| anaphora (linguistics) |
| Definition: When words refer back to preceding words. |
| Example: In the sentence Although the dog had been damaged, it could still bark, the anaphoric it refers back to the word dog. |
| Etymology: The word means "carrying back" in Greek. |
| OED: The word's first citation in its linguistic's sense is from 1933: "The word one … replaces a with anaphora of the noun when no other modifier is present (Here are some apples; take one)." (Bloomfield Language xvi. 266) |