speech

Etymology

From Middle English speche, from Old English spǣċ, sprǣċ (“speech, discourse, language”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprāku (“speech, language”), from Proto-Indo-European *spereg-, *spreg- (“to make a sound”). Cognate with Dutch spraak (“speech”), German Sprache (“language, speech”). More at speak.

noun

1. (uncountable) The ability to speak; the faculty of uttering words or articulate sounds and vocalizations to communicate.
   He had a bad speech impediment.
   After the accident she lost her speech.
2. (uncountable) The act of speaking, a certain style of it.
   It was hard to hear his speech over the noise.
   Her speech was soft and lilting.
   Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. 2014-04-21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884
3. (countable) A formal session of speaking, especially a long oral message given publicly by one person.
   The candidate made some ambitious promises in his campaign speech.
   The constant design of both these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point. 1720, Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Young Clergyman
4. (countable) A dialect, vernacular, or (dated) a language.
   The speche of Englande is a base speche to other noble speches, as Italion, Castylion, and Frenche; howbeit the speche of Englande of late dayes is amended. 1542, Andrew Boorde, The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge
5. (uncountable) Language used orally, rather than in writing.
   This word is mostly used in speech.
6. (grammar) An utterance that is quoted; see direct speech, reported speech
7. (uncountable) Public talk, news, gossip, rumour.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a speech; to harangue.
   So to Speeching he did go, / And like a Man of Senſe, / He certainly ſaid Ay or No, 1731, The Statesman: A New Court Ballad, page 7
   "He wasn't one to make himself big," said Mr. Jones. "But he had something that drew the people when he was speeching... When he came down we all used to shout 'Lloyd George am byth!' You know, 'Lloyd George forever!' That was just how we felt." 1965-06, “Wales, Land of Bards”, in National Geographic, volume 127, number 6