Adjacent Words

Spake definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPAKE, pret. of speak; nearly obsolete. We not use spoke.

Merriam Webster's

archaic past of speak

Oxford Reference Dictionary

archaic past of SPEAK.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Speak Speak, v. i. [imp. Spoke(SpakeArchaic); p. p. Spoken(Spoke, Obs. or Colloq.); p. pr. & vb. n. Speaking.] [OE. speken, AS. specan, sprecan; akin to OF.ries. spreka, D. spreken, OS. spreken, G. sprechen, OHG. sprehhan, and perhaps to Skr. sph[=u]rj to crackle, to thunder. Cf. Spark of fire, Speech.] 1. To utter words or articulate sounds, as human beings; to express thoughts by words; as, the organs may be so obstructed that a man may not be able to speak. Till at the last spake in this manner. --Chaucer. Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. --1 Sam. iii. 9. 2. To express opinions; to say; to talk; to converse. That fluid substance in a few minutes begins to set, as the tradesmen speak. --Boyle. An honest man, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. --Shak. During the century and a half which followed the Conquest, there is, to speak strictly, no English history. --Macaulay. 3. To utter a speech, discourse, or harangue; to adress a public assembly formally. Many of the nobility made themselves popular by speaking in Parliament against those things which were most grateful to his majesty. --Clarendon. 4. To discourse; to make mention; to tell. Lycan speaks of a part of C[ae]sar's army that came to him from the Leman Lake. --Addison. 5. To give sound; to sound. Make all our trumpets speak. --Shak. 6. To convey sentiments, ideas, or intelligence as if by utterance; as, features that speak of self-will. Thine eye begins to speak. --Shak. To speak of, to take account of, to make mention of. --Robynson (More's Utopia). To speak out, to speak loudly and distinctly; also, to speak unreservedly. To speak well for, to commend; to be favorable to. To speak with, to converse with. ``Would you speak with me?'' --Shak. Syn: To say; tell; talk; converse; discourse; articulate; pronounce; utter.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spake Spake, archaic imp. of Speak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Spake is the very old-fashioned form of the past tense of speak.