SAY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Say

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verb

Say v. t. To try; to assay. (Obs.)

Say v. t. (past & past part. said; pres. part. saying)

To utter or express in words; to tell; to speak; to declare; as, he said many wise things. "Arise, and say how thou camest here."

To repeat; to rehearse; to recite; to pronounce; as, to say a lesson. "Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated In what thou hadst to say?" "After which shall be said or sung the following hymn."

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. "But what it is, hard is to say."

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. "Say, for nonpayment that the debt should double, Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?"

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.

Say v. i. (past & past part. said; pres. part. saying) To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply. "You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge." "To this argument we shall soon have said; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?"

Say past obs.. Saw.

noun

Say n.

Trial by sample; assay; sample; specimen; smack. (Obs.) "If those principal works of God... be but certain tastes and says, as it were, of that final benefit." "Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes."

Tried quality; temper; proof. (Obs.) "He found a sword of better say."

Essay; trial; attempt. (Obs.)

To give a say at, to attempt.

Say n.

A kind of silk or satin. (Obs.) "Thou say, thou serge, nay, thou buckram lord!"

A delicate kind of serge, or woolen cloth. (Obs.) "His garment neither was of silk nor say."

Say n. A speech; something said; an expression of opinion; a current story; a maxim or proverb. (Archaic or Colloq.) "He no sooner said out his say, but up rises a cunning snap." "That strange palmer's boding say, That fell so ominous and drear Full on the object of his fear."

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Etymology of 'Say'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Say" Quotes from Famous Books

... "I am afraid," say I, with a sour laugh, "that you have not kept much conversation for home use! I suppose you exhausted it all, this morning, ...

— Nancy - A Novel • Rhoda Broughton

... but rather persistent one," she replied. "They say that it is in the power of certain people—to drive him out of ...

— Nobody's Man • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... was thus given little opportunity for wrongdoing. For he lived after this only two years, two months and twenty days in addition to his thirty-nine years, five months and twenty-five days. People compare this feature of Titus's career with the fullness of years of Augustus, and say that the latter would never have won affection if he had lived a shorter time, nor the former, if he had lived longer. Augustus, though at the outset he had shown himself rather harsh because of the wars and the political factions, ...

— Dio's Rome, Volume V., Books 61-76 (A.D. 54-211) • Cassius Dio

... that the death of Paul was a fortunate event for Austria, and for Europe, but he had in his conversation, a court mourning, that was really quite intolerable. It is to be hoped, that the progress of time will rid the world of the courtier spirit, the most insipid of all others, to say nothing more. ...

— Ten Years' Exile • Anne Louise Germaine Necker, Baronne (Baroness) de Stael-Holstein

... told them rather firmly, "if this puzzle can be unwound, I'll be one of the happiest men on the planet. If I can do anything to help, just say the word." ...

— Highways in Hiding • George Oliver Smith

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