Definition of "say"

Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, pages 53-54

No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., page 46

She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.

1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎

I want to say I’m sorry for yesterday. — It’s okay, Anna. Audio (US)(file)

2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past.

1815, George Gordon Byron, “They say that Hope is happiness”, in The Hebrew Melodies

It is said, a bargain cannot be set aside upon inadequacy only.

1819, Great Britain Court of Chancery, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery, page 8

It’s said that fifteen wagon loads of ready-made clothes for the Virginia troops came to, and stay in, town to-night.

1841, Christopher Marshall, The Knickerbocker (New-York Monthly Magazine), page 379

I've followed Selina down the strip, when we're shopping, say, and she strolls on ahead, wearing sawn-off jeans and a wash-withered T-shirt […]

1984, Martin Amis, Money: a suicide note

You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge

c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii], page 195

To this argument we shall soon have said; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?

1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], page 63

'My fifty pounds says three months after the invasion there'll be a free press in Iraq, and unmonitored internet access too.'

2005, Ian McEwan, Saturday, page 192

Above all, however, we would like to think that there is more to be decided, after the engines and after the humans have had their says.

2004, Richard Rogers, Information politics on the Web

He has consolidated the military's role in politics through an army-drafted 2017 constitution widely seen as designed to prevent Pheu Thai from returning to power and ensuring a continuing say for the army.

2019 February 8, Kocha Olarn, Helen Regan, “This princess could be the next prime minister of Thailand”, in CNN International Edition‎, Cable News Network, retrieved 2019-02-08

Sunday’s general election has been cast as a high-stakes contest between democracy and military rule, but critics say a new army-backed constitution gives junta-appointed officials a large say in the next government.

2019 March 22, Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Panarat Thepgumpanat, “Junta chief croons, ousted PM says 'we will win' in Thai election battle”, in Reuters‎, Reuters, retrieved 2019-03-23

He was a very old man, and was heavy, say about 250 pounds.

1894, T Miller, “Chapter 1”, in Over Five Seas and Oceans, From New York to Bangkok, Siam, and Return, New York: Albert Metz & Co., page 13

Per.[igot] VVell decked in a frocke of gray, / Will.[y] hey ho, gray is greet, / Per. And in a kirtle of greene ſaye, / Will. the greene is for maydens meete.

1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “August. Aegloga Octaua.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […]; republished as The Shepheardes Calender […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], 1586, folio 32, recto

All in a kirtle of diſcolourd ſay / He clothed was […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, page 53

I, that had sayed on one of his customers sutes.

1600 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Cynthias Revels, or The Fountayne of Selfe-Loue. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, Act IV, scene i

If those principal works of God […] be but certain tastes and says, as if were, of that final benefit.

1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, (please specify the page)

Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene iii], page 308

He found a sword of better say.

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, stanza 47, page 505

This fellow, Captaine, Will come, in time, to be a great distiller, And giue a say […] at the philosophers stone.

1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, (please specify the GB page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)