speak in terms

speak in terms (third-person singular simple present speaks in terms, present participle speaking in terms, simple past spoke in terms, past participle spoken in terms)

1. (archaic) To speak plainly.
   • 1812, William Cobbett, Cobbett's Political Register, volume 21, page 773:

     […] while Mr. Elliot and Lord Milton and Mr. Ward, three of your party, stood foremost in the ranks to oppose the motion, and to speak in terms the most contumelious of the claims of the reformers […]