ELLIPSIS • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Ellipsis

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noun

Ellipsis n. (pl. ellipses)

(Gram.) Omission; a figure of syntax, by which one or more words, which are obviously understood, are omitted; as, the virtues I admire, for, the virtues which I admire.

(Geom.) An ellipse. (Obs.)

(Printing) A printing symbol, usually three periods in a row (....), indicating the omission of some part of a text; used commonly in quotations, so as to suppress words not essential to the meaning. A long dash ( -) and three asterisks (* * *) are sometimes used with the same meaning.

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Etymology of 'Ellipsis'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ellipsis" Quotes from Famous Books

... capable of standing by itself as the predicate of a proposition; as when we say, Snow is white; and occasionally even as the subject, for we may say, White is an agreeable color. The adjective is often said to be so used by a grammatical ellipsis: Snow is white, instead of Snow is a white object; White is an agreeable color, instead of, A white color, or, The color white, is agreeable. The Greeks and Romans were allowed, by the rules of their language, to ...

— A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive • John Stuart Mill

... adverbs modifying nouns are to be distinguished from those standing after a noun by ellipsis, but really modifying, not the noun, but some verb ...

— An English Grammar • W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell

... gale and pleasant weather. At 2 p.m. saw Land to the Northward, hauld up for it, and found it to be a double range of low woody islands joined together by reefs, by which means they make one Island in form of an Ellipsis or Oval, in the Middle of which is a Salt water lake. The small Islands and reefs circumscribes or bounds this lake like a Chain; it is therefore called Chain Island.* (* Anaa.) It is in length, North-West and South-East, ...

— Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World • James Cook

... principle employed to effect this was ellipsis, but an accurate understanding of the intelligence of the hearer was requisite in order to become proficient. The alphabet was not disturbed or abbreviated. The radical change was in the dismemberment of sentences. And here it was obvious that a greater number of words could ...

— A Romantic Young Lady • Robert Grant

... vapouring train perhaps to shake Reviving moisture on the numerous orbs, Thro' which his long ellipsis winds; perhaps To lend new fuel to declining suns, To light up worlds, ...

— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 12, No. 336 Saturday, October 18, 1828 • Various

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