1. Relating to, characteristic of, or used in calling.
2. Of, relating to, or being a grammatical case in certain inflected languages to indicate the person or thing being addressed.

1. The vocative case.
2. A word or form in the vocative case.

[Middle English vocatif, from Old French, from Latin vocātīvus (cāsus), vocative (case), from vocātus, past participle of vocāre, to call. See vocation.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.