Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Relating to, characteristic of, or used in calling.
- adjective Of, relating to, or being a grammatical case in certain inflected languages that indicates the person or thing being addressed.
- noun The vocative case.
- noun A word or form in the vocative case.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Relating to the act of calling or addressing by name; eompellative: applied to the grammatical case in which a person or thing is addressed: as, the vocative case.
- noun In grammar, the ease employed in calling to or addressing a person or thing: as, Domine, ‘O Lord,’ is the vocative of the Latin dominus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to calling; used in calling; specifically (Gram.), used in address; appellative; -- said of that case or form of the noun, pronoun, or adjective, in which a person or thing is addressed.
- noun (Gram.) The vocative case.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or pertaining to calling; used in calling or
vocation . - adjective grammar used in address;
appellative ; — said of that case or form of the noun, pronoun, or adjective, in which a person or thing is addressed; as, Domine, O Lord. - noun grammar The
vocative case
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective relating to a case used in some languages
- noun the case (in some inflected languages) used when the referent of the noun is being addressed
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So now, all you lucky people whose names I ordered worked into a rather longish piece of boilerplate latin vocative verse can now share in the tranquil blessings of soft breezes in forested glades, mostly free of singing shrapnel and the deep digestive grunt of artillery.
Archive 2007-06-01 2007
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The inaugural "O" is only confirmed as vocative, that is, when the first junctural lurch of "O W" is rounded out by the equally opened-mouthed apposition that results in the line's coming phonetic increment, "thou (w) breath of autumn's being."
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For Rosenstock-Huessy, the vocative is the condition of dialogue and hence the real condition of a new truth.
Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy Cristaudo, Wayne 2008
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Nominative for Vocative.a. The use of the nominative for the vocative was a colloquialism in classical Greek.
A Grammar of Septuagint Greek 1856-1924 1905
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Your "vocative" explanation does help, but it does not convince.
The etymology of Latin tofus 'tufa' isn't written in stone 2009
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Daksha is a vocative, meaning 'possessed of cleverness.'
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli
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This demonstrates how boy, like man, has transformed from a male term of address (or "vocative") into an exclamation that can be used regardless of the addressee's gender.
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We no longer hear the vocative compañero -- comrade -- rather it's the once stigmatized señor -- mister -- and it's been a long time since the first person plural has included those who govern us.
Yoani Sanchez: Goodbye "Comrade," Hello "Mister" Yoani Sanchez 2011
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Though, as Mark Twain noted, many Britons "dearly love a lord," most of them have no idea how to address one in the vocative case or on an envelope.
Peerless Titles Paul Levy 2011
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Three workmates came to vocative him, and you know, they didn't like the man-eater's fad; wouldn't consonant to recognize his palette as ivan would then, this.
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