Oratory

5 definitions found

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

  Oratory \Or"a*to*ry\, n. [L. oratoria (sc. ars) the oratorical
     art.]
     The art of an orator; the art of public speaking in an
     eloquent or effective manner; the exercise of rhetorical
     skill in oral discourse; eloquence. "The oratory of Greece
     and Rome." --Milton.


     [1913 Webster]
  
           When a world of men
           Could not prevail with all their oratory. --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

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

  Oratory \Or"a*to*ry\, n.; pl. {Oratories}. [OE. oratorie, fr. L.
     oratorium, fr. oratorius of praying, of an orator: cf. F.
     oratoire. See {Orator}, {Oral}, and cf. {Oratorio}.]
     A place of orisons, or prayer; especially, a chapel or small
     room set apart for private devotions.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           An oratory [temple] . . . in worship of Dian.
                                                    --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Do not omit thy prayers for want of a good oratory, or
           place to pray in.                        --Jer. Taylor.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Fathers of the Oratory} (R. C. Ch.), a society of priests
        founded by St. Philip Neri, living in community, and not
        bound by a special vow. The members are called also
        {oratorians}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  oratory
       n : addressing an audience formally (usually a long and
           rhetorical address and often pompous); "he loved the
           sound of his own oratory"

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

  57 Moby Thesaurus words for "oratory":
     Lady chapel, address, articulateness, articulation, chantry,
     chapel, chapel of ease, chapel royal, command of language,
     command of words, debating, declamation, demagogism, diction,
     effective style, elocution, eloquence, eloquent tongue,
     enunciation, expression, expressiveness, facundity, felicitousness,
     felicity, fluency, forensics, gift of expression, gift of gab,
     glibness, grandiloquence, graphicness, homiletics, lecturing,
     magniloquence, meaningfulness, oratorium, platform oratory,
     public speaking, pyrotechnics, rabble-rousing, rhetoric, sacellum,
     sacrament chapel, sacrarium, school chapel, side chapel,
     silver tongue, slickness, smoothness, speaking, speechcraft,
     speechification, speeching, speechmaking, stump speaking,
     vividness, wordcraft
  
  

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

  ORATORY, n.  A conspiracy between speech and action to cheat the
  understanding.  A tyranny tempered by stenography.