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Glite Dictionary
to talk of

to talk of

220 2.5
Mention something in conversation
  • phrasal verb
  • /tɔk ʌv/
: hablar de
  • During the meeting, they talked of the new project updates.
  • begin to talk of
  • talk of a movement
  • talk of God

You usually talk of a way in those houses.

Examples

  • I just wanted to talk to one of your players.

    Rebound (2005)

  • One could argue that we should talk of African tradition only as it is now.

    Academic text (2008)

  • We also talked about the issue of oil prices.

  • Yeah, talk to the chief of police.

    The Hessen Affair (2009)

  • We're talking about the safety of my kid.

    One Eight Seven (1997)

  • So let's talk about some of those first.

  • I walked up to him and we talked of this and that.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • To talk of food is to talk of mothers, at least for me.

    Academic text (2008)

  • In the room the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo.

  • Today, the entire Eastern Seaboard is talking of paranormal activity.

    Ghostbusters (1984)

Synonyms

to talk about
vsto talk of
∞ 1.3

Speak with someone about a subject

is similar but often implies a brief or topical mention
to speak
vsto talk of
∞ 1.0

To talk with someone to share thoughts or feelings

narrows that action to briefly mentioning or treating a subject
to mention
vsto talk of
∞ 1.0

To briefly refer to someone or something in words

leans more toward discussing the subject as a short topic
to discuss
vsto talk of
∞ 1.6

To talk with other people about something, often in detail

focuses instead on shorter or more topical mentions rather than depth
to speak of
vsto talk of
∞ 1.9

To talk about someone or something

focuses more on brief or topical references rather than extended detail
to bring up
vsto talk of
752 2.6

To mention a subject for discussion

often only mentions a subject briefly rather than formally introducing it
to discussing
vsto talk of
391 1.8

Talking with someone to share ideas and opinions

tends to imply only a brief or topical mention rather than full exchange
to mention it
vsto talk of
329 1.6

To say something in conversation or writing

tends to treat the point as a short topic of conversation
to chat about
vsto talk of
  • Informal
70 1.6

To talk in a friendly, casual way about a subject

is similar but can be used for both casual and more formal mentions
to make mention of
vsto talk of
  • Formal
25 3.6

To briefly say something about a person or thing

is similar but is more neutral and commonly used in speech
to talmbout
vsto talk of
  • Slang
1 9.9

To talk about something in informal speech

is the neutral expression used more widely in standard speech

How Discussed

to focus on
∞ 2.0
to debate
461 2.8
to discuss
∞ 1.6
to talk of
220 2.5
to mention
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

talk of infinitive
talked of past
talked of past participle
talking of present participle
talks of third person singular

Morphology

talk + of

The meaning 'to discuss or mention' is directly derivable from combining 'talk' (to speak) with the prepositional relation expressed by 'of' (roughly 'about'), following a standard verb + preposition composition equivalent to 'talk about'. This pattern is common and cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Talk of comes from the simple image of talk plus of: people speak and use of to point to a subject, like friends who 'talk of' the weather. So it means 'to discuss' or 'mention' something.