say
verbEtymology
From Middle English seyen, seien, seggen, from Old English seċġan (“to say, speak”), from Proto-West Germanic *saggjan, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaną (“to say”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷ-h₁-yé-, a suffixed o-grade form of *sekʷ- (“to say”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sai, seede, sii, sjide, sooi, säie (“to say”), West Frisian sizze (“to say”), Alemannic German ŝchége, ŝchegi, séege, säge, sägä (“to say”), Bavarian sogn, soon, sågn (“to say”), Dutch zeggen (“to say”), German sagen (“to say”), Low German seggen (“to say, tell”), Luxembourgish soen (“to say”), Yiddish זאָגן (zogn, “to say”), Danish sige (“to say”), Faroese siga (“to say”), Icelandic segja (“to say”), Jamtish segi (“to say”), Norwegian Bokmål si (“to say”), Norwegian Nynorsk segja, seia, seie (“to say, tell”), Swedish säga (“to say”). The adverb and interjection are from the verb.
- derived from *sokʷ-h₁-yé-✻
- inherited from *saggjan✻
- inherited from seyen
Definitions
To pronounce.
- Please say your name slowly and clearly.
To recite.
- Martha, will you say the Pledge of Allegiance?
To tell, either verbally or in writing.
- He said he would be here tomorrow.
- No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.
- She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.
›+ 15 more definitionsshow fewer
To indicate in a written form.
- The sign says it’s 50 kilometres to Paris.
- What time does it say on the clock?
To have a common expression
To have a common expression; used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact.
- They say "when in Rome, do as the Romans do", which means "behave as those around you do."
- They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past.
- It is said, a bargain cannot be set aside upon inadequacy only.
Suppose, assume
Suppose, assume; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis.
- A holiday somewhere warm – Florida, say – would be nice.
- Say he refuses. What do we do then?
- Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it okay to steal some food?
To speak
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?
To bet as a wager on an outcome
To bet as a wager on an outcome; by extension, used to express belief in an outcome by the speaker.
- 'My fifty pounds says three months after the invasion there'll be a free press in Iraq, and unmonitored internet access too.'
A chance to speak
A chance to speak; the right or power to influence or make a decision.
- To have a say
- Above all, however, we would like to think that there is more to be decided, after the engines and after the humans have had their says.
- He has consolidated the military's role in politics through an army-drafted 2017 constitution widely seen as designed to prevent Pheu Thai from returning to power and ensuring a continuing say for the army.
For example
For example; let us assume.
- Pick a color you think they'd like, say, peach.
- He was driving pretty fast, say, fifty miles per hour.
- He was a very old man, and was heavy, say about 250 pounds.
Used to gain someone's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion
- Say, what did you think about the movie?
A type of fine cloth similar to serge.
- Per.[igot] VVell decked in a frocke of gray, / Will.[y] hey ho, gray is greet, / Per. And in a kirtle of greene ſaye, / Will. the greene is for maydens meete.
- All in a kirtle of diſcolourd ſay / He clothed was […]
To try
To try; to assay.
- I, that had sayed on one of his customers sutes.
Trial by sample
Trial by sample; assay; specimen.
- If those principal works of God […] be but certain tastes and says, as if were, of that final benefit.
- Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes.
Tried quality
Tried quality; temper; proof.
- He found a sword of better say.
Essay
Essay; trial; attempt.
- This fellow, Captaine, Will come, in time, to be a great distiller, And giue a say[…]at the philosophers stone.
A strainer for milk.
A surname.
The neighborhood
- synonymblather
- synonymdictate
- synonymgab
- synonymreport
- synonymsay
- synonymspeak
- synonymstate
- synonymtell
- synonymutter
- synonymverbalize
- synonymvoice
- synonymyak
- antonymsign
- antonymsignal
- antonymwrite
- neighborhearsay
- neighborsay again
- neighborcommunicate
- neighborexpress
- neighbortalk
- neighboradd
- neighboraffirm
- neighborallege
- neighborannounce
- neighboranswer
- neighborargue
- neighborassert
Derived
againsay, and so say all of us, as I was saying, as the saying goes, as they say, as who should say, before you can say Jack Robinson, before you can say knife, besay, can we say, daresay, dare-say, dare say, dare-saying, dessay, do as I say and not as I do, don't say gay, doomsaying, do you know what I'm saying, easy for you to say, endsay, enough said, final say, foresay, forsay, gainsay, go without saying, have a say, have to say for oneself, hear what I'm saying, how do you say … in English, how say you, how you say, I'd say, if I do say so myself, if I may say so, if I say so myself, if you don't mind me saying, if you say so, if you see something, say something · +125 more
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at say. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at say. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
10 hops · closes at say
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA