locutionn.
/lə(ʊ)ˈkjuːʃn/, U.S. /loʊˈkjuʃən/ 1. A form of expression; a phrase, an expression.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > phrase > [noun]
locution?a1475
phrase1530
saying1530
comma1592
speecha1599
standa1626
gramm1647
dictiona1660
roada1690
slip-slop1823
construct1871
group word1888
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 77 (MED) That somme men seyde Paradise to atteyn to the cercle of the moone, Alexander seythe that not to be trawthe, but after a locucion [L. locutionem] iperbolicalle.
1547 J. Hooper Answer Detection Deuyls Sophistrye sig. Dv Here ys a uery plain trope and figuratiue loquucion.
a1555 J. Bradford in J. Foxe Actes & Monuments (1570) III. 1795/1 Which is an hyperbolical loquution.
1604 R. Parsons Rev. Ten Publike Disput. i. 53 As farre as I can coniecture out of the ancient Fathers, these words of Christ (this is my body) is a figuratiue locution.
1650 W. Charleton tr. J. B. van Helmont Ternary of Paradoxes (new ed.) 133 I abhorre metaphoricall locutions in serious and abstruse subjects.
1654 Bp. J. Taylor Real Presence 140 If Testament in one place be taken for the instrument of his Testament, it is a tropical loquution.
1712 E. Byss tr. F. Charpentier Life Socrates 60 in tr. Xenophon Memorable Things Socrates This was what he [sc. Socrates] call'd his Dæmon, according to the locution of those Philosophers, who give sometimes this Name to that Divine Part of Man, that guides and governs him.
1797 J. Warner Metronariston ii. 42 The figurative and proverbial locution we have seen in the citations from Cicero and Seneca—habet suos numeros, plenus est.
1847 G. Grote Hist. Greece III. ii. ix. 33 It was essential to the security of the despot that..he should strike off the overtopping ears of corn in the field (to use the Greek locution).
1879 W. D. Howells Lady of Aroostook xxvii. 319 The vigorous and imaginative locutions of the Pike language.
1929 Amer. Speech 5 175 Several years ago the late E. K. Graham..in speaking of class reunions, used somewhat facetiously the word reune instead of the locution have a reunion.
1951 L. P. Hartley My Fellow Devils xix. 303 ‘To tell you the truth’... She had taken to using this locution lately.
2012 Hoosier Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 26 Aug. (Herald-Times ed.) e6/2 He has proved that the locution ‘growth recession’ is not oxymoronic.
2. Speech as the expression of thought; discourse, conversation. Also: a person's style of speech or manner of expression. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > [noun] > as expression
wordOE
speakinga1325
locution1483
verbalization1851
vocalization1887
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > [noun] > mode of expression
manner of speakinga1387
termsc1400
parlancec1475
locution1483
diction1563
couching1571
dictamenta1572
dialect1579
style1594
phraseology1604
phrasing1611
expression1628
language1643
wording1649
routine1676
mode1779
verbiage1792
parle1793
verbiagerie1817
vocabulation1859
phraseography1899
lexis1950
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. ccxxviij/2 He [sc. Nazareus] had..Spekyng or locucion moderate.
1519 W. Horman Vulgaria ix. f. 98v Let no man call hym selfe a diuyne: that knoweth nat the figuris of construction and locucion: and specially allygoris [etc.].
?1545 J. Bale 2nd Pt. Image Both Churches ii. sig. Nviii Vnder the shaddowe of fygurate locucyon.
1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. P4v To carrie the minde into sinfull thoughts, with vncleane locution, and vnchaste behauiour.
1606 J. Marston Wonder of Women i. ii. sig. B I hate these figures in locution, These about phrases forc'd by ceremonie.
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 347 A Libel may be obscure in point of Diction or Locution.
1793 Sporting Mag. Apr. 64/1 Ye remnants of covies attend, And list to my welcome locution; I happily foresee an end To our misery and persecution.
1846 G. Grote Hist. Greece II. i. xxi. 196 The vein of Homeric feeling and the general style of locution..would be maintained.
1895 Athenæum 19 Jan. 85/3 Borrow was shy, eccentric, angular, rustic in accent and in locution.
1944 Life 12 June 13/1 Their locution differs slightly. When Jones is called ‘adorable’, he says, ‘Cuss me ef Ah hain't’.
