-s


-s 1

or -essuff. Used to form plural nouns: letters; ashes.
[Middle English -es, -s, from Old English -es, -as, nominative and accusative pl. suff.]

-s 2

or -essuff. Used to form the third person singular present tense of all regular and most irregular verbs: looks; holds; goes.
[Middle English -es, -s, from Old English (Northumbrian) -es, -as, alteration (perhaps influenced by Old Norse) of -eth, -ath.]

-s 3

suff. Used to form adverbs: They were caught unawares. He works nights.
[Middle English -es, -s, genitive sing. suff., from Old English -es.]

-s

or

-es

suffixforming the plural of most nouns: boys; boxes. [from Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns]

-s

or

-es

suffixforming the third person singular present indicative tense of verbs: he runs; she washes. [from Old English (northern dialect) -es, -s, originally the ending of the second person singular]

-s

suffix forming nicknames and names expressing affection or familiarity: Fats; Fingers; ducks. [special use of -s1]

S, s

(ɛs)

n., pl. Ss S's, ss s's. 1. the 19th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant. 2. any spoken sound represented by this letter. 3. something shaped like an S. 4. a written or printed representation of the letter S or s.

S

1. satisfactory. 2. sentence. 3. siemens. 4. signature. 5. single. 6. small. 7. soft. 8. soprano. 9. Also, s south. 10. southern. 11. state (highway). 12. Gram. subject.

S


Symbol. 1. the 19th in order or in a series. 2. Biochem. serine. 3. entropy. 4. sulfur.

s

Symbol. second.

's1

, an ending used to form the possessive of most singular nouns, plural nouns not ending in s, noun phrases, and noun substitutes: man's; women's; James's; witness's (or witness'); king of England's; anyone's. [Middle English -es, Old English]

's2

, 1. contraction of is: She's here. 2. contraction of has: He's been there. 3. contraction of does: What's he do for a living?

's3

, Archaic. a contraction of God's: 'sdeath; 'sblood.

's4

, a contraction of us: Let's go.

's5

, a contraction of as: so's not to be late.

-s1

, a suffix used in the formation of adverbs: always; betimes; unawares. [Middle English -es, Old English; ultimately identical with ' s1]

-s2

or -es, an ending marking the third person sing. present indicative of verbs: walks; runs; plays.[Middle English (north) -(e)s, Old English (north); orig. ending of 2nd pers. singular; replacing Middle English, Old English -eth -eth1]

-s3

or -es, an ending marking nouns as plural (weeks; days; minutes), occurring also on nouns that have no singular (dregs; pants; scissors), or on nouns that have a singular with a different meaning (glasses; manners; thanks); -s3 occurs with a number of nouns that now often take singular agreement, as the names of games (billiards; checkers), of diseases (measles; rickets), or of various involuntary physical or mental conditions (d.t.'s; giggles; hots; willies). A parallel set of formations, where -s3 has no plural value, are adjectives denoting mental states (bananas; crackers; nuts); compare -ers.[Middle English -(e)s, Old English -as]

-s4

, a suffix of hypocoristic nouns, generally proper names or forms used only in address: Babs; Fats; Suzykins; Toodles. [probably from the metonymic use of nouns formed with -s3, as boots or Goldilocks]

S.

1. Sabbath. 2. Saint. 3. Saturday. 4. schilling. 5. Sea. 6. Senate. 7. September. 8. (in prescriptions) mark; write; label. [< Latin signā] 9. Signor. 10. Socialist. 11. Fellow. [< Latin socius] 12. south. 13. southern. 14. Sunday.

s.

1. school. 2. section. 3. see. 4. series. 5. shilling. 6. sign. 7. signed. 8. silver. 9. singular. 10. sire. 11. small. 12. society. 13. son. 14. south. 15. southern. 16. stem. 17. substantive.