[i-lizh-uh
n] 
| 1. | the omission of a vowel, consonant, or syllable in pronunciation. |
| 2. | (in verse) the omission of a vowel at the end of one word when the next word begins with a vowel, as th'orient. |
| 3. | an act or instance of eliding or omitting anything. |
| e·li·sion (ĭ-lĭzh'ən) n.
[Latin ēlīsiō, ēlīsiōn-, from ēlīsus, past participle of ēlīdere, to strike out; see elide.] |
elision
(Latin: "striking out"), in prosody, the slurring or omission of a final unstressed vowel that precedes either another vowel or a weak consonant sound, as in the word heav'n. It may also be the dropping of a consonant between vowels, as in the word o'er for over. Elision is used to fit words into a metrical scheme, to smooth the rhythm of a poem, or to ease the pronunciation of words. In classical Greek poetry, an apostrophe (') is substituted for an elided letter, as is frequently the case in English verse. In Latin, however, the elided vowel or consonant remains, but it is ignored in scanning the line
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