talk Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an exchange of ideas via conversation
    talking.
    • let's have more work and less talk around here
  2. noun discussion; (`talk about' is a less formal alternative for `discussion of')
    • his poetry contains much talk about love and anger
  3. noun the act of giving a talk to an audience
    • I attended an interesting talk on local history
  4. noun a speech that is open to the public
    lecture; public lecture.
    • he attended a lecture on telecommunications
  5. noun idle gossip or rumor
    talk of the town.
    • there has been talk about you lately
  6. verb exchange thoughts; talk with
    speak.
    • We often talk business
    • Actions talk louder than words
  7. verb express in speech
    verbalise; verbalize; mouth; utter; speak.
    • She talks a lot of nonsense
    • This depressed patient does not verbalize
  8. verb use language
    speak.
    • the baby talks already
    • the prisoner won't speak
    • they speak a strange dialect
  9. verb reveal information
    spill.
    • If you don't oblige me, I'll talk!
    • The former employee spilled all the details
  10. verb divulge confidential information or secrets
    let the cat out of the bag; peach; babble; spill the beans; babble out; tattle; blab out; sing; blab.
    • Be careful--his secretary talks
  11. verb deliver a lecture or talk
    lecture.
    • She will talk at Rutgers next week
    • Did you ever lecture at Harvard?

WordNet

Talk intransitive verb
Etymology
Cf. LG. talk talk, gabble, Prov. G. talken to speak indistinctly; or OD. tolken to interpret, MHG. tolkan to interpret, to tell, to speak indistinctly, Dan. tolke to interpret, Sw. tolka, Icel. tlka to interpret, tlkr an interpreter, Lith. tulkas an interpreter, tulkanti, tulkoti, to interpret, Russ. tolkovate to interpret, to talk about; or perhaps fr. OE. talien to speak (see Tale, v. i. & n.).
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Talked ; present participle & verbal noun Talking
Definitions
  1. To utter words; esp., to converse familiarly; to speak, as in familiar discourse, when two or more persons interchange thoughts.
    I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you. Shak.
  2. To confer; to reason; to consult.
    Let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Jer. xii. 1.
  3. To prate; to speak impertinently. Colloq.
Talk transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To speak freely; to use for conversing or communicating; as, to talk French.
  2. To deliver in talking; to speak; to utter; to make a subject of conversation; as, to talk nonsense; to talk politics.
  3. To consume or spend in talking; -- often followed by away; as, to talk away an evening.
  4. To cause to be or become by talking. "They would talk themselves mad." Shak.
Talk noun
Definitions
  1. The act of talking; especially, familiar converse; mutual discourse; that which is uttered, especially in familiar conversation, or the mutual converse of two or more.
    In various talk the instructive hours they passed. Pope.
    Their talk, when it was not made up of nautical phrases, was too commonly made up of oaths and curses. Macaulay.
  2. Report; rumor; as, to hear talk of war.
    I hear a talk up and down of raising our money. Locke.
  3. Subject of discourse; as, his achievment is the talk of the town. Syn. -- Conversation; colloquy; discourse; chat; dialogue; conference; communication. See Conversation.

Webster 1913