Definition of "virgule" [vir•gule]

• Printing A diagonal mark ( / ) used especially to separate alternatives, as in and/or, to represent the word per, as in miles/hour, and to indicate the ends of verse lines printed continuously, as in Old King Cole/Was a merry old soul. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A virgule is closer to the vertical than a solidus, but usually one has to see them side by side in the same typeface to know the difference."
• "In English the word virgule denotes “/”, the mark commonly known as the slash."
• "Slavs! had minimal impact for me, and although in Home/Kabul, the segment preceding the virgule is inspired, the lengthier portion following that slash, he has yet to get right."
• "In English the word virgule denotes “/”, the mark commonly known as the slash."
• "Commas were not employed until the 16th century; in early printed books in English one sees a virgule a slash like this /, which the comma replaced around 1520."
• "Often, the French ‘virgule’ is used differently than in English."