deckle (dekl)

[Also written dekle, deckel; = Sw. deckel = Ru . dekele, IMG:content-2167.png:[blocks in formation] Lowell , Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 289. dec lam an do (dek-la-man'dō). [It., ppr. of de clamare , dec lam are , declaim: see declaim .] dec lam are In music , in a declamatory matory style. style. E. D. declamation (dek-la-m (dek-la-ma's hon), n. [=D. decla matie G. declamation = Dan. Sw. deklamation , déclam at i on = Sp. dec lama cion = Pg. decla mação = It. dec lam azione , declamatio ( n- ), dec lam are , declaim: see declaim .] 1. The act or art of declaiming or making rhetorical harangues in public; especially, the delivery of a speech or an exercise in oratory or elocution, as by a student of a college, etc.: as, a public declamation ; the art of declamation . The public listened with little emotion of monotonous declamation . to five acts Macaulay. Then crush'd by rules and weaken'd as ref in'd, For years the power of tragedy declin'd; From bard to bard the frigid caution crept Till declamation roar'd, while pa ion slept. Johnson, Drury Lane, Prol. Specifically-2. In vocal music , the proper rhetorical enunciation of the words, especially in recitative and in dramatic music. -3. A public harangue or set speech; an oration. The declamations of the pulpit described the sufferings of the saved souls in purgatory as incalculably greater than were endured by the most wretched mortals upon earth. Lecky , Europ. Morals, II. 247. 4. Pompous, high-sounding verbiage in speech or writing; stilted oratory. Many of the finest pa ages in his [Milton's] controversial writings are sometimes spoken of, even by favourable judges, as declamation . J. A. St. John. Loose declamation may deceive the crowd. Story, Advice to a Young Lawyer.