Word Meanings - VOICE - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Sound of the kind or quality heard in speech or song in the consonants b, v, d, etc., and in the vowels; sonant, or intonated, utterance; tone; -- distinguished from mere breath sound as heard in f, s, sh, etc., and also whisper. Note: Voice, in

Additional info about word: VOICE

Sound of the kind or quality heard in speech or song in the consonants b, v, d, etc., and in the vowels; sonant, or intonated, utterance; tone; -- distinguished from mere breath sound as heard in f, s, sh, etc., and also whisper. Note: Voice, in this sense, is produced by vibration of the so-called vocal cords in the larynx which act upon the air, not in the manner of the strings of a stringed instrument, but as a pair of membranous tongues, or reeds, which, being continually forced apart by the outgoing current of breath, and continually brought together again by their own elasticity and muscular tension, break the breath current into a series of puffs, or pulses, sufficiently rapid to cause the sensation of tone. The power, or loudness, of such a tone depends on the force of the separate pulses, and this is determined by the pressure of the expired air, together with the resistance on the part of the vocal cords which is continually overcome. Its pitch depends on the number of aërial pulses within a given time, that is, on the rapidity of their succession. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 5, 146, 155. 3. The tone or sound emitted by anything. After the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings xix. 12. Canst thou thunder with a voice like him Job xl. 9. The floods have lifted up their voice. Ps. xciii. 3. O Marcus, I am warm'd; my heart Leaps at the trumpet's voice. Addison. 4. The faculty or power of utterance; as, to cultivate the voice. 5. Language; words; speech; expression; signification of feeling or opinion. I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Gal. iv. 20. My voice is in my sword. Shak. Let us call on God in the voice of his church. Bp. Fell. 6. Opinion or choice expressed; judgment; a vote. Sic. How now, my masters! have you chose this man 1 Cit. He has our voices, sir. Shak. Some laws ordain, and some attend the choice Of holy senates, and elect by voice. Dryden. 7. Command; precept; -- now chiefly used in scriptural language. So shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God. Deut. viii. 20. 8. One who speaks; a speaker. "A potent voice of Parliament." Tennyson. (more info) vocis, akin to Gr. vac to say, to speak, G. erwähnen to mention. Cf. 1. Sound uttered by the mouth, especially that uttered by human beings in speech or song; sound thus uttered considered as possessing some special quality or character; as, the human voice; a pleasant voice; a low voice. He with a manly voice saith his message. Chaucer. Her voice was ever soft, Gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman. Shak. Thy voice is music. Shak. Join thy voice unto the angel choir. Milton.

Related words: (words related to VOICE)

• SPEECHLESS
  1. Destitute or deprived of the faculty of speech. 2. Not speaking for a time; dumb; mute; silent. Speechless with wonder, and half dead with fear. Addison. -- Speech"less*ly, adv. -- Speech"less*ness, n.
• SPEECHIFYING
  The dinner and speechifying . . . at the opening of the annual season for the buckhounds. M. Arnold.
• QUALITY
  1. The condition of being of such and such a sort as distinguished from others; nature or character relatively considered, as of goods; character; sort; rank. We lived most joyful, obtaining acquaintance with many of the city not of the meanest
• SPEECHFUL
  Full of speech or words; voluble; loquacious.
• BREATHLESS
  1. Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath. 2. Not breathing; holding the breath, on account of fear, expectation, or intense interest; attended with a holding of the breath; as, breathless attention. But breathless, as we grow
• SPEECHIFY
  To make a speech; to harangue.
• SOUNDLY
  In a sound manner.
• SOUNDNESS
  The quality or state of being sound; as, the soundness of timber, of fruit, of the teeth, etc.; the soundness of reasoning or argument; soundness of faith. Syn. -- Firmness; strength; solidity; healthiness; truth; rectitude.
• BREATHABLE
  Such as can be breathed.
• DISTINGUISHABLE
  1. Capable of being distinguished; separable; divisible; discernible; capable of recognition; as, a tree at a distance is distinguishable from a shrub. A simple idea being in itself uncompounded . . . is not distinguishable into different ideas.
• DISTINGUISH
  1. To make distinctions; to perceive the difference; to exercise discrimination; -- with between; as, a judge distinguishes between cases apparently similar, but differing in principle. 2. To become distinguished or distinctive; to make one's self
• DISTINGUISHMENT
  Observation of difference; distinction. Graunt.
• BREATHER
  1. One who breathes. Hence: One who lives. One who utters. One who animates or inspires. 2. That which puts one out of breath, as violent exercise.
• SPEECHIFICATION
  The act of speechifying.
• BREATHING
  1. Respiration; the act of inhaling and exhaling air. Subject to a difficulty of breathing. Melmoth. 2. Air in gentle motion. 3. Any gentle influence or operation; inspiration; as, the breathings of the Spirit. 4. Aspiration; secret prayer.
• SOUNDING BALLOON
  An unmanned balloon sent aloft for meteorological or aëronautic purposes.
• SOUND-BOARD
  A sounding-board. To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes. Milton.
• DISTINGUISHABLY
  So as to be distinguished.
• DISTINGUISHING
  Constituting difference, or distinction from everything else; distinctive; peculiar; characteristic. The distinguishing doctrines of our holy religion. Locke. Distinguishing pennant , a special pennant by which any particular vessel in a fleet
• SOUND
  1. To causse to make a noise; to play on; as, to sound a trumpet or a horn. A bagpipe well could he play and soun . Chaucer. 2. To cause to exit as a sound; as, to sound a note with the voice, or on an instrument. 3. To order, direct, indicate,
• BREATHE
  Etym: 1. To respire; to inhale and exhale air; hence;, to live. "I am in health, I breathe." Shak. Breathes there a man with soul so dead Sir W. Scott. 2. To take breath; to rest from action. Well! breathe awhile, and then to it again! Shak. 3.
• CONTRADISTINGUISH
  To distinguish by a contrast of opposite qualities. These are our complex ideas of soul and body, as contradistinguished. Locke.
• ALTISONANT
  High-sounding; lofty or pompous. Skelton.
• INDISTINGUISHABLE
  Not distinguishable; not capable of being perceived, known, or discriminated as separate and distinct; hence, not capable of being perceived or known; as, in the distance the flagship was indisguishable; the two copies were indisguishable in form
• HIGH-SOUNDING
  Pompous; noisy; ostentatious; as, high-sounding words or titles.
• RESOUND
  resonare; pref. re- re- + sonare to sound, sonus sound. See Sound to 1. To sound loudly; as, his voice resounded far. 2. To be filled with sound; to ring; as, the woods resound with song. 3. To be echoed; to be sent back, as sound. "Common fame
• INVOICE
  A written account of the particulars of merchandise shipped or sent to a purchaser, consignee, factor, etc., with the value or prices and charges annexed. Wharton. 2. The lot or set of goods as shipped or received; as, the merchant receives a large
• INEQUALITY
  An expression consisting of two unequal quantities, with the sign of inequality between them; as, the inequality 2 < 3, or 4 > 1. (more info) 1. The quality of being unequal; difference, or want of equality, in any respect; lack of uniformity;
• SOUNDER
  One who, or that which; sounds; specifically, an instrument used in telegraphy in place of a register, the communications being read by sound.
• ABSONANT
  Discordant; contrary; -- opposed to consonant. "Absonant to nature." Quarles.
• SOUNDLESS
  Not capable of being sounded or fathomed; unfathomable. Shak.
• MISSOUND
  To sound wrongly; to utter or pronounce incorrectly. E,Hall.
• INDISTINGUISHING
  Making no difference; indiscriminative; impartial; as, indistinguishing liberalities. Johnson.
• UPBREATHE
  To breathe up or out; to exhale. Marston.