1910–1911
Britannica 11th
Encyclopaedia Britannica · 11th edition
APOSTROPHE (Gr. intoarpo^. turning away; the final e being sounded), the name given to an exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech, when a speaker or writer breaks off and addresses some one directly in the vocative. The same word (representing, through the French, the Greek droorpo^o? rpoatf&ia., the accent of elision) means also the sign (') for the omission of a letter or letters, e.g. in " don't." In physiology, " apostrophe " is used more precisely hi connexion with its literal meaning of " turning away," e.g. …
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- Vol. 2, pp. 205-205