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tirade - 4 dictionary results

ti⋅rade

[tahy-reyd, tahy-reyd]
–noun
1. a prolonged outburst of bitter, outspoken denunciation: a tirade against smoking.
2. a long, vehement speech: a tirade in the Senate.
3. a passage dealing with a single theme or idea, as in poetry: the stately tirades of Corneille.

Origin:
1795–1805; < F: lit., a stretch, (continuous) pulling < It tirata, n. use of fem. of tirato, ptp. of tirare to draw, pull, fire (a shot), of obscure orig.


2. harangue, diatribe.
ti·rade   (tī'rād', tī-rād')   
n.  A long angry or violent speech, usually of a censorious or denunciatory nature; a diatribe.

[French, from Old French, act of firing, from tirer, to draw out, endure, probably back-formation from martirant, present participle of martirer, to torture (influenced by mar, to one's misfortune, and tiranz, executioner, tyrant), from martir, martyr, from Late Latin martyr; see martyr.]

Tirade

Ti*rade"\, n. [F., fr. It. tirada, properly, a pulling; hence, a lengthening out, a long speech, a tirade, fr. tirare to draw; of Teutonic origin, and akin to E. tear to redn. See Tear to rend, and cf. Tire to tear.] A declamatory strain or flight of censure or abuse; a rambling invective; an oration or harangue abounding in censorious and bitter language.

Here he delivers a violent tirade against persons who profess to know anything about angels. --Quarterly Review.
Language Translation for : tirade
Spanish: arenga,
German: die Ansprache,
Japanese: 大演説

tirade 
1801, "a 'volley of words,' " from Fr. tirade "speech, volley, shot, continuation, drawing out" (16c.), from tirer "draw out, endure, suffer," or the Fr. word is perhaps from cognate It. tirata "a volley," from pp. of tirare "to draw." The whole Romanic word group is of uncertain origin; some think it is a shortening of the source of O.Fr. martirer "endure martyrdom" (see martyr).
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