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The cutting off or suppression of a vowel or syllable, for the sake of meter or euphony; esp., in poetry, the dropping of a final vowel standing before an initial vowel in the following word, when the two words are drawn together.

prefix, meaning upon, beside, among, on the outside, above, over. It becomes ep- before a vowel, as in epoch, and eph- before a Greek aspirate, as in ephemeral.

requent cases; as in passing from the begining to the end of a regular diphthong, or from vowel to consonant or consonant to vowel in a syllable, or from one component to the other of a double or diphthongal consonant (see Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 19, 161, 162). Also (by Bell and others), the vanish (or brief final e…

In Sanskrit grammar, a lengthening of the simple vowels a, i, e, by prefixing an a element. The term is sometimes used to denote the same vowel change in other languages.

mob gutted the bouse. Tom Brown, of facetious memory, having gutted a proper name of its vowels, used it as freely as he pleased. Addison.

nants, and is formed with the mouth organs in the same position as that of the succeeding vowel. It is used with certain consonants to form digraphs representing sounds which are not found in the alphabet, as sh, th, th, as in shall, thing, thine (for zh see §274); also, to modify the sounds of some other letters, as w…

The concurrence of two vowels in two successive words or syllables. Pope.

a word, or as letters of the alphabet, having a certain sound, as a hawk represented the vowel a.

AS. cynn; E. thin, AS. ynne; E. dominion, donjon, dungeon. In English I has two principal vowel sounds: the long sound, as in pine, ice; and the short sound, as in pîn. It has also three other sounds: (a) That of e in term, as in thirst. (b) That of e in mete (in words of foreign origin), as in machine, pique, regime.…

e" of the Supreme Being, which in latter Jewish tradition is not pronounced save with the vowels of adonai or elohim, so that the true pronunciation is lost.

Situated between vowels; immediately preceded and followed by vowel sounds, as, p in occupy, d in idea, etc.

ranny and usurpation. Burke. Iota subscript (Gr. Gram.), iota written beneath a preceding vowel, as a,, h,, w,, -- done when iota is silent.

One who maintains that the vowel points of the word Jehovah, in Hebrew, are the proper vowels of that word; -- opposed to adonist.

twelfth letter of the English alphabet, and a vocal consonant. It is usually called a semivowel or liquid. Its form and value are from the Greek, through the Latin, the form of the Greek letter being from the Phoenician, and the ultimate origin prob. Egyptian. Etymologically, it is most closely related to r and u; as i…

Modified, as a vowel, by contraction of the lip opening, as oo (food), o (old), etc., and as eu and u in French, and ö, ü in German. See Guide to Pronunciation,

Prolonged, or relatively more prolonged, in utterance; -- said of vowels and syllables. See Short, a., 13, and Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 22, 30.

Made, as a vowel, with a low position of part of the tongue in relation to the palate; as, . See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 5, 10, 11.

A short, straight, horizontal mark [-], placed over vowels to denote that they are to be pronounced with a long sound; as, a, in dame; e, in seam, etc.

Of or relating to the Masora, or to its authors. Masoretic points and accents, the vowel points and accents of the Hebrew text of the Bible, of which the first mention is in the Masora.

ongue, in relation to the palate; midway between the high and the low; -- said of certain vowel sounds; as, a (ale), ê (êll), o (old). See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 10, 11.