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s

1

abbreviation for



's

2
  1. an ending used in writing to represent the possessive morpheme after most singular nouns, some plural nouns, especially those not ending in a letter or combination of letters representing an s or z sound, noun phrases, and noun substitutes, as in man's, women's, baby's, James's, witness's, (or witness' ), king of England's, or anyone's.

S

3
or s

[ es ]

noun

, plural S's or Ss, s's or ss.
  1. the 19th letter of the English alphabet, a consonant.
  2. any spoken sound represented by the letter S or s, as in saw, sense, or goose.
  3. something having the shape of an S .
  4. a written or printed representation of the letter S or s.
  5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter S or s.

-s

4
  1. a native English suffix used in the formation of adverbs:

    always; betimes; needs; unawares.

S.

5

abbreviation for

  1. (in prescriptions) mark; write; label.

s

6
Symbol.
  1. second.

's

7
  1. contraction of is:

    She's here.

  2. contraction of does:

    What's he do for a living now?

  3. contraction of has:

    He's just gone.

S

8

abbreviation for

  1. satisfactory.
  2. Baseball. save 1( def 17 ).
  3. Saxon.
  4. sentence.
  5. short.
  6. Electricity. siemens.
  7. signature.
  8. single.
  9. small.
  10. soft.
  11. Music. soprano.
  12. South.
  13. Southern.
  14. state (highway).
  15. Grammar. subject.

-s

9
  1. an ending marking the third person singular indicative active of verbs:

    walks.

S.

10

abbreviation for

  1. (in prescriptions) let it be written.

's

11
Archaic.
  1. a contraction of God's, as in 'swounds; 'sdeath; 'sblood.

S

12
Symbol.
  1. the 19th in order or in a series
  2. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 7 or 70. Compare Roman numerals.
  3. second.
  4. Biochemistry. serine ( def ).
  5. Thermodynamics. entropy ( def 1b ).
  6. Chemistry. sulfur ( def 1 ).

-s

13
  1. an ending marking nouns as plural ( boys; wolves ), occurring also on nouns that have no singular ( dregs; entrails; pants; scissors ), or on nouns that have a singular with a different meaning ( clothes; glasses; manners; thanks ). The pluralizing value of -s3 is weakened or lost in a number of nouns that now often take singular agreement, as the names of games ( billiards; checkers; tiddlywinks ) and of diseases ( measles; mumps; pox; rickets ); the latter use has been extended to create informal names for a variety of involuntary conditions, physical or mental ( collywobbles; d.t.'s; giggles; hots; willies ). A parallel set of formations, where -s3 has no plural value, are adjectives denoting socially unacceptable or inconvenient states ( bananas; bonkers; crackers; nuts; preggers; starkers ); -ers.

S.

14

abbreviation for

  1. Fellow.

's

15
  1. a contraction of us, as in Let's go.

-s

16
  1. a suffix of hypocoristic nouns, generally proper names or forms used only in address:

    Babs; Fats; Suzykins; Sweetums; Toodles.

S.

17

abbreviation for

  1. Sabbath.
  2. Saint.
  3. Saturday.
  4. Saxon.
  5. (in Austria) schilling; schillings.
  6. School.
  7. Sea.
  8. Senate.
  9. September.
  10. shilling; shillings.
  11. Signor.
  12. Small.
  13. Socialist.
  14. Society.
  15. South.
  16. Southern.
  17. (in Ecuador) sucre; sucres.
  18. Sunday.

's

18
  1. a contraction of as, as in so's to get there on time.

s.

19

abbreviation for

  1. saint.
  2. school.
  3. second.
  4. section.
  5. see.
  6. series.
  7. shilling; shillings.
  8. sign.
  9. signed.
  10. silver.
  11. singular.
  12. sire.
  13. small.
  14. society.
  15. son.
  16. south.
  17. southern.
  18. steamer.
  19. stem.
  20. stem of.
  21. substantive.

-s

1

suffix

  1. forming the plural of most nouns

    boys

    boxes

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


-s

2

suffix

  1. forming nicknames and names expressing affection or familiarity

    Fingers

    ducks

    Fats

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

s

3

/ ɛs /

noun

  1. the 19th letter and 15th consonant of the modern English alphabet
  2. a speech sound represented by this letter, usually an alveolar fricative, either voiceless, as in sit, or voiced, as in dogs
    1. something shaped like an S
    2. ( in combination )

      an S-bend in a road

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

s

4

symbol for

  1. second (of time)
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

S

5

symbol for

  1. satisfactory
  2. Society
  3. small (size)
  4. South
  5. chem sulphur
  6. physics
    1. entropy
    2. siemens
    3. strangeness
  7. currency
    1. (the former) schilling
    2. sol
    3. (the former) sucre
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

abbreviation for

  1. Sweden (international car registration)
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

-'s

6

suffix

  1. forming the possessive singular of nouns and some pronouns

    man's

    one's

  2. forming the possessive plural of nouns whose plurals do not end in -s

    children's

  3. forming the plural of numbers, letters, or symbols

    20's

    p's and q's

  4. informal.
    contraction of is or has

    he's here

    John's coming

    it's gone

  5. informal.
    contraction of us with let

    let's

  6. informal.
    contraction of does in some questions

    what's he do?

    where's he live?

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

-s'

7

suffix

  1. forming the possessive of plural nouns ending in the sound s or z and of some singular nouns

    for goodness' sake

    girls'

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

S.

8

abbreviation for

  1. SS Saint
  2. school
  3. Sea
  4. Signor
  5. Society
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

-s

9

suffix

  1. forming the third person singular present indicative tense of verbs

    he runs

    she washes

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

s.

10

abbreviation for

  1. see
  2. semi-
  3. shilling
  4. singular
  5. son
  6. succeeded
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Usage Note

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Word History and Origins

Origin of s1

Middle English -es, Old English

Origin of s2

Middle English -es, Old English; ultimately identical with 's 1

Origin of s3

From the Latin word signa

Origin of s4

Middle English (north) -( e ) s, Old English (north); originally ending of 2nd person singular, as in Latin and Greek; replacing Middle English, Old English -eth -eth 1

Origin of s5

From the Latin word signētur

Origin of s6

Middle English - ( e ) s, Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

Origin of s7

From the Latin word socius

Origin of s8

Probably from the metonymic use of nouns formed with -s 3, as boots or Goldilocks
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Word History and Origins

Origin of s1

from Old English -as, plural nominative and accusative ending of some masculine nouns

Origin of s2

special use of -s 1

Origin of s3

senses 1, 2: assimilated contraction from Middle English -es, from Old English, masculine and neuter genitive singular; sense 3, equivalent to -s 1

Origin of s4

Latin socius

Origin of s5

from Old English (northern dialect) -es, -s, originally the ending of the second person singular

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