speaks

1. 1
   verb

   Third person singular simple present of speak.

   He speaks softly whenever the baby is asleep.

   The lawyer speaks for her client during the hearing.

   Note

   The -s form that pairs with he, she, it or a singular noun: she speaks, the lawyer speaks. When it means knowing a language, it is stative, so the simple present carries the ability itself. She speaks Portuguese states a skill, while she is speaking Portuguese describes a moment of talk. The same holds for a specialist's idiom: he speaks the language of finance.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of speak.

   They went to one of their speaks.

   2015, Allison Jewell, Let It Shine: Shine On Series

   Note

   A plural whose naturalness depends on which noun is meant. In the jargon meaning the noun is uncountable, so a plural like corporate speaks stretches it to cover several varieties. The countable meanings take a plural easily. Speaks can be speaker points. In Allison Jewell's Let It Shine (2015), "one of their speaks" is a bar, from the dated clipping of speakeasy.

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