Dialect \Di"a*lect\, n. [F. dialecte, L. dialectus, fr. Gr. ?, fr. ? to converse, discourse. See Dialogue.]

1. Means or mode of expressing thoughts; language; tongue; form of speech.

This book is writ in such a dialect As may the minds of listless men affect. Bunyan. The universal dialect of the world. --South.

2. The form of speech of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned.

In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a standard English language. --Earle.

[Charles V.]

could address his subjects from every quarter in their native dialect. --Prescott.

Syn: Language; idiom; tongue; speech; phraseology. See Language, and Idiom.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)