different between speak vs snort

English

Alternative forms

• speake (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English speken (“to speak”), from Old English specan (“to speak”), alteration of earlier sprecan (“to speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *sprekan, from Proto-Germanic *sprekan? (“to speak, make a sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *spreg- (“to make a sound, utter, speak”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /spi?k/
• (General American) enPR: sp?k, IPA^(key): /spik/
• Rhymes: -i?k

Verb

speak (third-person singular simple present speaks, present participle speaking, simple past spoke or (archaic) spake, past participle spoken or (colloquial, nonstandard) spoke)

1. (intransitive) To communicate with one's voice, to say words out loud.

2. (intransitive, reciprocal) To have a conversation.

3. (by extension) To communicate or converse by some means other than orally, such as writing or facial expressions.

4. (intransitive) To deliver a message to a group; to deliver a speech.

5. (transitive) To be able to communicate in a language.
   1. (by extension) To be able to communicate in the manner of specialists in a field.
6. (transitive) To utter.

7. (transitive) To communicate (some fact or feeling); to bespeak, to indicate.
   • 1785, Frances Burney, Diary and letters of Madame d'Arblay, author of Evelina, Cecilia, &c., link:

     Their behaviour to each other speaks the most cordial confidence and happiness.
8. (informal, transitive, sometimes humorous) To understand (as though it were a language).

9. (intransitive) To produce a sound; to sound.
10. Of a bird, to be able to vocally reproduce words or phrases from a human language.
11. (transitive, archaic) To address; to accost; to speak to.

    • [He will] thee in hope; he will speak thee fair.

    • 1842, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Threnody in "Poems", published 1847, page 239

      Each village senior paused to scan / And speak the lovely caravan.

    • 2013, George Francis Dow, Slave Ships and Slaving (quoting an older text)

      Spoke the ship Union of Newport, without any anchor. The next day ran down to Acra, where the windlass was again capsized and the pawls broken.

Usage notes

• Saying that one speaks a language often means that one can or knows how to speak it ("I speak Italian"); similarly, "I don't speak Italian" usually means that one cannot, rather than that one chooses not to.

Synonyms

• articulate, talk, verbalize

Antonyms

• be silent

Derived terms

Coordinate terms

• sign

Related terms

• speech

Translations

Noun

speak (countable and uncountable, plural speaks)

1. language, jargon, or terminology used uniquely in a particular environment or group.

   Corporate speak; IT speak.

2. Speech, conversation.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

speak (plural speaks)

1. (dated) a low class bar, a speakeasy.

Anagrams

• Akpes, Paeks, Pasek, Peaks, Spake, kapes, peaks, spake

Scots

Etymology

From Old English sprecan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sp?k]
• (North Northern Scots) IPA^(key): [sp?k]

Verb

speak (third-person singular present speaks, present participle speakin, past spak, past participle spoken)

1. to speak

Derived terms

English

Etymology

From Middle English snorten, from earlier fnorten, probably related to Middle English snoren, fnoren, from Old English fnora. See snore and sneeze for more on the change from fn- to sn-.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sn??t/
• Rhymes: -??(r)t

Noun

snort (plural snorts)

1. The sound made by exhaling or inhaling roughly through the nose.
2. (slang) A dose of a drug to be snorted. Here, "drug" includes snuff (i.e., pulverized tobacco).
3. (slang) A consumed portion of alcoholic drink.
   • 1951, Indiana Historical Society Publications (volumes 16-17, page 157)

     Everybody tipped up the jug and took a snort of whisky and followed it with a gourd of cool water. We thought a snort of whisky now and then braced us up some and put a little more lift in us.

   • 1978, George G. Gilman, Edge: Red River, Pinnacle Books (1978), ?ISBN, page 45:

     "It won't buy you any wine," Paxton told him.

     "I know that," the drunk replied in an insulted tone. "It's a pussy pass, ain't it?"

     Paxton grinned wearily. "How would you know that? You'd rather have a snort than a screw any day."

4. (nautical, Britain) A submarine snorkel.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

snort (third-person singular simple present snorts, present participle snorting, simple past and past participle snorted)

1. (intransitive) To make a snort; to exhale roughly through the nose.

   She snorted with laughter.

2. (transitive) To express or force out by snorting.

   He snorted a derisory reply and turned on his heel.

3. (transitive, slang) To inhale (usually a drug) through the nose.

   to snort cocaine

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To snore.
5. (intransitive, nautical, of submarines) To sail at periscope depth through the use of a snort or snorkel.

Synonyms

• (inhale through the nose): insufflate

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• ronts, trons

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

snort

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of snorren
2. (archaic) plural imperative of snorren