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1. Any of various printed or written symbols resembling a comma that has been turned or raised, e.g. ‘ ’ ', chiefly used to indicate direct quotation or to convey emphasis; two of these treated as one character, e.g. “ ” ". Now typically (in plural): a pair of these, e.g. ‘ ’ or “ ”, used to mark the beginning and end of a quoted passage, speech, or title, or a word or phrase that is under discussion, which is to be understood in an unusual or specialized sense, or from which the writer would like to distance himself or herself; frequently in in inverted commas. Cf. quotation mark n. at quotation n. Compounds 2, comma n. 4.Chiefly used outside North America, where quote mark(s) or quotes are more usual.The earliest inverted commas are found in printed books of the first half of the sixteenth cent. Initially, a double inverted comma, ” or “, was set (typically in the margin) at one side of each line of text containing quoted material, or a maxim or precept. Over time the opening double inverted comma “ was transferred from the beginning of the line in which the quotation began to a place before the first word of the quoted matter, and was eventually joined by an extra, closing mark ” at the end of the quotation. By the end of the 18th cent., in English printed books, the succession of inverted commas at the beginning of each line of quoted matter had been largely abandoned in favour of paired inverted commas marking its beginning and end.