2008 L. G. Perdue Sword & Stylus i. 80 Meaning was created by the content of the language and the elegant locution of its expression.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > [noun]
speechc725
spellc888
tonguec897
spellingc1000
wordOE
mathelingOE
redec1275
sermonc1275
leeda1300
gale13..
speakc1300
speaking1303
ledenc1320
talea1325
parliamentc1325
winda1330
sermoningc1330
saying1340
melinga1375
talkingc1386
wordc1390
prolationa1393
carpinga1400
eloquencec1400
utteringc1400
language?c1450
reporturec1475
parleyc1490
locutionc1500
talk1539
discourse1545
report1548
tonguec1550
deliverance1553
oration1555
delivery1577
parling1582
parle1584
conveying1586
passage1598
perlocution1599
wording1604
bursta1616
ventilation1615
loquency1623
voicinga1626
verbocination1653
loquence1677
pronunciation1686
loquel1694
jawinga1731
talkee-talkee?1740
vocification1743
talkation1781
voicing1822
utterancy1827
voicing1831
the spoken word1832
outness1851
verbalization1851
voice1855
outgiving1865
stringing1886
praxis1950
c1500 Melusine (1895) 20 I wil not make grett locucion or talking.
?c1500 Conversion of St. Paul (Digby) l. 563 Of the hartes habundans the tunge makyth locucion.
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 23/1 A whole lippe is necessarye to the loquution and speeche.
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Evangelists & Acts (Acts xviii. 24) An eloquent man... It imports, 1 skill in the words..; 2 good locution.
1666 J. Smith Γηροκομία Βασιλικὴ (ed. 2) 140 Dentition and Locution are for the most part Contemporaries.
1727 J. Richardson Great Folly Pilgrimages Ireland vii. 99 God hath no where revealed to us, that upon saying three Paters, for the First, he will Pardon Sins of Cogitation; for the second, Sins of Locution, and for the third, Sins of Malice or Presumption.
1767 W. L. Lewis tr. Statius Thebaid II. xii. 1180 Should gentle Phœbus fortify my Lungs, And give Locution from a hundred Tongues.
4. Originally and chiefly Theology. An utterance, message, or revelation having a divine or supernatural origin, typically heard internally by the recipient alone.
ΚΠ
1653 N. Mosley Psychosophia iii. ii. 146 Though all our cogitations are not Christs locutions,..our good thoughts are Christs words.
1748 T. Stackhouse New Hist. Holy Bible III. i. 78 God..converses with his servants..either by a mental locution..or by a corporal locution, when he assumes an apparent [human] body and speech.
1851 F. Faber Lives Fr P. Segneri, Fr P. Pinamonti, & Ven. J. De Brito i. v. 71 To try the spirit of some nun who has ecstasies, sees visions, hears divine locutions.
1870 D. Lewis tr. St. Teresa of Avila Life xxv. 192 I should like to explain also how those locutions which come from the Good Spirit differ from those which come from an evil spirit.
1993 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 13 Feb. c5 He says he still regularly hears what he calls ‘inner locutions’, the voice of Mary passing on messages to him.
2013 Church Times 27 Sept. 20/2 Sometimes she received direct ‘locutions’ while praying, but at other times she had to carry on without knowing what was going to happen.
5. Philosophy and Linguistics. In speech-act theory: an utterance viewed solely in terms of its intrinsic meaning or reference, without regard to the intention of the speaker or writer to perform a particular action, or to bring about a particular result by making it; a locutionary act. Cf. illocution n., perlocution n. 2.Apparently coined in this sense by J. L. Austin in his William James Lectures, delivered at Harvard in 1955 (see quot. 1955).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > [noun] > a speech act or fact of being a speech act
descriptive1952
illocution1955
locution1955
performative1955
performatory1955
perlocution1955
performativeness1960
performativity1970
1955 J. L. Austin MS Lect. Notes: How to do Things with Words (Bodl. Eng. Misc. c. 395) f. 20 Act (A) or Locution. He said to me ‘You cant do that’. Act (B) or Illocution. He protested. Act (C. a) or Perlocution. He pulled me up, checked me. Act (C. b) He stopped me, he brought me to my senses.
1975 Jrnl. Philos. 72 676 The locution, the illocution, and the perlocution, which Austin also called locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.
1986 J. S. Bruner Actual Minds, Possible Worlds 65 Language..consists not only of a locution, of what is actually said, but of an illocutionary force—a conventional means of indicating what is intended by making that locution under those circumstances.
1991 J. G. du Plessis in P. J. Hartin & J. H. Petzer Text & Interpr. 131 Austin identified the effect than an utterance has. By producing language (the locution) with a specific purpose (illocution) the speaker attains a specific effect or consequence with his utterance.
2013 J. H. Walton & D. B. Sandy Lost World Script. 220 In recognition of this perlocution.., we could conclude that though the locutions found in the Pentateuch could serve as laws, that is not their illocution in the literary context.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.?a1475