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To mark with the circumflex accent, as a vowel. [R.]

period during which killing game or catching certain fish is prohibited by law. -- Close vowel (Pron.), a vowel which is pronounced with a diminished aperture of the lips, or with contraction of the cavity of the mouth. -- Close to the wind (Naut.), directed as nearly to the point from which the wind blows as it is p…

m of the prefix com-, signifying with, together, in conjunction, joint. It is used before vowels and some consonants. See Com-.

A fabulous serpent whose breath and look were said to be fatal. See Basilisk. That bare vowel, I, shall poison more Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice. Shak.

l, cor- before r, and con- before any consonant except b, h, l, m, p, r, and w. Before a vowel com- becomes co-; also before h, w, and sometimes before other consonants.

ariety of configurations [of the mouth] . . . which gives birth and origin to the several vowels. Harris.

late sound which in utterance is usually combined and sounded with an open sound called a vowel; a member of the spoken alphabet other than a vowel; also, a letter or character representing such a sound.

To change into, or use as, a consonant. "The vowel is consonantized, that is, made closer in position." Peile.

A method of pronouncing Latin and Greek in which the vowels have their more familiar Continental values, as in German and Italian, the consonants being pronounced mostly as in English. The stricter form of this method of pronouncing Latin approaches the Roman, the modified form the English, pronunciation. The Continent…

To shorten by omitting a letter or letters or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one.

word, or of two words, by the omission of a letter or letters, or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one; as, ne'er for never; can't for can not; don't for do not; it's for it is.

A contraction of two vowels (as the final and initial vowels of united words) into one long vowel, or into a dipthong; synæresis; as, cogo for coago.

To make toneless; to deprive of vowel quality. -- De*vo`cal*i*za"tion, n. If we take a high vowel, such as (i) [= nearly i of bit], and devocalize it, we obtain a hiss which is quite distinct enough to stand for a weak (jh). H. Sweet.

A prefix denoting through; also, between, apart, asunder, across. Before a vowel dia- becomes di-; as, diactinic; dielectric, etc.

A mark consisting of two dots [..], placed over the second of two adjacent vowels, to denote that they are to be pronounced as distinct letters; as, coöperate, aërial.

A coalition or union of two vowel sounds pronounced in one syllable; as, ou in out, oi in noise; -- called a proper diphthong.

To change into a diphthong, as by affixing another vowel to a simple vowel. "The diphthongized long vowels." H. Sweet.

- a past indeed, much larger; but its immensity is dynamic, not divine. J. Martineau. The vowel is produced by phonetic, not by dynamic, causes. J. Peile.

The dropping out or suppression from a word of a consonant, with or without a vowel.

To cut off, as a vowel or a syllable, usually the final one; to subject to elision.