discourse : Idioms & Phrases

• noun a report of the exact words used in a discourse (e.g., "he said `I am a fool'")
  direct quotation.
  

WordNet

• (Gram.), the language of any one quoted without change in its form; as, he said "I can not come;" correlative to indirect discourse, in which there is change of form; as, he said that he could not come. They are often called respectively by their Latin names, oratio directa, and oratio obliqua.

Webster 1913

• noun a report of a discourse in which deictic terms are modified appropriately (e.g., "he said `I am a fool' would be modified to `he said he is a fool'")
  

WordNet

• . (Gram.) See Direct discourse, under Direct.

Webster 1913

• noun everything stated or assumed in a given discussion
  universe.
  

WordNet