speaker
[spee-ker]
- a person who speaks.
- a person who speaks formally before an audience; lecturer; orator.
- (usually initial capital letter) the presiding officer of the U.S. House of Representatives, the British House of Commons, or other such legislative assembly.
- Also called loudspeaker. an electroacoustic device, often housed in a cabinet, that is connected as a component in an audio system, its function being to make speech or music audible.
- a book of selections for practice in declamation.
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- be/not beon speakers, British. speaking(defs 9, 10).
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Origin of speaker
Speaker
[spee-ker]
- Tris(tram E.),1888–1958, U.S. baseball player.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for speaker
Contemporary Examples
The speaker conjures up centuries of collective sagacity, aligning oneself with an eternal, inarguable good.
At a press conference today with Scalise, Speaker Boehner again defended him.
House rules require an absolute majority of members voting to choose a speaker.
Normally, 434 members (minus Michael Grimm who resigned) would vote for Speaker.
If 29 vote for someone else, the race for speaker goes to a second ballot for the first time in almost 100 years.
Historical Examples
That the speaker was in earnest there could be no manner of question.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
"As empty as an English squire, coz," cried the first speaker.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
"I do suppose Blackbeard's so afraid he don't know how to see," said the first speaker.
Howard Pyle's Book of PiratesHoward Pyle
Mrs. Cummings, the speaker, was no ordinary woman of Western make.
A Woman TenderfootGrace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
"We are men of his company and we have news for him," returned the speaker in the sampan.
The Monster MenEdgar Rice Burroughs
speaker
- a person who speaks, esp at a formal occasion
- See loudspeaker
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Speaker
- the presiding officer in any of numerous legislative bodies, including the House of Commons in Britain and Canada and the House of Representatives in the US, Australia, and New Zealand
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for speaker
n.
c.1300, "one who speaks," agent noun from speak (v.). First applied to "person who presides over an assembly" c.1400, from Anglo-French (late 14c.). In reference to the English Parliament, Sir Thomas de Hungerford apparently was the first.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper