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}.