say

Definition of say

18 senses · 5 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

(transitive)To pronounce.

“Please say your name slowly and clearly.”

See all 18 definitions

verb

(transitive)To pronounce.

“Please say your name slowly and clearly.”
(transitive)To recite.

“Martha, will you say the Pledge of Allegiance?”
“Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.”
(transitive)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.”
“‘All right,’ said Jessamy. ‘I say, Miss Brindle said she’d think about you coming to see the house some time. I said I was sure you weren’t the stone throwing kind, not at windows, I mean.’”
“I want to say I’m sorry for yesterday. — It’s okay, Anna.”
(transitive)To indicate in a written form.

“The sign says it’s 50 kilometres to Paris.”
“What time does it say on the clock?”
(impersonal, transitive)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.”
“It’s said that fifteen wagon loads of ready-made clothes for the Virginia troops came to, and stay in, town to-night.”
(imperative, informal, transitive)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?”
“I've followed Selina down the strip, when we're shopping, say, and she strolls on ahead, wearing sawn-off jeans and a wash-withered T-shirt[…]”
(intransitive)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?”
(especially, informal, transitive)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.'”
To try; to assay.

“I, that had sayed on one of his customers sutes.”

noun

(countable)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.”
“Sunday’s general election has been cast as a high-stakes contest between democracy and military rule, but critics say a new army-backed constitution gives junta-appointed officials a large say in the next government.”
(countable, uncountable)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 […]”
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; temper; proof.

“He found a sword of better say.”
Essay; trial; attempt.

“This fellow, Captaine, Will come, in time, to be a great distiller, And giue a say[…]at the philosophers stone.”
(Scotland)A strainer for milk.

adv

(not-comparable)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.”

intj

(US, colloquial)Used to gain someone's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion

“Say, what did you think about the movie?”

name

A surname.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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…

See full etymology

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.