Also 4 wowel (6 -ell), 5–7 vowell(e. [a. OF. vouel (also vouyel, voy-, voieul) masc.:—L. vōcāl-em or vōcāle, masc. and neut. acc. sing. of vōcālis VOCAL a. The later OF. voielle, mod.F. voyelle, Prov. and Sp. vocal, Pg. vogal, It. vocale are fem., after the L. sb. vōcālis.]
1. A sound produced by the vibrations of the vocal cords; a letter or character representing such a sound (as a, e, i, etc.).
‘A vowel may be defined as voice (voiced breath) modified by some definite configuration of the super-glottal passages, but without audible friction (which would make it into a consonant)’ (Sweet, Primer of Phonetics, ed. 2, § 32).
c. 1308. Sat. Kildare, iii., in E. E. P. (1862), 153. Þis uers is imakid wel of consonans and wowel.
c. 1450. Mankind, 490, in Macro Plays, 18. Remembre my brokyn hede in þe worschyppe of þe v. vowellys.
1483. Cath. Angl., 404/1. A vowelle, vocalis.
1530. Palsgr., Introd., p. xv. They forme certayne of theyr vowelles in theyr brest. Ibid., p. xvii. Any of the fyrst thre vowels A, E or O.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike, G vij b. In these wordes there be foure vowels to be considered, and marked.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xxiv. (1592), 368. They drive their clauses to fall alike, they eschew nycely the meeting together of vowels.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 15. More specially to bee carefull, for the right pronouncing the fiue vowels.
1669. Holder, Elem. Speech, 29. In all Vowels the passage of the mouth is open and free, without any appulse of an Organ of Speech to another.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., II. 386. The sense is intricate, ’tis only clear What vowels and what consonants are there.
1751. Harris, Hermes, Wks. (1841), 209. It is the variety of configurations in these openings only, which gives birth and origin to the several vowels.
1769. Cook, Voy. round World, I. xix. (1773), 228. Their language is soft and melodious; it abounds with vowels, and we easily learnt to pronounce it.
1816. Keats, Epist. to C. C. Clarke, 56. Spenserian vowels that elope with ease, And float along like birds o’er summer seas.
1867. Ellis, E. E. Pronunc., I. iii. 61. Salesbury does not always discriminate the long vowel, though … he occasionally … doubles the consonant sign to imply the brevity of the preceding vowel.
b. transf. and fig.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 175. This manner of profession is no Vowell in your Alphabet, is no flower in your Garden.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 11. Marcus Varro divideth his husbandry necessaries into three parts: vowels, where he puts his owne servants and such as he hireth; halfe vowels, where his working cattell be; and mutes.
1657. Trapp, Comm. Job xxxii. 7. We use to say, That at meetings young men should be Mutes, and old men Vowels.
† 2. A vocable; a word. Obs.
1578. T. N., trans. Conq. West Ind. (1596), 201. The Temple is called Teucalli, that is to say, Gods house, Teutl signifieth God, and Calli is a house, a vowel very fitte, if that house had bene of the true God.
1614. T. White, Martyrd. St. George, C j. Nor of his Creed one vowell to recant.
1648. Gage, West Ind., 47. Mexico is as much as to say a spring or fountain, according to the property of the vowell or speech.
3. attrib. and Comb., as vowel-change, -consonant, -ending, -notation, etc.; vowel-point, a sign used to indicate a vowel in certain alphabets (esp. the Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic); also as v., to supply with points in place of vowels. (Cf. POINT sb.1 3 b and v.1 3 c.)
1848. Bagster’s Analyt. Heb. Concordance, 57. The *Vowel-changes of Nouns.
1871. Kennedy, Public Sch. Lat. Gram., 9. Syllables may be Strengthened by vowel-change.
1669. Holder, Elem. Speech, 141. This is eminently seen in the *Vowel Consonants, Y, W.
1881. W. R. Smith, Old Test. in Jew. Ch., ii. Notes 393. This use of the vowel-consonants is found even on the stone of Mesha.
1844. Proc. Philol. Soc., I. 261. Nouns of the n declension often took the nunnation in the nominative in place of the usual *vowel-ending.
1879. Sweet, in Trans. Philol. Soc., 456 + iv. The unaccented (ə) is dropped in rapid speech between consonants which combine easily, especially between points and *vowellikes. Ibid. (1888), Hist. Eng. Sounds, 9. Those ‘vowellike’ or ‘liquid’ voiced consonants which are unaccompanied by buzz are often also syllabic.
1860. Marsh, Lect. Eng. Lang. (1862), 484. In accordance with his general system of *vowel-notation.
1764. Phil. Trans., LIV. 419. Nor is it to be wondered at, that, before the invention of the *vowel-points, the quiescent letters should have sometimes been suppressed.
1843. Proc. Philol. Soc., I. 138. In fact, with a different notation, nearly all the labour of the vowel-points might be saved.
1893. Forbes-Mitchell, Remin. Gt. Mutiny, 275. The Oordoo in the circular is printed in the Persian character without the vowel-points.
1845. Browning, Lett. (1899), I. 16. I could not well *vowel-point my commonplace letters and syllables with a masoretic other sound and sense.
1844. R. Garnett, in Proc. Philol. Soc., I. 265. The *vowel-prefix to certain past tenses (Sanscr. a, Gr. ε).
1620. W. Folkingham, Brachigraphy, iv. In like sort and position are Letters placed a part in *Vowel Regions to imply interceding Vowels.
1838. Guest, Hist. Eng. Rhythms, I. 316. The *vowel-rhime, or … the assonant rhime, was common in the Romance of Oc.
1871. Kennedy, Public Sch. Lat. Gram., 9 § 12. E and o, introduced into most other languages as intermediate *vowel-signs, exist in Sanscrit only as diphthongs arising from ai, au.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 544. The glottis … forms all the vocal or *vowel sounds.
1875. Whitney, Life Lang., iv. 56. The strange names we give to our vowel-sounds. Ibid., 55. The consistency of our *vowel-system.
