speechify
To give a speech; to hold forth; (now especially) to pronounce pompously or at length.
Verb
- To give a speech; to hold forth; (now especially) to pronounce pompously or at length.
- Caleb was a powerful man and knew little of any fear except the fear of hurting others and the fear of having to speechify. - 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LVI, in Middlemarch […], volume...
- He never missed a chance of speechifying in public. - 1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1351:
- The home minister, Admiral Suetsugu, speechified grandly of a Japanese eminent domain beyond the seas, of a “moral purification drive” in the home islands. - 2007, James Brady, Warning of War: A Novel of the North China...
- To make speeches to (someone); to address in a speech.
- They take their little enjoyments on little means and with little things and don't let solemn big-wigs stare them out of countenance or speechify them dull. - 1864, Charles Dickens, chapter 2, in Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy:
Origin
Etymology tree English speech Latin -i- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-fakāō Latin -ficō Latin -ificāreder. Old French -ifierbor. Middle English -ifien English -ify English speechify From speech + -ify.