talisman 
man, a later use of LGr. Te/.ea/m, a religious rite, 
initiation, a particular use of G-r. ritea/to, com- 
pletiou, < TCAC'IV, end, complete, make perfect, 
initiate into sacred mysteries, < re/of, end, com- 
pletion, initiation. Gt.tetem.] 1. A supposed 
charm consisting of a magical figure cut or en- 
graved under certain superstitions observances 
of the configuration of the heavens ; the seal, 
figure, character, or image of a heavenly sign, 
constellation, or planet engraved on a sympa- 
thetic stone, or on a metal corresponding to the 
star, in order to receive its influence. The word 
is also used in a wider sense and as equivalent to amulet. 
The talisman is supposed to exercise extraordinary influ- 
ences over the bearer, especially in averting evils, as dis- 
ease or sudden death. 
Qnentin, like an unwilling spirit who obeys a talisman 
which he cannot resist, protected Gertrude to Pavilion's 
house. Scott, Quentin Durward, xxxvii. 
2. Figuratively, any means to the attainment 
of extraordinary results ; a charm. 
Books are not seldom talismans and spells 
By which the magic art of shrewder wits 
Holds an unthinking multitude enthrall'd. 
Cowper, Task, vi. 98. 
By that dear talisman, a mother's name. 
Lowell, Threnodia. 
= Syn. See amulet, and definition of phylactery. 
talisman 2 ! (tal'is-man), n. [Also sometimes, 
as ML., in pi. talismani, talismanni ; = F. talis- 
man, < ML. talismanus, talismannus, a Moham- 
medan priest, a molla ; of obscure Ar. origin : 
perhaps < Ar. talamiza, students, disciples.] A 
Mohammedan priest. 
This . . . Mosquita hath 99. gates, and 5. steeples, from 
whence the Talismani call the people to the Mosquita. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 208. 
This Mosquita hath fourescore and nineteene Gates, and 
flue Steeples, from whence the Talismans call the people 
to their deuotion. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 268. 
talismanic (tal-is-man'ik), a. [= F. talisma- 
nique; as talisman 1 + -ic.] Having the charac- 
ter or properties of a talisman ; characteristic 
of a talisman; magical. 
We have Books, . . . every one of which is talismanic 
and thaumaturgic, for it can persuade men. 
Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, p. 119. 
talismanicait (tal-is-man'i-kal), a. [< talis- 
manic + -a/.] Same as taiismanic. Bailey, 
1731. 
talismanist (tal'is-man-ist), n. [< talisman 1 
+ -ist.] One who uses or believes in the power 
of talismans. [Rare.] 
Such was even the great Paracelsus, . . . and such were 
all his followers, scholars, statesmen, divines, and princes, 
that are talismanists. 
Defoe, Duncan Campbell, Ep. Ded. (Davies.) 
talith (tal'ith), n. Same as tallith. 
talk 1 (tak), v. [< ME. talken, taTkien, talk, 
speak ; with formative -k, with a freq. or dim. 
force, used also in smirk 1 , stoffi'l, etc., < talen, 
talien, speak, tell: see tote 1 , v., formerly a com- 
mon verb, whose place has been taken by talk, 
its freq. or dim. form. According to Skeat, the 
ME. talken is derived from Sw. tolka = Dan. 
tolke, interpret, explain, = Icel. tfilka, interpret, 
plead one's case, < Sw. Dan. tolk = Icel. tiilkr 
= D. MHG. tolk, an interpreter (ME. tolk, tnlk, 
a man), < Lith. tulkas, an interpreter (see tolk) ; 
but this notion is inconsistent with the form of 
the verb (no ME. form *tolken appears in either 
sense ' talk' or ' interpret'), with phonetic laws 
(ME. *tolken would not change to talken, and 
would not produce a mod. form talk, pron. tak), 
and with the sense ('talk' and 'interpret' be- 
ing by no means identical or adjacent notions). 
The fact that the formative -k is not common 
in ME. is not an argument against its admis- 
sion in this case, inasmuch as it does actually 
occur in stalk*-, smirk 1 , and other cases. Some 
confusion with a ME.*tolken, which, though not 
found, is paralleled by a MD. tolcken, interpret, 
expound, may have occurred.] I. intrans. 1. 
To make known or interchange thoughts by 
means of spoken words; converse: especially 
implying informal speech and colloquy, or the 
presence of a hearer. 
The lorde wonder loude laled & cryed, 
& talkez to his tormenttourez. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 154. 
When I am come home, I must commune with my wife, 
chat with my children, and talk with my servants. 
Sir T. More, Utopia, Ded. to Peter Giles, p. 5. 
She is charming to talk to full of wisdom ripe in 
judgment rich in information. 
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxxv. 
2. To speak incessantly or impertinently ; chat- 
ter; prate; gossip. 
A good old man, sir ; he will be talking. 
Sltak., Much Ado, iii. 5. 36. 
0170 
And did Sir Aylmer . . . think 
For people talk'd that it was wholly wise 
To let that handsome fellow Averill walk 
So freely with Ins daughter ? 
Tennyson, Ayhner's Field. 
3. To communicate ideas through the medium 
of written characters, gestures, signs, or any 
other substitute for oral speech. 
The natural histories of Switzerland talk very much of 
the fall of these rocks, and the great damage they have 
sometimes done. 
Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn, I. 512). 
4. To have or exercise the power of speech ; 
utter words; also, to imitate the sound of 
spoken words, as some birds, mechanical con- 
trivances, etc. 
"What! canst thou talk'" quoth she, "hast thou a 
tongue?" Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 427. 
The talking phonograph is a natural outcome of the 
telephone, but, unlike any form of telephone, it is mechani- 
cal, and not electrical, in its action. 
G. B. Prescott, Elect. Invent., p. 306. 
5. To consult; confer. 
Let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Jer. xii. 1. 
But talk with Celsus, Celsus will advise 
Hartshorn, or something that shall close your eyes. 
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 19. 
6. To produce sounds suggestive of speech. 
[Colloq. or technical.] 
They [the bubbles] make so much noise in their escape 
that, in the language of the soap-boiler, " the soap talks." 
W. L. Carpenter, Soap and Candles, p. 161. 
Talking of, apropos of ; with regard to. 
"Talking of a siege," said Tibbs, . . . "when I was in 
the volunteer corps in eighteen hundred and six, our com- 
manding officer was Sir Charles Rampart." 
Dickens, Sketches, Tales, i. 
Talking starling. See starling^. To talk big, to talk 
pompously or boastfully. [Colloq.] To talk from the 
point, subject, etc., to direct one's remarks or speech 
away from the matter under consideration ; wander, in 
speaking, from the topic under discussion. 
Talking from the point, he drew him in, ... 
Until they closed a bargain. Tennyson, The Brook. 
To talk like a Dutch uncle. See Dutch. To talk of, 
to mention ; discuss ; especially, to consider with a view 
to performing, undertaking, etc. : as, he talks of returning 
next week. [Colloq.] 
I had procured letters to the pasha to do me what ser- 
vice he could in relation to my designed expedition to 
Palmyra, and I talked of going to him myself. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 127. 
To talk postt. See post?, adv. To talk round, to ex- 
haust a subject. [Colloq.] 
He may ring the changes as far as it will go, and vary 
his phrase till he has talked round. 
Swift, Tale of a Tub, Author's Pref . 
To talk to. (a) To address ; speak to. (ft) To expostulate 
with ; reprove ; rebuke. [Colloq. ] To talk to the point, 
subject, etc., to confine one's remarks to the matter in 
hand ; keep to the required subject. To talk UP, to speak 
boldly, impertinently, or defiantly : as, to talk up to an em- 
ployer or other superior. [ Colloq. ] = Syn. 1 and 2. Speak, 
Talk. See speak, v. i. 
II. trans. 1. To utter; articulate; enunciate. 
The hende herte & hiude bi-gunne to a-wake, . . . 
& talkeden bi-twene mani tidy wordes. 
n-illiam of Palerne(E. E. T. S.), 1. 3077. 
Stay, madam, I must talke a word with you. 
Shak., Rich. III. (folio 1623), iv. 4. 198. 
2. To express in words; make known orally; 
tell: as, to talk treason; to talk common sense. 
Sche trowed trewly to talke the gothe. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.)> 1. 1018. 
Prithee, no more ; thou dost talk nothing to me. 
Shak., Tempest, ii. 1. 170. 
3. To discourse about; speak of ; discuss: as, 
to talk philosophy ; to talk shop. 
That crystalline sphere whose balance weighs 
The trepidation talk'd, and that first moved. 
Milton, P. L., iii. 483. 
He talked philosophy with his neighbours, when he was 
not at law with them. 
B. Hall, Society in Elizabethan Age, i. 
It was the whim of the hour to talk Rousseau, and to af- 
fect indifference to rank and a general faith in a good time 
coming of equality and brotherhood. 
J. McCarthy, Hist Own Times, xiv. 
4. To use as a spoken language ; express one's 
self orally in : as, to talk French or German. 
She almost made me adore her, by telling me that I 
talked Greek with the most Attic accent that she had heard 
in Italy. Macaulay, Fragments of a Roman Tale. 
5. To bring, send, induce, influence, or other- 
wise affect by speech : used in many phrases : 
as, to talk one into compliance ; to talk one's 
tongue weary. 
If they were but a week married, they would talk them- 
selves mad. Shak., Much Ado, ii. 1. 369. 
As long as we have Eyes, or Hands, or Breath, 
We'll look, or write, or talk you all to Death. 
Prior, Epilogue to Mrs. Mauley's Lucius. 
Could she but have given Harriet her feelings about it 
all ! She had talked her into love ; but, alas ! she was not 
so easily to be talked out of it. Jane Austen, Emma, xxii. 
talkee-talkee 
6. To pass or spend in talking: with #. as, 
to talk away an evening. 
