S • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of S

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noun

S n. The nineteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a consonant, and is often called a sibilant, in allusion to its hissing sound. It has two principal sounds; one a mere hissing, as in sack, this; the other a vocal hissing (the same as that of z), as in is, wise. Besides these it sometimes has the sounds of sh and zh, as in sure, measure. It generally has its hissing sound at the beginning of words, but in the middle and at the end of words its sound is determined by usage. In a few words it is silent, as in isle, débris. With the letter h it forms the digraph sh. Note: Both the form and the name of the letter S are derived from the Latin, which got the letter through the Greek from the Phoenician. The ultimate origin is Egyptian. S is etymologically most nearly related to c, z, t, and r; as, in ice, OE. is; E. hence, OE. hennes; E. rase, raze; erase, razor; that, G. das; E. reason, F. raison, L. ratio; E. was, were; chair, chaise (see C, Z, T, and R.).

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Etymology of 'S'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"S" Quotes from Famous Books

... There is a very good example of the peony sort near the foot of the table—quite a magnificent creature in her way. Her husband, who sits next her, is a fiercely-bearded man, but has a strange air of being in his wife's custody nevertheless. The lady is apparently forty-five, red to a fault, full in the neck, and with a figure which necessitates a somewhat haughty pose of the head unless one would appear gross and piggish. There is much to admire in this lady, peony ...

— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 • Various

... wrenched himself loose from Mr. Sparling's grip, and ran full speed for the dressing tent. He had not gone more than a dozen feet before he tripped over a rope, landing on head and shoulders. But Phil was up like a rubber man and off again as if every animal in the menagerie was ...

— The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings • Edgar B. P. Darlington

... in my eagerness to tell thee how They are commixed, through what unions fit They function so, my country's pauper-speech Constrains me sadly. As I can, however, I'll touch some points and pass. In such a wise Course these primordials 'mongst one another With inter-motions that no one can be From other sundered, nor its agency Perform, if once divided by a space; ...

— Of The Nature of Things • [Titus Lucretius Carus] Lucretius

... mercies of the living," strong enough to unite all his various chords of feeling into a single strain of impressive and genuine poetry. His real interest is in what may be called the curiosities of our common humanity. As another might be moved at the sight of Alexander's bones, or Saint Edmund's, or Saint Cecilia's, [158] so he is full of a fine poetical excitement at such lowly relics as the earth hides almost everywhere beneath our feet. But it is hardly fair to take our leave amid these grievous images of ...

— Appreciations, with an Essay on Style • Walter Horatio Pater

... letters; but Bobadilla was to read and act upon the second and third letters only in case Columbus refused to obey the first; and here, without giving Columbus any opportunity to speak for himself, Bobadilla had gone to the extreme limit of his powers. It makes one recall Shakespeare's lines about ...

— Christopher Columbus • Mildred Stapley

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