Language \Lan"guage\, n. [OE. langage, F. langage, fr. L. lingua
   the tongue, hence speech, language; akin to E. tongue. See
   Tongue, cf. Lingual.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. Any means of conveying or communicating ideas;
      specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the
      voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the
      organs of the throat and mouth.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Language consists in the oral utterance of sounds which
         usage has made the representatives of ideas. When two
         or more persons customarily annex the same sounds to
         the same ideas, the expression of these sounds by one
         person communicates his ideas to another. This is the
         primary sense of language, the use of which is to
         communicate the thoughts of one person to another
         through the organs of hearing. Articulate sounds are
         represented to the eye by letters, marks, or
         characters, which form words.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. The expression of ideas by writing, or any other
      instrumentality.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The forms of speech, or the methods of expressing ideas,
      peculiar to a particular nation.
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   4. The characteristic mode of arranging words, peculiar to an
      individual speaker or writer; manner of expression; style.
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            Others for language all their care express. --Pope.
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   5. The inarticulate sounds by which animals inferior to man
      express their feelings or their wants.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. The suggestion, by objects, actions, or conditions, of
      ideas associated therewith; as, the language of flowers.
      [1913 Webster]

            There was . . . language in their very gesture.
                                                  --Shak.
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   7. The vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or
      department of knowledge; as, medical language; the
      language of chemistry or theology.
      [1913 Webster]

   8. A race, as distinguished by its speech. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

            All the people, the nations, and the languages, fell
            down and worshiped the golden image.  --Dan. iii. 7.
      [1913 Webster]

   9. Any system of symbols created for the purpose of
      communicating ideas, emotions, commands, etc., between
      sentient agents.
      [PJC]

   10. Specifically: (computers) Any set of symbols and the
       rules for combining them which are used to specify to a
       computer the actions that it is to take; also referred to
       as a computer lanugage or programming language; as,
       JAVA is a new and flexible high-level language which has
       achieved popularity very rapidly.
       [PJC]

   Note: Computer languages are classed a low-level if each
         instruction specifies only one operation of the
         computer, or high-level if each instruction may specify
         a complex combination of operations. Machine language
         and assembly language are low-level computer
         languages. FORTRAN, COBOL and C are high-level
         computer languages. Other computer languages, such as
         JAVA, allow even more complex combinations of low-level
         operations to be performed with a single command. Many
         programs, such as databases, are supplied with special
         languages adapted to manipulate the objects of concern
         for that specific program. These are also high-level
         languages.
         [PJC]

   Language master, a teacher of languages. [Obs.]

   Syn: Speech; tongue; idiom; dialect; phraseology; diction;
        discourse; conversation; talk.

   Usage: Language, Speech, Tongue, Idiom, Dialect.
          Language is generic, denoting, in its most extended
          use, any mode of conveying ideas; speech is the
          language of articulate sounds; tongue is the
          Anglo-Saxon term for language, esp. for spoken
          language; as, the English tongue. Idiom denotes the
          forms of construction peculiar to a particular
          language; dialects are varieties of expression which
          spring up in different parts of a country among people
          speaking substantially the same language.
          [1913 Webster]

	

	Language \Lan"guage\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Languaged; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Languaging.]
   To communicate by language; to express in language.
   [1913 Webster]

         Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that
         they have a double sense.                --Fuller.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	language
     n 1: a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or
          conventional symbols; "he taught foreign languages";
          "the language introduced is standard throughout the
          text"; "the speed with which a program can be executed
          depends on the language in which it is written" [syn: linguistic
          communication]
     2: (language) communication by word of mouth; "his speech was
        garbled"; "he uttered harsh language"; "he recorded the
        spoken language of the streets" [syn: speech, speech
        communication, spoken communication, spoken language,
         voice communication, oral communication]
     3: a system of words used in a particular discipline; "legal
        terminology"; "the language of sociology" [syn: terminology,
         nomenclature]
     4: the cognitive processes involved in producing and
        understanding linguistic communication; "he didn't have
        the language to express his feelings" [syn: linguistic
        process]
     5: the mental faculty or power of vocal communication;
        "language sets homo sapiens apart from all other animals"
        [syn: speech]
     6: the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number; "his
        compositions always started with the lyrics"; "he wrote
        both words and music"; "the song uses colloquial language"
        [syn: lyric, words]

	

