Eskimo-Aleut, Esperantido, Esperanto, Estonian, Ethiopic, Europan,
     Euskarian, Ewe, Faeroese, Faliscan, Fijian, Finnic, Finnish,
     Flemish, Fox, French, Frisian, Fula, Fulani, Gadaba, Gaelic,
     Galcha, Galla, Garo, Gaulish, Geez, Georgian, German, Germanic,
     Gold, Goldi, Gondi, Gothic, Greek, Guanche, Guarani, Gur, Gypsy,
     Haida, Haitian Creole, Hamito-Semitic, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew,
     Hellenic, Hindustani, Hittite, Ho, Hokaltecan, Hokan-Siouan, Hopi,
     Hottentot, Iban, Ibanag, Ibo, Icelandic, Idiom Neutral, Igorot,
     Illyrian, Indic, Indo-Aryan, Indo-Chinese, Indo-European,
     Indo-Hittite, Interlingua, Irish, Iroquoian, Italian, Italic,
     Ivatan, Kachin, Kafiri, Kalmuck, Kamasin, Kamchadal, Kanarese,
     Kara-Kalpak, Karamojong, Karankawa, Karelian, Kashmiri, Kashubian,
     Kechumaran, Keres, Ket, Khamti, Kharia, Khasi, Khmer, Khoisan,
     Khondi, Khosa, Khowar, Kickapoo, Kiowa Apache, Kirghiz, Kiriwina,
     Kitunahan, Kodagu, Kohistani, Koiari, Kolami, Koluschan, Komi,
     Konkani, Korean, Korwa, Koryak, Kui, Kuki, Kuki-Chin, Kumyk,
     Kunama, Kurdish, Kurukh, Kutchin, Kutenai, Kwa, Ladino, Lahnda,
     Lampong, Lamut, Lao, Lapp, Latin, Latinesce, Latvian, Lettish,
     Libyan, Ligurian, Limbu, Lingualumina, Lingvo Kosmopolita,
     Lithuanian, Livonian, Low German, Luorawetlan, Lusatian, Luwian,
     Lycian, Lydian, Macedonian, Madurese, Magyar, Malagasy, Malay,
     Malayalam, Malayo-Polynesian, Maltese, Manchu, Mandarin, Mande,
     Mandingo, Mangarevan, Manobo, Manx, Maori, Marathi, Maya, Mayan,
     Meithei, Mende, Messapian, Micronesian, Middle English,
     Middle Greek, Middle High German, Middle Persian, Mishmi,
     Mishongnovi, Misima, Miskito, Mon, Monario, Mongolian, Mongolic,
     Mordvin, Mordvinian, Moro, Mru, Munda, Muong, Mura, Muran, Murmi,
     Muskogean, Muskogee, Na-dene, Naga, Nahuatlan, Nepali, Newari,
     Ngala, Ngbaka, Niasese, Nicobarese, Niuean, Nogai, Nootka,
     Norwegian, Nov-Esperanto, Nov-Latin, Novial, Occidental, Optez,
     Oraon, Oriya, Oscan, Osco-Umbrian, Osmanli, Ossetic, Ostyak,
     Otomanguean, Pahlavi, Palaic, Palau, Palaung, Paleo-Asiatic, Pali,
     Pampango, Pangasinan, Papuan, Pashto, Pasigraphy, Paya, Penutian,
     Permian, Persian, Phrygian, Piman, Plattdeutsch, Polabian, Polish,
     Polynesian, Portuguese, Prakrit, Punic, Punjabi, Quechua, Quechuan,
     Ritwan, Ro, Romaic, Romanal, Romance, Romanic, Romansh, Romany,
     Russian, Ruthenian, Sabellian, Saharan, Sakai, Salish, Samoan,
     Samoyed, Samoyedic, Sanskrit, Sardinian, Sasak, Scandinavian,
     Selung, Semitic, Serbo-Croatian, Shan, Shilha, Shluh, Shoshonean,
     Siamese, Sinhalese, Sino-Tibetan, Siouan, Skittagetan, Slavic,
     Slavonic, Slovak, Slovene, Slovenian, Sogdian, Sorbian, Soyot,
     Spanish, Sudanic, Sumerian, Susian, Swahili, Swedish, Syriac,
     Syryenian, Tagalog, Tagula, Tahitian, Takelma, Takilman, Tamashek,
     Tamaulipec, Tanoan, Taracahitian, Tarascan, Tavgi, Taw-Sug,
     Thraco-Phrygian, Tibeto-Burman, Tigre, Tipura, Tocharian, Toda,
     Tsimshian, Tuareg, Tulu, Tungus, Tungusic, Tupi-Guaranian,
     Turanian, Turkic, Turkish, Turko-Tartar, Turkoman, Ugric, Uighur,
     Umbrian, Ural-Altaic, Uralian, Urdu, Uto-Aztecan, Uzbek,
     Vietnamese, Visayan, Vote, Votyak, Wa, Welsh, White Russian, Xhosa,
     Yakut, Yeniseian, Yiddish, Yoruba, Yukaghir, Yukian, Yurak, Zenaga,
     Zulu, agglutinative, analytic, argot, cant, choice of words,
     communication, composition, dialect, diction, dictionary,
     expression, formulation, grammar, idiom, incorporative,
     inflectional, interaction, intercourse, isolating, jargon,
     language, lexicon, lingo, locution, monosyllabic, palaver,
     parlance, patois, phrase, phraseology, phrasing, polysynthetic,
     polytonic, rhetoric, slang, speech, style, synthetic, talk,
     terminology, tongue, usage, use of words, usus loquendi, verbiage,
     vernacular, vocabulary, wordage, wording, words
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  language
       
          1.  {programming language}.
       
          2.  {natural language}.
       
          (1998-09-07)
       
       

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  LANGUAGE, n.  The music with which we charm the serpents guarding
  another's treasure.