speechify

speechify

English

Etymology

From speech +‎ -ify.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspiːt͡ʃɪfaɪ/

Verb

speechify (third-person singular simple present speechifies, present participle speechifying, simple past and past participle speechified)

1. (intransitive) To give a speech; to hold forth; (now especially) to pronounce pompously or at length.
   • 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LVI, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 948783829, book VI, page 238:

     Caleb was a powerful man and knew little of any fear except the fear of hurting others and the fear of having to speechify.

   • 1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), page 1351:

     He never missed a chance of speechifying in public.

   • 2007, James Brady, Warning of War: A Novel of the North China Marines, Macmillan, →ISBN:

     The home minister, Admiral Suetsugu, speechified grandly of a Japanese eminent domain beyond the seas, of a “moral purification drive” in the home islands.

   • 2013, John Nichols, The Magic Journey: A Novel, Holt Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 20:

     Rodey McQueen speechified elegantly about the necessity for harmony.

2. (transitive, possibly obsolete) To make speeches to (someone); to address in a speech.
   • 1864, Charles Dickens, "Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy," chapter 2:

     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.

Derived terms

• speechifying

See also

• bespeech