Say

11 definitions found

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

  Say \Say\ (s[=a]), obs. imp. of {See}.
     Saw. --Chaucer.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Say \Say\ (s[=a]), n. [Aphetic form of assay.]
     1. Trial by sample; assay; sample; specimen; smack. [Obs.]
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              If those principal works of God . . . be but certain
              tastes and says, as it were, of that final benefit.
                                                    --Hooker.
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              Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes. --Shak.
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     2. Tried quality; temper; proof. [Obs.]
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              He found a sword of better say.       --Spenser.
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     3. Essay; trial; attempt. [Obs.]
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     {To give a say at}, to attempt. --B. Jonson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Say \Say\, v. t.
     To try; to assay. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Say \Say\, n. [OE. saie, F. saie, fr. L. saga, equiv. to sagum,
     sagus, a coarse woolen mantle; cf. Gr. sa`gos. See {Sagum}.]
     1. A kind of silk or satin. [Obs.]
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              Thou say, thou serge, nay, thou buckram lord!
                                                    --Shak.
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     2. A delicate kind of serge, or woolen cloth. [Obs.]
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              His garment neither was of silk nor say. --Spenser.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Say \Say\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Said} (s[e^]d), contracted from
     sayed; p. pr. & vb. n. {Saying}.] [OE. seggen, seyen, siggen,
     sayen, sayn, AS. secgan; akin to OS. seggian, D. zeggen, LG.
     seggen, OHG. sag[=e]n, G. sagen, Icel. segja, Sw. s[aum]ga,
     Dan. sige, Lith. sakyti; cf. OL. insece tell, relate, Gr.
     'e`nnepe (for 'en-sepe), 'e`spete. Cf. {Saga}, {Saw} a
     saying.]
     1. To utter or express in words; to tell; to speak; to
        declare; as, he said many wise things.
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              Arise, and say how thou camest here.  --Shak.
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     2. To repeat; to rehearse; to recite; to pronounce; as, to
        say a lesson.
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              Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated
              In what thou hadst to say?            --Shak.
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              After which shall be said or sung the following
              hymn.                                 --Bk. of Com.
                                                    Prayer.
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     3. To announce as a decision or opinion; to state positively;
        to assert; hence, to form an opinion upon; to be sure
        about; to be determined in mind as to.
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              But what it is, hard is to say.       --Milton.
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     4. To mention or suggest as an estimate, hypothesis, or
        approximation; hence, to suppose; -- in the imperative,
        followed sometimes by the subjunctive; as, he had, say
        fifty thousand dollars; the fox had run, say ten miles.
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              Say, for nonpayment that the debt should double,
              Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble? --Shak.
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     {It is said}, or {They say}, it is commonly reported; it is
        rumored; people assert or maintain.
  
     {That is to say}, that is; in other words; otherwise.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Say \Say\, v. i.
     To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.
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           You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest
           judge.                                   --Shak.
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           To this argument we shall soon have said; for what
           concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household
           privacies?                               --Milton.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Say \Say\, n. [From {Say}, v. t.; cf. {Saw} a saying.]
     A speech; something said; an expression of opinion; a current
     story; a maxim or proverb. [Archaic or Colloq.]
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           He no sooner said out his say, but up rises a cunning
           snap.                                    --L'Estrange.
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           That strange palmer's boding say,
           That fell so ominous and drear
           Full on the object of his fear.          --Sir W.
                                                    Scott.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  say
       n : the chance to speak; "let him have his say"
       v 1: express in words; "He said that he wanted to marry her";
            "tell me what is bothering you"; "state your opinion";
            "state your name" [syn: {state}, {tell}]
       2: report or maintain; "He alleged that he was the victim of a
          crime"; "He said it was too late to intervene in the war";
          "The registrar says that I owe the school money" [syn: {allege},
           {aver}]
       3: express a supposition; "Let us say that he did not tell the
          truth"; "Let's say you had a lot of money--what would you
          do?" [syn: {suppose}]
       4: have or contain a certain wording or form; "The passage
          reads as follows"; "What does the law say?" [syn: {read}]
       5: state as one's opinion or judgement; declare; "I say let's
          forget this whole business"
       6: utter aloud; "She said `Hello' to everyone in the office"
       7: give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with
          authority; "I said to him to go home"; "She ordered him to
          do the shopping"; "The mother told the child to get
          dressed" [syn: {order}, {tell}, {enjoin}]
       8: speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way; "She pronounces
          French words in a funny way"; "I cannot say `zip wire'";
          "Can the child sound out this complicated word?" [syn: {pronounce},
           {articulate}, {enounce}, {sound out}, {enunciate}]
       9: recite or repeat a fixed text; "Say grace"; "She said her
          `Hail Mary'"
       10: communicate or express nonverbally; "What does this painting
           say?"; "Did his face say anything about how he felt?"
       11: indicate; "The clock says noon"
       [also: {said}]

