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▪ I. apostrophe1|əˈpɒstrəfiː|
Also 8 -phy.
[a. L. apostrophe, a. Gr. ἀποστροϕή, n. of action f. ἀποστρέϕ-ειν to turn away, f. ἀπό away + στρέϕ-ειν to turn, στροϕή a turning.]
1. Rhet. A figure of speech, by which a speaker or writer suddenly stops in his discourse, and turns to address pointedly some person or thing, either present or absent; an exclamatory address. (As explained by Quintilian, apostrophe was directed to a person present; modern use has extended it to the absent or dead (who are for the nonce supposed to be present); but it is by no means confined to these, as sometimes erroneously stated.)
1533More Apol. vii. Wks. 1557, 859/1 With a fygure of apostrophe and turning his tale to God criyng out: O good Lorde. 1649Roberts Clavis Bibl. 678 An Apostrophe, or affectionate Compellation of all that passe by to be sensibly touch't with her sorrows. 1794Godwin Cal. Williams 98 Themistocles..accosted him with that noble apostrophe, Strike but hear. 1830Coleridge Lect. Shaks. II. 118 The apostrophe to light at the commencement of the third book [of Paradise Lost] is particularly beautiful. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede 30 Bursting out into wild accusing apostrophes to God and destiny.
2. Bot. The aggregation of protoplasm and chlorophyll-grains on the cell-walls adjacent to other cells, as opposed to epistrophe when they collect on the free cell-walls.
1875Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 672 Apostrophe takes place under unfavourable external conditions.
▪ II. apostrophe2|əˈpɒstrəfiː|
Also 6–8 -phus.
[a. Fr. apostrophe, ad. L. apostrophus, a. Gr. ἡ ἀπόστροϕος, prop. adj. (sc. προσῳδία the accent) ‘of turning away, or elision.’ It ought to be of three syllables in Eng. as in French, but has been ignorantly confused with the prec. word.]
†1. The omission of one or more letters in a word. Obs.
1611[See apostrophize 2.] c1620A. Hume Orthogr. Brit. Tong. (1865) 23 Apostrophus is the ejecting of a letter or a syllab out of one word, or out betuene tuae. 1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 39 The freedom [of Spanish] from Apostrophes which are the knots of a Language.
2. The sign (') used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters, as in o'er, thro', can't; and as a sign of the modern English genitive or possessive case, as in boy's, boys', men's, conscience', Moses'.
In the latter case, it originally marked merely the omission of e in writing, as in fox's, James's, and was equally common in the nominative plural, esp. of proper names and foreign words (as folio's = folioes); it was gradually disused in the latter, and extended to all possessives, even where e had not been previously written, as in man's, children's, conscience' sake. This was not yet established in 1725.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. ii. 123 You finde not the apostraphas [? apostrophus], and so misse the accent. 1727W. Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 35 An Apostrophus (commonly, but not rightly called an Apostrophe) thus markt (')..as Th' appurtenances. 1876Mason Eng. Gram. 29 It is..an unmeaning process to put the apostrophe after the [possessive] plural s (as birds'), because no vowel has been dropped there. |