| indirect speech or esp (US) indirect discourse | |
| —n | |
| Also called: reported speech the reporting of something said or written by conveying what was meant rather than repeating the exact words, as in the sentence He asked me whether I would go as opposed to He asked me, "Will you go?" | |
| indirect discourse or esp (US) indirect discourse | |
| —n | |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |