o'

See also: Appendix:Variations of “o”

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  • (US, deliberate) IPA^(key): /oʊ/
• Homophone: a
• Rhymes: -ə, -oʊ

Preposition

o’

1. (unstressed form) Contraction of of.

   Gimme two o’ those ones.

   from two o’clock until closing time

   top o’ the mornin to ye

2. (obsolete, unstressed form) Contraction of on.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     A pox o' your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!

Alternative forms

• o, a

Derived terms

• back o’ Bourke
• Besses o' th' Barn
• Brig o' Turk
• cat-o’-nine-tails
• come-o'-will
• gottle o' geer
• hop-o'-my-thumb
• Jack o' the clock
• jack-o’-lantern
• John o’ Groats
• Land o' Cakes
• light-o'-love
• man-o'-war suit
• man-o’-war
• o’clock
• Peep o' Day Boy
• rickle o' banes
• run-o’-the-mill
• Tom o' Bedlam
• will o' the wisp
• will-o’-the-wisp

 

Acehnese

Alternative forms

• ôk

Noun

o'

1. hair

Yola

Etymology 1

From Middle English of, from Old English of (“of, from”), an unstressed form of af, æf (“from, off, away”), from Proto-West Germanic *ab.

Alternative forms

• o, ov, of, af, av, a

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔː/, /ɔv/, /ɔɸ/, /aɸ/, /av/, /ə/
• Homophone: o

Preposition

o'

1. of
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 41:

     Come adh o' mee gazb.

     Come out of my breath.

   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 53:

     Ty o' letch.

     A drink of small beer.

   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 60:

     Outh o' harr; Out o' harr.

     Out of joint, off hinge.

   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 73:

     Udh o' harr.

     Out of joint, off hinge.

   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 76:

     Vull o' graace.

     Full of grace.

Derived terms

• o'dicke
• o'generale
• o'honde
• o'hopes
• o'lournagh
• o'mee
• o'noghanes
• o'oure
• o'ouz
• o'sneow
• o'thie
• o'ye
• o'zea

 

Etymology 2

Conjunction

o'

1. Alternative form of ar (“or”)
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 45:

     O hardïshe o' anoor.

     One thing or another.

Etymology 3

Adjective

o'

1. Alternative form of o (“one”)
   • 1867, “SONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 108:

     Shoo zent him o' die.

     She sent him one day.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 60