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

  436 Moby Thesaurus words for "say":
     Australian ballot, Hare system, Parthian shot, about,
     absolute power, absolutism, acknowledge, acme, address, affirm,
     affirmance, affirmation, after-dinner speech, allegation, allege,
     allocution, almost, animadvert, announce, announcement, annunciate,
     annunciation, answer, answer back, apostrophe, approximately,
     approximatively, argue, articulate, ascendancy, assert, assertion,
     assever, asseverate, asseveration, assume, authority,
     authorization, aver, averment, avouch, avouchment, avow, avowal,
     aye, ballot, be afraid, be-all and end-all, believe, blue ribbon,
     bout, break silence, breathe, bring out, canvass, canvassing,
     casting vote, chalk talk, championship, chance, charisma, charm,
     chime, chime in, choice, chorus, cite, clout, come back,
     come out with, command, comment, communicate, competence,
     competency, conceive, conclude, conclusion, consequence, consider,
     constituted authority, contend, control, convey, counting heads,
     crack, credit, creed, cumulative voting, daresay, debate,
     deciding vote, decision, declamation, declaration, declare, deduce,
     deem, delegated authority, deliver, diatribe, dictum, directorship,
     disclose, discretion, divine, divine right, division, dominance,
     domination, dominion, dream, echo, effect, effectiveness, eminence,
     emit, enchantment, enfranchisement, enunciate, enunciation, esteem,
     eulogy, exclamation, exhortation, expect, express, expression,
     faculty, fagot vote, fancy, favor, feel, filibuster, first place,
     first prize, flash back, fling off, for practical purposes, force,
     forensic, forensic address, formal speech, formulate, franchise,
     free choice, free decision, free will, full consent,
     funeral oration, gather, generally, generally speaking, give,
     give acknowledgment, give answer, give expression, give out with,
     give tongue, give utterance, give voice, go, good feeling, grant,
     graveyard vote, greeting, hand vote, harangue, have, headship,
     hegemony, height, highest, hold, hortatory address, imagine,
     impart, imperium, importance, in round numbers, inaugural,
     inaugural address, incidental power, indicate, indirect authority,
     infer, influence, influentiality, inherent authority, inning,
     innings, insinuation, insist, interjection, invective, ipse dixit,
     issue a manifesto, jeremiad, jurisdiction, jus divinum, just,
     kingship, lawful authority, lay down, leadership, legal authority,
     legitimacy, let, let be, let out, leverage, lip, list system,
     lordship, magnetism, maintain, management, manifesto, mark,
     mastership, mastery, maximum, mention, moment, more or less, most,
     nay, ne plus ultra, new high, no, noncontingent free will,
     nontransferable vote, note, observation, opine, opportunity,
     option, oration, out with, palms, paramountcy, pep talk,
     peroration, personality, persuasion, philippic, phonate, phrase,
     pipe up, pitch, place, plebiscite, plebiscitum, plumper,
     plural vote, poll, polling, position, position paper,
     positive declaration, potency, pour forth, power, practically,
     predicate, predication, predominance, preferential voting,
     prefigure, prepared speech, prepared text, preponderance,
     prerogative, present, presidency, pressure, prestige, presume,
     presuppose, presurmise, primacy, proclaim, proclamation, profess,
     profession, pronounce, pronouncement, proportional representation,
     proposition, protest, protestation, provisionally accept, proxy,
     public speech, purchase, put, put forth, put in words, put it,
     question, quote, raise, react, read, reading, recital, recitation,
     recite, reckon, record, record vote, reecho, referendum,
     reflection, regality, register, reign, rejoin, relief, remark,
     repeat, reply, representation, repute, respond, retort, return,
     return answer, return for answer, reverberate, right,
     right to vote, rightful authority, riposte, rising vote, roughly,
     roughly speaking, round, roundly, royal prerogative, rule,
     sales talk, salutatory, salutatory address, say in reply, say out,
     say-so, saying, screed, secret ballot, sentence, set down,
     set forth, set speech, shoot back, show of hands, single vote,
     snap vote, sound, sovereignty, speak, speak out, speak up, speech,
     speechification, speeching, spell, stance, stand, stand for,
     stand on, state, statement, straw vote, suasion, subjoinder,
     submit, subtle influence, suffrage, suggestion, suppose, supremacy,
     surmise, suspect, sway, take, take for, take for granted, take it,
     take the floor, take to be, talk, talk back, talkathon, tell,
     the say, the say-so, think, thought, throw off, throw out, time,
     time at bat, tirade, top spot, transferable vote, turn, understand,
     upper hand, utter, utterance, valediction, valedictory,
     valedictory address, verbalize, vested authority,
     vicarious authority, viva voce, vocalize, voice, voice vote, vote,
     voting, voting right, vouch, weight, whack, whip hand, whisper,
     word, write-in, write-in vote, yea, yeas and nays, yes, zenith
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  say vt. 1. To type to a terminal. "To list a directory verbosely, you
     have to say `ls -l'." Tends to imply a {newline}-terminated command (a
     `sentence'). 2. A computer may also be said to `say' things to you, even
     if it doesn't have a speech synthesizer, by displaying them on a
     terminal in response to your commands. Hackers find it odd that this
     usage confuses {mundane}s.
  
  

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

  say
       
          A human may "say" things to a computer by typing them on a
          terminal.  "To list a directory verbosely, say "ls -l"."
          Tends to imply a {newline}-terminated command (a "sentence").
       
          A computer may "say" things to you, even if it doesn't have a
          speech synthesiser, by displaying them on a terminal in
          response to your commands.  This usage often confuses
          {mundane}s.
       
          [{Jargon File}]