Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DI'A-LECT, n. [Gr. διαλεκτος; δια and λεγω, to speak; It. dialetto; Fr. dialecte; Sp. dialecto.]

1. The form or idiom of a language, peculiar to a province, or to a kingdom or state; consisting chiefly in differences of orthography or pronunciation. The Greek language is remarkable for four dialects, the Attic, Ionic, Doric, and Eolic. A dialect is the branch of a parent language, with such local alterations as time, accident, and revolutions may have introduced among descendants of the same stock or family, living in separate or remote situations. But in regard to a large portion of words, many languages, which are considered as distinct, are really dialects of one common language.
2. Language; speech, or manner of speaking. – South.