[f. LISP v.] The action or an act of lisping.
a. 1625. Fletcher & Massinger, Elder Bro., II. ii. Love those that love good fashions, Good clothes and rich, they invite men to admire’m That speake the lispe of Court, Oh, ’tis great learning!
1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, I. i. Bell. What a pretty lisp he has! Dor. Ho, that he affects in imitation of the people of Quality of France.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 27, ¶ 5. She has naturally a very agreeable Voice and Utterance, which she has chang’d for the prettiest Lisp imaginable.
1716. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess Mar, 21 Nov. They all affect a little soft lisp.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxxvi. A young lady of sixty-five,… who spoke with an engaging lisp.
1869. J. Eadie, Galatians, 303. The childlike lisp in the word Abba and its easy labial pronunciation.
b. transf. A sound resembling a lisp, e.g., the rippling of water, the rustle of leaves.
1855. Browning, Popularity, viii. As if they still the water’s lisp heard Through foam the rock-weeds thresh.
1863. Longf., Wayside Inn, 1st Interlude, 55. Wild birds gossiping overhead, And lisp of leaves, and fountain’s fall.
1864. Swinburne, Atalanta, 68. The mother of months … Fills the shadows and windy places With lisp of leaves and ripple of rain.