	482 Moby Thesaurus words for "language":
   Abnaki, Afghan, Afghani, Afrikaans, Afro-Asiatic, Ainu, Akan,
   Akkadian, Albanian, Aleut, Algonquian, Algonquin, Amharic,
   Anatolian, Anatolic, Andaman, Annamese, Anzanite, Apache, Arabic,
   Aramaic, Araucanian, Arawak, Arawakan, Armenian, Arulo, Aryan,
   Assamese, Athapaskan, Austral, Austronesian, Avestan, Aymara,
   Aztec, Balinese, Baluchi, Bashkir, Basque, Batak, Bellacoola,
   Bengali, Berber, Bhili, Bihari, Bikol, Bini, Blackfoot,
   Blaia Zimondal, Brahui, Brythonic, Buginese, Burmese, Burushaski,
   Buryat, Bushman, Byelorussian, Cantonese, Carolinian, Caspian,
   Castilian, Catalan, Caucasian, Chad, Cham, Cheremis, Cherokee,
   Chibcha, Chibchan, Chin, Chinese, Chinookan, Chuvash, Coptic,
   Cornish, Cuman, Czech, Dafla, Dalmatian, Danish, Dinka, Dravidian,
   Dutch, Dyak, Edo, Efatese, Egyptian, Elamitic, English, Eskimo,
   Eskimo-Aleut, Esperantido, Esperanto, Estonian, Ethiopic, Europan,
   Euskarian, Ewe, Faeroese, Faliscan, Fijian, Finnic, Finnish,
   Flemish, Fox, French, Frisian, Fula, Fulani, Gadaba, Gaelic,
   Galcha, Galla, Garo, Gaulish, Geez, Georgian, German, Germanic,
   Gold, Goldi, Gondi, Gothic, Greek, Guanche, Guarani, Gur, Gypsy,
   Haida, Haitian Creole, Hamito-Semitic, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew,
   Hellenic, Hindustani, Hittite, Ho, Hokaltecan, Hokan-Siouan, Hopi,
   Hottentot, Iban, Ibanag, Ibo, Icelandic, Idiom Neutral, Igorot,
   Illyrian, Indic, Indo-Aryan, Indo-Chinese, Indo-European,
   Indo-Hittite, Interlingua, Irish, Iroquoian, Italian, Italic,
   Ivatan, Kachin, Kafiri, Kalmuck, Kamasin, Kamchadal, Kanarese,
   Kara-Kalpak, Karamojong, Karankawa, Karelian, Kashmiri, Kashubian,
   Kechumaran, Keres, Ket, Khamti, Kharia, Khasi, Khmer, Khoisan,
   Khondi, Khosa, Khowar, Kickapoo, Kiowa Apache, Kirghiz, Kiriwina,
   Kitunahan, Kodagu, Kohistani, Koiari, Kolami, Koluschan, Komi,
   Konkani, Korean, Korwa, Koryak, Kui, Kuki, Kuki-Chin, Kumyk,
   Kunama, Kurdish, Kurukh, Kutchin, Kutenai, Kwa, Ladino, Lahnda,
   Lampong, Lamut, Lao, Lapp, Latin, Latinesce, Latvian, Lettish,
   Libyan, Ligurian, Limbu, Lingualumina, Lingvo Kosmopolita,
   Lithuanian, Livonian, Low German, Luorawetlan, Lusatian, Luwian,
   Lycian, Lydian, Macedonian, Madurese, Magyar, Malagasy, Malay,
   Malayalam, Malayo-Polynesian, Maltese, Manchu, Mandarin, Mande,
   Mandingo, Mangarevan, Manobo, Manx, Maori, Marathi, Maya, Mayan,
   Meithei, Mende, Messapian, Micronesian, Middle English,
   Middle Greek, Middle High German, Middle Persian, Mishmi,
   Mishongnovi, Misima, Miskito, Mon, Monario, Mongolian, Mongolic,
   Mordvin, Mordvinian, Moro, Mru, Munda, Muong, Mura, Muran, Murmi,
   Muskogean, Muskogee, Na-dene, Naga, Nahuatlan, Nepali, Newari,
   Ngala, Ngbaka, Niasese, Nicobarese, Niuean, Nogai, Nootka,
   Norwegian, Nov-Esperanto, Nov-Latin, Novial, Occidental, Optez,
   Oraon, Oriya, Oscan, Osco-Umbrian, Osmanli, Ossetic, Ostyak,
   Otomanguean, Pahlavi, Palaic, Palau, Palaung, Paleo-Asiatic, Pali,
   Pampango, Pangasinan, Papuan, Pashto, Pasigraphy, Paya, Penutian,
   Permian, Persian, Phrygian, Piman, Plattdeutsch, Polabian, Polish,
   Polynesian, Portuguese, Prakrit, Punic, Punjabi, Quechua, Quechuan,
   Ritwan, Ro, Romaic, Romanal, Romance, Romanic, Romansh, Romany,
   Russian, Ruthenian, Sabellian, Saharan, Sakai, Salish, Samoan,
   Samoyed, Samoyedic, Sanskrit, Sardinian, Sasak, Scandinavian,
   Selung, Semitic, Serbo-Croatian, Shan, Shilha, Shluh, Shoshonean,
   Siamese, Sinhalese, Sino-Tibetan, Siouan, Skittagetan, Slavic,
   Slavonic, Slovak, Slovene, Slovenian, Sogdian, Sorbian, Soyot,
   Spanish, Sudanic, Sumerian, Susian, Swahili, Swedish, Syriac,
   Syryenian, Tagalog, Tagula, Tahitian, Takelma, Takilman, Tamashek,
   Tamaulipec, Tanoan, Taracahitian, Tarascan, Tavgi, Taw-Sug,
   Thraco-Phrygian, Tibeto-Burman, Tigre, Tipura, Tocharian, Toda,
   Tsimshian, Tuareg, Tulu, Tungus, Tungusic, Tupi-Guaranian,
   Turanian, Turkic, Turkish, Turko-Tartar, Turkoman, Ugric, Uighur,
   Umbrian, Ural-Altaic, Uralian, Urdu, Uto-Aztecan, Uzbek,
   Vietnamese, Visayan, Vote, Votyak, Wa, Welsh, White Russian, Xhosa,
   Yakut, Yeniseian, Yiddish, Yoruba, Yukaghir, Yukian, Yurak, Zenaga,
   Zulu, agglutinative, analytic, argot, cant, choice of words,
   communication, composition, dialect, diction, dictionary,
   expression, formulation, grammar, idiom, incorporative,
   inflectional, interaction, intercourse, isolating, jargon,
   language, lexicon, lingo, locution, monosyllabic, palaver,
   parlance, patois, phrase, phraseology, phrasing, polysynthetic,
   polytonic, rhetoric, slang, speech, style, synthetic, talk,
   terminology, tongue, usage, use of words, usus loquendi, verbiage,
   vernacular, vocabulary, wordage, wording, words

	

	language
     
        1.  programming language.
     
        2.  natural language.
     
        (1998-09-07)

	

	LANGUAGE, n.  The music with which we charm the serpents guarding
another's treasure.