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English Dictionary: language' by the DICT Development Group
3 results for language'
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Language \Lan"guage\, n. [OE. langage, F. langage, fr. L. lingua
      the tongue, hence speech, language; akin to E. tongue. See
      {Tongue}, cf. {Lingual}.]
      1. Any means of conveying or communicating ideas;
            specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the
            voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the
            organs of the throat and mouth.
  
      Note: Language consists in the oral utterance of sounds which
               usage has made the representatives of ideas. When two
               or more persons customarily annex the same sounds to
               the same ideas, the expression of these sounds by one
               person communicates his ideas to another. This is the
               primary sense of language, the use of which is to
               communicate the thoughts of one person to another
               through the organs of hearing. Articulate sounds are
               represented to the eye by letters, marks, or
               characters, which form words.
  
      2. The expression of ideas by writing, or any other
            instrumentality.
  
      3. The forms of speech, or the methods of expressing ideas,
            peculiar to a particular nation.
  
      4. The characteristic mode of arranging words, peculiar to an
            individual speaker or writer; manner of expression; style.
  
                     Others for language all their care express. --Pope.
  
      5. The inarticulate sounds by which animals inferior to man
            express their feelings or their wants.
  
      6. The suggestion, by objects, actions, or conditions, of
            ideas associated therewith; as, the language of flowers.
  
                     There was . . . language in their very gesture.
                                                                              --Shak.
  
      7. The vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or
            department of knowledge; as, medical language; the
            language of chemistry or theology.
  
      8. A race, as distinguished by its speech. [R.]
  
                     All the people, the nations, and the languages, fell
                     down and worshiped the golden image.   --Dan. iii. 7.
  
      {Language master}, a teacher of languages. [Obs.]
  
      Syn: Speech; tongue; idiom; dialect; phraseology; diction;
               discourse; conversation; talk.
  
      Usage: {Language}, {Speech}, {Tongue}, {Idiom}, {Dialect}.
                  Language is generic, denoting, in its most extended
                  use, any mode of conveying ideas; speech is the
                  language of articulate sounds; tongue is the
                  Anglo-Saxon tern for language, esp. for spoken
                  language; as, the English tongue. Idiom denotes the
                  forms of construction peculiar to a particular
                  language; dialects are varieties if expression which
                  spring up in different parts of a country among people
                  speaking substantially the same language.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
   Language \Lan"guage\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Languaged}; p. pr. &
      vb. n. {Languaging}.]
      To communicate by language; to express in language.
  
               Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that
               they have a double sense.                        --Fuller.

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]:
   language
  
      1. {programming language}.
  
      2. {natural language}.
  
      (1998-09-07)
  
  
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