Apocope is the dropping of one or more sounds, letters, or syllables from the end of a word. Poets and writers may use it to fit the meter, sharpen the rhythm, or imitate spoken or dialect forms, as in e'en for even or th' for the.
Example
The moon rose o'er the silent hill,
And night grew soft and still.
Related Definitions
[n] abbreviation of a word by omitting the final sound or sounds; "the British get `pud' from `pudding' by apocope"