Definition of "language"

Hence the natural language of the mute is, in schools of this class, suppressed as soon and as far as possible, and its existence as a language, capable of being made the reliable and precise vehicle for the widest range of thought, is ignored.

1867, Report on the Systems of Deaf-Mute Instruction pursued in Europe, quoted in 1983 in History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907 page 240

No language could express his rage and despair.

1900, William Beckford, The History of the Caliph Vathek, page 50

Mr. Darko, generally acknowledged to be the last surviving member of the Ofo Tribe, was also the last remaining speaker of the tribe's language.

2000, Geary Hobson, The Last of the Ofos, page 113

Language is the articulation of the limited to express the unlimited; it is the ultimate mystery which is the image of God, for in breaking up infinity to create finite beings, God has found a way to let the limited being yet be a reflection of His unlimited Being.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 15

Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.

1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […]

And ‘blubbing’... Blubbing went out with ‘decent’ and ‘ripping’. Mind you, not a bad new language to start up. Nineteen-twenties schoolboy slang could be due for a revival.

1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, page 35

A tale about themselves [is] told by people with help from the universal languages of their eyes, their hands, and even their shirting feet.

2001, Eugene C. Kennedy, Sara C. Charles, On Becoming a Counselor

Birding had become like that for me. It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 231

A more likely hypothesis was that the attacked leaves were transmitting some airborne chemical signal to sound the alarm, rather like insects sending out warnings […] But this is the first time that a plant-to-plant language has been detected.

1983, The Listener, volume 110, page 14

Prairie dogs use their language to refer to real dangers in the real world, so it definitely has meaning.

2009, Animals in Translation, page 274

In fact pointers are called references in these languages to distinguish them from pointers in languages like C and C++.

2015, Kent D. Lee, Foundations of Programming Languages, page 94

Their language simple, as their manners meek, […]

1782, William Cowper, Hope

"Where the hell is Horace?" ¶ "There he is. He's coming. You shouldn't use language."

1978, James Carroll, Mortal Friends, page 500

Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.The spelling has been modernized.

1655, Thomas Fuller, edited by James Nichols, The Church History of Britain, […], new edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837

A flue-pipe is one in which the air passes through the throat, or flue, which is the narrow, longitudinal aperture between the lower lip and the tongue, or language. […] The language is adjusted by slightly elevating or depressing it, […]

1896, William Horatio Clarke, The Organist's Retrospect, Invalid ISBN, page 79