definitions

's

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.

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Nearby words

'ndrangheta, 'nuff, 'que, 're, 'roo, 's, 's gravenhage, 's hertogenbosch, 'sblood, 'sdeath, 'shun

Origin of 's

1
Middle English -es, Old English

Definition for 's (2 of 5)

's

2

contraction of is: She's here.
contraction of does: What's he do for a living now?
contraction of has: He's just gone.

Usage note

See contraction.

Definition for 's (3 of 5)

's

3

Archaic.

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

Definition for 's (4 of 5)

's

4

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

Usage note

See contraction.

Definition for 's (5 of 5)

's

5

a contraction of as, as in so's to get there on time.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019