We have already talked away two miles of your journey. 
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 223. 
To be talked out, to have exhausted one's stock of re- 
marks. To talk down, to out-talk. 
St. something I forget her name 
Her that talk'd down the fifty wisest men. 
Tennyson, Princess, v. 
To talk Greek, to talk in language the hearer cannot 
understand. To talk over, (a) To win over by persua- 
sion or argument. (6) To go over in conversation ; re- 
view ; discuss. 
And now, my dear friend, if you please, we will talk over 
the situation of your affairs with Maria. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 3. 
To talk shop. See def. 3 and shopi. To talk up. to 
consider ; discuss ; especially, to discuss in order to further 
or promote : as, to talk up a new bridge. [Colloq,. } 
talk 1 (tak), . [Early mod. E. also talkf, taulke ; 
< talk\v.J[ 1. Discourse; speech; especially, 
the familiar oral intercourse of two or more 
persons; conversation. 
It [speech by meeter] is beside a maner of vtterance 
more eloquent and rethoricall then the ordinarie prose 
which we vse in our daily talke. 
Puttenham., Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 5. 
There is not any where, I believe, so much talk about 
religion as among us in England. 
Steele, Guardian, No. 66. 
Talk, to me, is only spading up the ground for crops of 
thought. I can't answer for what will turn up. 
0. W. Holmes, Professor, i. 
There are always two to a talk, giving and taking, com- 
paring experience and according conclusions. 
R. L. Stevenson, Talk and Talkers, i. 
2. Report; rumor; gossip. 
Would to God this taulke were not trewe, and that som 
mens doinges were not thus. 
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 55. 
I hear a talk up and down of raising our money. 
Locke, Works, V. 81. 
There is talk of inducing and instructing the Porte to 
govern better, to alter her nature and amend her ways. 
W. R. Greg, Misc. Essays, 1st ser., p. 56. 
3. A subject or occasion of talk, especially of 
gossip ; a theme. 
Live to be wretched ; live to be the talk 
Of the conduit and the bakehouse. 
Massinger, Parliament of Love, iv. 5. 
Wert thou not Lovely, Graceful, Good, and Young? 
The Joy of Sight, the Talk of ev'ry Tongue? 
Cmgreve, Tears of Amaryllis. 
4. A more or less formal or public discussion 
conducted by a body of men, or by two oppos- 
ing parties, concerning matters of common in- 
terest; a negotiation ; a conference; a palaver. 
And though they held with us a friendly talk, 
The hollow peace-tree fell beneath their tomahawk. 
Campbell, Gertrude of Wyoming, i. 15. 
5. Language; speech; lingo. [Colloq.] 
After marriage, the husband leaves his people and goes 
to live with those of his wife, even if it is in a different 
island, so long as they both speak the same language ; if 
not, the man stays in his own island and the woman 
learns his talk. Jour. Anthrop. Inst., XIX. 396. 
Small talk. See small. =Syn. 1. Converse, colloquy, 
chat, communication, parley, gossip, confabulation. See 
" 17. t. 
talk'-t, n. An obsolete spelling of talc. 
talkable (ta'ka-bl), a. 1. Capable of being 
talked about. R. L. Stevenson, Talk and Talk- 
ers, i. 2. Capable of talking; having con- 
versational powers. K. L. Stevenson, Talk and 
Talkers, i. [Rare in both uses.] 
talkative (ta'ka-tiv), a. [< ME. talcatife; < 
talk 1 + -at- + -me. This is an early example of 
a " hybrid" formation now common.] Inclined 
to talk or converse ; ready or apt to engage in 
conversation; freely communicative ; chatty. 
A secret is more safe with a treacherous knave than a 
talkative fool. 
Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing-Master, iv. 1. 
The French are always open, familiar, and talkative. 
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 373). 
= Syn. Talkative, Loquacious, Garrulous. Talkative is a 
mildly unfavorable word ; the others are clearly unfavor- 
able. Talkative is applied to a person who is in the habit of 
speaking frequently, whether much is said at one speak- 
ing or not : thus, a lively child may be talkative. A loqua- 
cious person is one who has this inclination with a greater 
flow of words, and perhaps a disposition to make many 
words of a small matter. Garrulous is the word applied 
to mental decline, as in old age, and implies feeble, prosy, 
continuous talk, with needless repetitions and tiresome 
details. The subject of a garrulous person's talk is gen- 
erally himself or his own affairs or observations. 
talkatively (ta'ka-tiv-li), adv. In a talkative 
manner; so as to be talkative. 
talkativeness (ta'ka-tiv-nes), . The character 
of being talkative ; loquacity ; garrulity. 
Whence is it that men are so addicted to talkativeness, 
but that nature would make all our thoughts and passions 
as common as it can? Baxter, Dying Thoughts. 
talkee-talkee (ta'ke-ta'ke), . [Also talki/- 
ii ; a reduplication of talk' 1 , with a meaning- 
