lecture

[lek-cher] /ˈlɛk tʃər/
noun
1.
a speech read or delivered before an audience or class, especially for instruction or to set forth some subject:
a lecture on Picasso's paintings.
2.
a speech of warning or reproof as to conduct; a long, tedious reprimand.
verb (used without object), lectured, lecturing.
3.
to give a lecture or series of lectures:
He spent the year lecturing to various student groups.
verb (used with object), lectured, lecturing.
4.
to deliver a lecture to or before; instruct by lectures.
5.
to rebuke or reprimand at some length:
He lectured the child regularly but with little effect.
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin lēctūra a reading. See lection, -ure
Related forms
prelecture, noun, adjective, verb, prelectured, prelecturing.
unlectured, adjective
Synonyms
1. address, talk, paper, oratim, discourse. 4. address, teach. 5. admonish; hector.
Examples from the web for lecture
  • The object of this lecture was to present some of the romantic incidents which characterized the early settlement of the west.
  • His donnish prattle has all the charm of a nine o'clock lecture in a draughty, badly-lit room.
  • Wendy gives a lecture about the cheetah and conservation.
  • Learn how the brain processes sound in an exhibit, a lecture and a gallery.
  • His lecture focused mainly on trees, and it blew my mind.
  • Now she bans laptops in her large lecture courses and has a clause in her syllabus about the inappropriate use of technology.
  • Wireless technology has been installed, providing access to an on-board intranet housing course materials and lecture schedules.
  • My immediate job this time was to lecture aboard the boat.
  • For example, professors can now post lecture notes, quizzes and reading lists online.
  • Afterward, he joked that his friend now owed him a beer, or else a guest lecture in return.
British Dictionary definitions for lecture

lecture

/ˈlɛktʃə/
noun
1.
a discourse on a particular subject given or read to an audience
2.
the text of such a discourse
3.
a method of teaching by formal discourse
4.
a lengthy reprimand or scolding
verb
5.
to give or read a lecture (to an audience or class)
6.
(transitive) to reprimand at length
Word Origin
C14: from Medieval Latin lectūra reading, from legere to read
Word Origin and History for lecture
n.

late 14c., "action of reading, that which is read," from Medieval Latin lectura "a reading, lecture," from Latin lectus, past participle of legere "to read," originally "to gather, collect, pick out, choose" (cf. election), from PIE *leg- "to pick together, gather, collect" (cf. Greek legein "to say, tell, speak, declare," originally, in Homer, "to pick out, select, collect, enumerate;" lexis "speech, diction;" logos "word, speech, thought, account;" Latin lignum "wood, firewood," literally "that which is gathered").

To read is to "pick out words." Meaning "action of reading (a lesson) aloud" is from 1520s. That of "a discourse on a given subject before an audience for purposes of instruction" is from 1530s.

v.

1580s, from lecture (n.). Meaning "to address severely and at length" is from 1706. Related: Lectured; lecturing.