Apostrophe

In rhetoric, a figure of speech by which, according to Quintilian, a speaker turns from the rest of his audience to one person, and addre es him singly. ° In grammar, the substitution of a mark hike this (’) fer one or more letters omitted from a word, as tho’ for though, ’twas for it was, king’s for kinges. The mark indicating such _substitution, especially in the case of the po e ive.