(a) The act of speaking or an instance of it, the uttering of words, talking; withouten ani more ~, without any more talking, without delay; (b) the act or fact of talking with someone, the act of conversing or an instance of it; a conversation; ben in ~, to be conversing; fallen in ~, fall into conversation; haven (holden) ~, converse; maken ~, make conversation; (c) that which is said, an utterance, speech, words; also, in phrase introducing directly quoted words: seien sli ~, to say such words; (d) the act of relating a story, a recitation, narration; also, a spoken or written narrative, a story; (e) a formal discussion, either spoken or written, a discourse; misti ~, a discourse cloaked in allegory or couched in symbolic language; (f) the matter or subject of a discourse; (g) a manner of speaking; parlance; (h) tidings, news, information.