apostrophe

apostrophe
apostrophe1
apostrophic /ap'euh strof"ik, -stroh"fik/, adj.
/euh pos"treuh fee/, n.
the sign ('), as used: to indicate the omission of one or more letters in a word, whether unpronounced, as in o'er for over, or pronounced, as in gov't for government; to indicate the possessive case, as in man's; or to indicate plurals of abbreviations and symbols, as in several M.D.'s, 3's.
[1580-90; < MF (with pron. later altered by confusion with APOSTROPHE2), r. earlier apostrophus < LL ( > MF) < Gk apóstrophos (prosoidía) eliding (mark), lit., (mark) of turning away, verbid of apostréphein to turn away, equiv. to apo- APO- + stréphein to turn; see STROPHE]
apostrophe2
apostrophic /ap'euh strof"ik, -stroh"fik/, adj.
/euh pos"treuh fee/, n. Rhet.
a digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea, as "O Death, where is thy sting?"
[1525-35; < LL < Gk apostrophé a turning away, equiv. to apostroph- (verbid of apostréphein; see APOSTROPHE1) + -e n. suffix]

* * *

      a rhetorical device by which a speaker turns from the audience as a whole to address a single person or thing. For example, in William Shakespeare (Shakespeare, William)'s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony addresses the corpse of Caesar in the speech that begins:

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

      Another example is in the first stanza of William Wordsworth (Wordsworth, William)'s poem “Ode to Duty”:

Stern Daughter of the Voice of God!
O Duty! if that name thou love
Who are a light to guide, a rod
To check the erring, and reprove;
Thou, who art victory and law
When empty terrors overawe;
From vain temptations dost set free;
And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity!

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • apostrophe — Fowler (1926) gave no information on this punctuation mark at the letter A except a cross reference to an entry called ‘possessive puzzles’, which sounds rather more entertaining. He concentrated on a number of difficulties arising from use of… …   Modern English usage

  • Apostrophe (') — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Apostrophe (’) Álbum musical de Frank Zappa Publicación 22 de abril de 1974 Grabación 1969 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Apostrophe (’) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Apostrophe. Apostrophe Album par Frank Zappa [ …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Apostrophe (’) — Studioalbum von Frank Zappa Veröffentlichung 22. April 1974 Label DiscReet Records …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • apostrophe — APOSTROPHE. s. fém. Figure de Rhétorique, par laquelle on adresse momentanément la parole à des choses ou à des personnes auxquelles ne s adresse pas directement le discours. Ainsi, Et vous braves François qui, etc. Affreux déserts, confidens de… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

  • Apostrophe B&B — (Амстердам,Нидерланды) Категория отеля: Адрес: Geerdinkhof 258, Амстердам Зяудост, 110 …   Каталог отелей

  • Apostrophe — A*pos tro*phe, n. [(1) L., fr. Gr. ? a turning away, fr. ? to turn away; ? from + ? to turn. (2) F., fr. L. apostrophus apostrophe, the turning away or omitting of a letter, Gr. ?.] 1. (Rhet.) A figure of speech by which the orator or writer… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Apostrophe — ist eine Redefigur, welche am meisten in der Beredtsamkeit vorkommmt. Wenn der Redner, um seinem Ausdrucke mehr Lebendigkeit zu geben, plötzlich eine abwesende Person oder einen leblosen Gegenstand anredet, gleichsam als wenn jene gegenwärtig… …   Damen Conversations Lexikon

  • apostrophé — apostrophé, ée (a po stro fé, fée) part. passé. Durement apostrophé par son adversaire …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • apostrophe — (n.) mark indicating omitted letter, 1580s, from M.Fr. apostrophe, from L.L. apostrophus, from Gk. apostrophos (prosoidia) (the accent of) turning away, thus, a mark showing where a letter has been omitted, from apostrephein avert, turn away,… …   Etymology dictionary

  • apostrophe — APOSTROPHE. s. fem. Terme dogmatique, figure de Rhetorique, par laquelle on adresse la parole à quelque personne, ou à quelque chose, comme si c estoit une personne. Et vous braves François, qui &c. Affreux deserts confidents de mes peines!… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”