parlance
English
WOTD – 29 September 2008
Etymology
From Middle English *parlaunce, from Anglo-Norman parlance, parlaunce, from parler (“to talk”) + -ance.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɑː.ləns/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈpɑɹ.ləns/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
parlance (countable and uncountable, plural parlances)
- A certain way of speaking, of using words; especially that associated with a particular job or interest.
- 1836, James Fenimore Cooper, "Eclipse":
- To my childish fancy, it had seemed an imaginary flag-staff, or, in rustic parlance, the "liberty pole" of some former generation […]
- 1845, Charles Miner, History of Wyoming, Letter IX:
- We approach the contest, still known in the common parlance of the country, as "the first Pennimite War."
- 1909, William Elliot Griffis, The Story of New Netherland, Chapter 22:
- The tourist's impression of the country to-day is that of a transported Holland, in which the official language is Dutch and the parlance of the people is "taki-taki."
- 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (Crest Giant; D338), Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Publications, published December 1959, OCLC 768447, part 2, page 181:
- At first she "ran a temperature" in American parlance, and I could not resist the exquisite caloricity of unexpected delights—Venus febriculosa—though it was a very languid Lolita that moaned and coughed and shivered in my embrace.
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- Of a word, the quality of being lexicalized; especially as jargon or slang.
- 2020, Oluka, Stanley, Performance Management System and Employee Performance in Amuria Health Centre IV, Eastern Uganda:
- Its use at a variety of levels, including the individual and organisational level, make it a varied term that has parlance in organisational development, performance management and talent management.
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- (archaic, rare) Speech, discussion or debate.
- 1849, Lady Charlotte Guest, The Mabinogion, "Peredur the Son of Evrawc":
- And without further parlance they fought, […]
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Synonyms
- jargon
Translations
A certain way of speaking (or using words)
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Anagrams
- carplane
Old French
Alternative forms
- parlaunce (chiefly late Anglo-Norman)
Etymology
parler + -ance, or from an unattested Latin word.
Noun
parlance f (oblique plural parlances, nominative singular parlance, nominative plural parlances)
- discussion; debate
Descendants
- English: parlance
References
- parlance on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub