parlance
nounUK /ˈpɑː.ləns/ · US /ˈpɑɹ.ləns/
Etymology From Middle English *parlaunce, from Anglo-Norman parlance, parlaunce, from parler (“to talk”) + -ance.
1
A certain way of speaking, of using words; especially that associated with a particular job or interest.
- To my childish fancy, it had seemed an imaginary flag-staff, or, in rustic parlance, the "liberty pole" of some former generation […]1836, James Fenimore Cooper, "Eclipse":
- We approach the contest, still known in the common parlance of the country, as "the first Pennimite War."1845, Charles Miner, History of Wyoming, Letter IX:
2 more examples
- 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."1909, William Elliot Griffis, The Story of New Netherland, Chapter 22:
- 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.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:
2
Of a word, the quality of being lexicalized; especially as jargon or slang.
- 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.2020, Stanley Oluka, Performance Management System and Employee Performance in Amuria Health Centre IV, Eastern Uganda:
- And without further parlance they fought, […]1849, Lady Charlotte Guest, The Mabinogion, "Peredur the Son of Evrawc":
- Synonyms
- jargon