Online Google Dictionary

apostrophes 中文解釋 wordnet sense Collocation Usage Collins Definition
Noun
/əˈpästrəfē/,
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apostrophes, plural;
  1. An exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person (typically one who is dead or absent) or thing (typically one that is personified)

  1. (apostrophe) address to an absent or imaginary person
  2. (apostrophe) the mark (') used to indicate the omission of one or more letters from a printed word
  3. The apostrophe (’ , often rendered as ') is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets. ...
  4. (Apostrophé) Apostrophe (Greek ἀποστροφή, apostrophé, "turning away"; the final e being sounded) is an exclamatory rhetorical figure of speech, when a speaker or writer breaks off and directs speech to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea. ...
  5. (Apostrophe (album)) Apostrophe (’) is an album by Frank Zappa, his eighteenth, released on April 22, 1974 in both stereo and quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow”, was Zappa’s first chart single, reaching position 86. ...
  6. (apostrophe) Words that are spoken to a person who is absent or imaginary, or to an object or abstract idea. The poem God's World by Edna St. Vincent Millay begins with an apostrophe: “O World, I cannot hold thee close enough!/Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!/Thy mists that roll and rise!”
  7. (Apostrophe) A statement, question, or request addressed to an inanimate object or concept or to a nonexistent or absent person. ...
  8. (Apostrophe) a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction absent or present.
  9. (Apostrophe) A locution (word, phrase or expression) that addresses a person or personified thing not present.
  10. (apostrophe) a punctuation mark used in contractions and plural possessive nouns= .
  11. (Apostrophe) a sudden shift to direct address, either to an absent person or to an abstract or inanimate entity: "No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change" (sonnet 123).
  12. (apostrophe) a direct address of an inanimate object, abstract qualities, or a person not living or present.
  13. (Apostrophe) A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply.
  14. (apostrophe) apóstrofe (directly addressing an absent person, abstract idea or nonhuman object, often with the exclamation "O" or "Oh");
  15. (apostrophe) Greek for “turning away,” apostrophe is a literary device in which an abstract idea, inanimate object, or otherwise absent figure is directly addressed as if it were present or sentient. ...
  16. (4. apostrophe) an address to a person or thing not literally listening. ("O Santa, bring me that Porsche I've always wanted...." "O lovely rose, your perfume fills the air.")
  17. (APOSTROPHE) This term refers to the rhetorical figure whereby a speaker addresses an absent someone or something, including an abstraction or personification (as in Donne's "Death be not proud").
  18. (APOSTROPHE) speech addressed to absent or non-listening figure
  19. (Apostrophe) An address, either to someone who is absent and therefore cannot hear the speaker or to something nonhuman that cannot comprehend. Apostrophe often provides a speaker the opportunity to think aloud.
  20. (Apostrophe) Not to be confused with the punctuation mark, apostrophe is the act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not physically present: For instance, John Donne commands, “Oh, Death, be not proud.” King Lear proclaims, “Ingratitude! ...
  21. (Apostrophe) The direct address of a person or personified thing, either present or absent. Its most common purpose in prose is to give vent to or display intense emotion, which can no longer be held back. Thus an apostrophe often interrupts the discussion:
  22. (Apostrophe) Why is it “Old 97’s” and not “Old 97s”? Are the Old 97’s confused about the rules of grammar? No. “Do any of you have Webster’s grammar books? If you do, look up the section on apostrophes. ...
  23. (Apostrophe) a figure of speech in which a poem seems to speak to something that cannot respond. Here, Lord Tennyson's "Break, Break, Break" is addressing the sea:
  24. (Apostrophe) directly addressing a person or thing as if it/s/he were really there. (Romeo & Juliet, where Juliet speaks, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?).
  25. (Apostrophe) words spoken to an absent (or dead) person just as though he/she were present   OR   words spoken to a thing or idea.  For example,  A hard-broken lover who speaks to the moon or cupid.