What is "the word"

Word \Word\, n. [AS. word; akin to OFries. & OS. word, D. woord, G. wort, Icel. or[eth], Sw. & Dan. ord, Goth. wa['u]rd, OPruss. wirds, Lith. vardas a name, L. verbum a word; or perhaps to Gr. "rh`twr an orator. Cf. Verb.]

1. The spoken sign of a conception or an idea; an articulate or vocal sound, or a combination of articulate and vocal sounds, uttered by the human voice, and by custom expressing an idea or ideas; a single component part of human speech or language; a constituent part of a sentence; a term; a vocable. ``A glutton of words.''
   --Piers Plowman.

   You cram these words into mine ears, against The stomach of my sense.
   --Shak.

   Amongst men who confound their ideas with words, there must be endless disputes.
   --Locke.

2. Hence, the written or printed character, or combination of characters, expressing such a term; as, the words on a page.

3. pl. Talk; discourse; speech; language.

   Why should calamity be full of words?
   --Shak.

   Be thy words severe; Sharp as he merits, but the sword forbear.
   --Dryden.

4. Account; tidings; message; communication; information; -- used only in the singular.

   I pray you . . . bring me word thither How the world goes.
   --Shak.

5. Signal; order; command; direction.

   Give the word through.
   --Shak.

6. Language considered as implying the faith or authority of the person who utters it; statement; affirmation; declaration; promise.

   Obey thy parents; keep thy word justly.
   --Shak.

   I know you brave, and take you at your word.
   --Dryden.

   I desire not the reader should take my word.
   --Dryden.

7. pl. Verbal contention; dispute.

   Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me.
   --Shak.

8. A brief remark or observation; an expression; a phrase, clause, or short sentence. All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. --Gal. v. 14. She said; but at the happy word ``he lives,'' My father stooped, re-fathered, o'er my wound. --Tennyson. There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark. --Dickens. By word of mouth, orally; by actual speaking. --Boyle. Compound word. See under Compound, a. Good word, commendation; favorable account. ``And gave the harmless fellow a good word.'' --Pope. In a word, briefly; to sum up. In word, in declaration; in profession. ``Let us not love in word, . . . but in deed and in truth.'' --1 John iii. 8. Nuns of the Word Incarnate (R. C. Ch.), an order of nuns founded in France in 1625, and approved in 1638. The order, which also exists in the United States, was instituted for the purpose of doing honor to the ``Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God.'' The word, or The Word. (Theol.)

   1. The gospel message; esp., the Scriptures, as a revelation of God. ``Bold to speak the word without fear.''
      --Phil. i. 14.

   2. The second person in the Trinity before his manifestation in time by the incarnation; among those who reject a Trinity of persons, some one or all of the divine attributes personified.
      --John i. 1.

      To eat one's words, to retract what has been said.

      To have the words for, to speak for; to act as spokesman. [Obs.] ``Our host hadde the wordes for us all.''
      --Chaucer.

      Word blindness (Physiol.), inability to understand printed or written words or symbols, although the person affected may be able to see quite well, speak fluently, and write correctly.
      --Landois & Stirling.

      Word deafness (Physiol.), inability to understand spoken words, though the person affected may hear them and other sounds, and hence is not deaf.

      Word dumbness (Physiol.), inability to express ideas in verbal language, though the power of speech is unimpaired.

      Word for word, in the exact words; verbatim; literally; exactly; as, to repeat anything word for word.

      Word painting, the act of describing an object fully and vividly by words only, so as to present it clearly to the mind, as if in a picture.

      Word picture, an accurate and vivid description, which presents an object clearly to the mind, as if in a picture.

      Word square, a series of words so arranged that they can be read vertically and horizontally with like results.

      Note: H E A R T E M B E R A B U S E R E S I N T R E N T (A word square)

      Syn: See Term.

The Word was a 1990s Channel 4 television programme in the United Kingdom.

"The Word" is a song by English rock group the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded with Lennon on lead vocals. It was first released on their 1965 album Rubber Soul.

The Word may refer to:

The Word is a 1972 mystery thriller novel by Irving Wallace, which explores the origin of the Bible.

The Word was a weekly half-hour radio programme on the BBC World Service about books and writers. Its final edition was in October 2008. Once a month its slot was taken over by World Book Club, in which listeners submitted questions to a famous writer. Both programmes were presented by Harriett Gilbert. World Book Club continues to be broadcast once a month on Saturdays.

The Word was a monthly music magazine published in London. It was voted UK 'Music Magazine Of The Year' in 2007 and 2008. It ran for 114 issues, the last bearing the cover date August 2012.

The Word is an American instrumental/ sacred steel/ gospel blues jam band. The supergroup includes well-known musicians: Robert Randolph ( pedal steel guitar), John Medeski ( keyboards), and all three members of North Mississippi Allstars - Luther Dickinson ( electric guitar), Cody Dickinson ( drums, washboard), and Chris Chew ( bass guitar).

The Word developed from a mutual affection for gospel music and the Sacred Steel tradition shared by Medeski and members of the North Mississippi Allstars, both having discovered the phenomenon through a series of albums published by Arhoolie Records in the 1990s and early 2000s. Chris Chew and Luther Dickinson were particularly fond of a song called "Without God" on the Sacred Steel Live! album, the only track credited to a then-unknown Robert Randolph. They contacted Randolph and recruited him to form their own Sacred Steel band, likely the first initiated by musicians outside the House of God church organization.

Musically, The Word is similar to other sacred steel bands, with the major difference being a total lack of vocals, both gospel singing and sing-song preaching that often accompanies such music in the original church setting. The organ and electric piano content, provided by Medeski, is more experimental and pronounced than in traditional sacred steel music, which originally developed from House of God churches filling the role of a pipe organ with the much less expensive steel guitar. Another unusual aspect of the music is that drummer Cody Dickinson plays electric washboard on certain songs, as he sometimes does with the North Mississippi Allstars. During live concerts, there is typically only one vocal microphone, used by Randolph to address the audience with encouragement and occasional exclamations of spiritual praise between songs. However, there is at least one example of bassist Chris Chew singing the lyrics to a traditional gospel song played by The Word, on January 1, 2010 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Their debut self-titled album, produced by Medeski and released on Ropeadope Records July 31, 2001, includes an updated version of "Without God", the song that brought The Word together in the first place. The album contains a mixture of traditional gospel songs (played with instrumental arrangements) and original instrumentals written by the group. The group toured in 2002 and then reunited to tour again in late 2007/early 2008. The group also played at the Bonnaroo festival in 2005 and 2012, and on the Jam Cruise in 2010. The group performed live on Conan on May 11, 2015 and toured the United States that summer and fall.

The Word is a 1953 American short documentary film produced by John Adams. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

The Word was an individualist anarchist free love magazine founded in 1872. The magazine was edited by Ezra Heywood and Angela Heywood's from (1872-1890, 1892-1893), issued first from Princeton and then from Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Word was subtitled "A Monthly Journal of Reform," and it included contributions from Josiah Warren, Benjamin Tucker, and J.K. Ingalls. Initially, The Word presented free love as a minor theme which was expressed within a labor reform format. But the publication later evolved into an explicitly free love periodical. At some point Tucker became an important contributor but later became dissatisfied with the journal's focus on free love since he desired a concentration on economics.

The Word is a 1943 Swedish drama film directed by Gustaf Molander, based on the 1925 play by Kaj Munk. It preceded Ordet by Carl Th. Dreyer, the much more famous film adaptation of the play, by more than a decade.