speaker

Etymology

From Middle English speker, spekere, an alteration (with change of suffix) of Old English speca, spreca (“speaker”), from Proto-Germanic *sprekô (“speaker”), equivalent to speak + -er. Compare Saterland Frisian Spreeker (“speaker”), West Frisian sprekker (“speaker”), Dutch spreker (“speaker”), German Low German Spreker (“speaker”), German Sprecher (“speaker”).

noun

1. One who speaks.
   This title is derived from the first verse of the book (1.1), which is a heading or colophon informing the reader who this Qoheleth was: he was the author of the book, or at least the speaker of the words which are contained in it ... 1989, R. Norman Whybray, Ecclesiastes, A&C Black, page 15
   There were three different speakers, but I couldn't make out their accents.
2. Loudspeaker.
   She lost her hearing after standing too close to the speaker at the festival.
3. Speakerphone.
4. (politics) The chair or presiding officer of certain legislative bodies, such as the U.K. House of Commons or the U.S. House of Representatives.
5. One who makes a speech to an audience.
   The company hired a motivational speaker to boost morale.
6. (US) A book containing passages of text for use in speeches.
7. (especially in linguistics) The producer of a given utterance, whether speech or text.
   The speaker spelled out the words to be communicated, letter by letter, while the reader's hand read the speaker's message. In its original form the hand alphabet assumed that both speaker and reader could already speak and spell the words ... 2002, Merlin Donald, A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human Consciousness, W. W. Norton & Company, page 242
   1. (poetry) The literary character uttering the lyrics of a poem or song, as opposed to the author writing the words of that character.
      Popular culture often incorrectly attributes quotes from the speakers of poems or songs to the authors thereof, as when "I took the one less traveled by" is attributed to Robert Frost rather than to the speaker in Frost's "The Road Not Taken".
8. (music) A key on a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family (cf octave key on other instruments) which induces the instrument to overblow.
9. (archaic) A wooden pole or spike used by hedgers to carry loads on their shoulders. Possibly Dorset dialect; alternatively spyeker
   With a speäker, or stake, he tossed the outlying scraps of fuel on the into the conflagration. 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, page 18