parlance

From Middle English *parlaunce, from Anglo-Norman parlance, parlaunce, from parler (“to talk”) + -ance.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑː.ləns/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑɹ.ləns/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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parlance (countable and uncountable, plural parlances)

1. A certain way of speaking, of using words; especially that associated with a particular job or interest.
   • 1836, James Fenimore Cooper, "Eclipse":

     To my childish fancy, it had seemed an imaginary flag-staff, or, in rustic parlance, the "liberty pole" of some former generation […]

   • 1845, Charles Miner, History of Wyoming, Letter IX:

     We approach the contest, still known in the common parlance of the country, as "the first Pennimite War."

   • 1909, William Elliot Griffis, The Story of New Netherland, Chapter 22:

     The tourist's impression of the country to-day is that of a transported Holland, in which the official language is Dutch and the parlance of the people is "taki-taki."

   • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 12, in Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 2, page 200:

     At first she "ran a temperature" in American parlance, and I could not resist the exquisite caloricity of unexpected delights—Venus febriculosa—though it was a very languid Lolita that moaned and coughed and shivered in my embrace.

2. Of a word, the quality of being lexicalized; especially as jargon or slang.
   • 2020, Stanley Oluka, Performance Management System and Employee Performance in Amuria Health Centre IV, Eastern Uganda:

     Its use at a variety of levels, including the individual and organisational level, make it a varied term that has parlance in organisational development, performance management and talent management.

3. (archaic, rare) Speech, discussion or debate.
   • 1849, Lady Charlotte Guest, The Mabinogion, "Peredur the Son of Evrawc":

     And without further parlance they fought, […]

• jargon

• carplane

• parlaunce (chiefly late Anglo-Norman)

parler +‎ -ance, or from Latin parabolantia.

parlance oblique singular, f (oblique plural parlances, nominative singular parlance, nominative plural parlances)

1. discussion; debate

• English: parlance

• parlance on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub