colloquy

English

WOTD – 9 June 2012

Etymology

From Latin colloquium (conversation),[1] from com- (together, with) (English com-) + form of loquor (speak) (from which English locution and other words).[2] Doublet of colloquium.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) enPR: kŏl'ə-kwē, IPA(key): /ˈkɒ.lə.kwi/
  • (file)
  • (file)

Noun

colloquy (countable and uncountable, plural colloquies)

  1. A conversation or dialogue. [from 16th c.]
    • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
      And she repeated the free caress into which her colloquies with Maisie almost always broke and which made the child feel that her affection at least was a gage of safety.
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, “1/1/2”, in Piracy: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
      House Prees and Bloods [] were everywhere to be seen in earnest colloquy. For the matter was, that there was some sort of night-prowler about the school grounds.
  2. (obsolete) A formal conference. [16th-17th c.]
  3. (Christianity) A church court held by certain Reformed denominations. [from 17th c.]
  4. A written discourse. [from 18th c.]
  5. (law) A discussion during a trial in which a judge ensures that the defendant understands what is taking place in the trial and what their rights are.
    • 1999, H. L. Pohlman, The Whole Truth?: A Case of Murder on the Appalachian Trail, →ISBN, page 193:
      At the end of the colloquy, Judge Spicer asked Carr whether anyone had "pressured" him into accepting the deal.

Antonyms

  • (a conversation of multiple people): soliloquy

Hypernyms

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Verb

colloquy (third-person singular simple present colloquys, present participle colloquying, simple past and past participle colloquied)

  1. (intransitive, rare) To converse.

References

  1. “colloquy” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
  2. colloquy” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
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