say

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Saw. Geoffrey Chaucer

Origin: Aphetic form of assay.

1. Trial by sample; assay; sample; specimen; smack. obsolete

If those principal works of God... be but certain tastes and says, as it were, of that final benefit.— Richard Hooker

Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes.— William Shakespeare

2. Tried quality; temper; proof. obsolete

He found a sword of better say.— Edmund Spenser

3. Essay; trial; attempt. obsolete

To give a say at, to attempt. Ben Jonson

To try; to assay. obsolete Ben Jonson

Origin: OE. saie, F. saie, fr. L. saga, equiv. to sagum, sagus, a coarse woolen mantle; cf. Gr. σάγος. See Sagum.

1. A kind of silk or satin. obsolete

Thou say, thou serge, nay, thou buckram lord!— William Shakespeare

2. A delicate kind of serge, or woolen cloth. obsolete

His garment neither was of silk nor say.— Edmund Spenser

Origin: OE. seggen, seyen, siggen, sayen, sayn, AS. secgan; akin to OS. seggian, D. zeggen, LG. seggen, OHG. sagēn, G. sagen, Icel. segja, Sw. säga, Dan. sige, Lith. sakyti; cf. OL. insece tell, relate, Gr. ἔννεπε (for ἐν-σεπε), ἔσπετε. Cf. Saga, Saw a saying.

1. To utter or express in words; to tell; to speak; to declare; as, he said many wise things.

Arise, and say how thou camest here.— William Shakespeare

2. To repeat; to rehearse; to recite; to pronounce; as, to say a lesson.

Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated In what thou hadst to say?— William Shakespeare

After which shall be said or sung the following hymn.— Bk. of Com. Prayer.

3. To announce as a decision or opinion; to state positively; to assert; hence, to form an opinion upon; to be sure about; to be determined in mind as to.

But what it is, hard is to say.— John Milton

4. To mention or suggest as an estimate, hypothesis, or approximation; hence, to suppose; — in the imperative, followed sometimes by the subjunctive; as, he had, say fifty thousand dollars; the fox had run, say ten miles.

Say, for nonpayment that the debt should double, Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?— William Shakespeare

It is said, or They say, it is commonly reported; it is rumored; people assert or maintain. — That is to say, that is; in other words; otherwise.

To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.

You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge.— William Shakespeare

To this argument we shall soon have said; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?— John Milton

Origin: From Say, transitive verb; cf. Saw a saying.

A speech; something said; an expression of opinion; a current story; a maxim or proverb. Archaic or Colloq.

He no sooner said out his say, but up rises a cunning snap.— Sir Roger L'Estrange

That strange palmer's boding say, That fell so ominous and drear Full on the object of his fear.— Sir Walter Scott

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

A human may "say" things to a computer by typing them on a terminal. "To list a directory verbosely, say "ls -l"." Tends to imply a newline-terminated command (a "sentence").

A computer may "say" things to you, even if it doesn't have a speech synthesiser, by displaying them on a terminal in response to your commands. This usage often confuses mundanes. [Jargon File]

The Jargon File

1.To type to a terminal. “To list a directory verbosely, you have to say ls -l.” Tends to imply a newline-terminated command (a ‘sentence’).

2.A computer may also be said to ‘say’ things to you, even if it doesn't have a speech synthesizer, by displaying them on a terminal in response to your commands. Hackers find it odd that this usage confuses mundanes.