Etymology

Noun

1. The act of omitting.
2. The act of neglecting to perform an action one has an obligation to do.
3. Something deleted or left out.
4. Something not done or neglected.
5. The shortening of a word or phrase, using an apostrophe ( ' ) to replace the missing letters, often used to approximate the sound of speech or a specific dialect.

Usage notes

six o’clock (shortening of “six of the clock”)

The high school class of ’69 (shortening of “1969”)

O’er there (shortening of “over there”)

• From Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

  S’pose people left money laying around where he was—what did he do? He collared it. S’pose he contracted to do a thing; and you paid him, and didn’t set down there and see that he done it—what did he do? He always done the other thing. S’pose he opened his mouth—what then? If he didn't shut it up powerful quick, he'd lose a lie, every time. That’s the kind of a bug Henry was; and if we’d ’a’ had him along ’stead of our kings, he’d ’a’ fooled that town a heap worse than ourn done.