a

adj

Etymology: From Northern Middle English aw, alteration of all.

1. All.

adv

1. across

   “Do you have the answer for 23a?”

2. Alternative spelling of a.m. (“ante meridiem”) or am

article

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English an Middle English a English a From Middle English a, an, from Old English ān (“one; a; lone; sole”). More at one. The "n" was gradually lost before consonants in almost all dialects by the 15th century. Cognate with Alemannic German a (“a, an”), East Franconian a (“a, an”).

1. An unspecified example of (something); the indefinite article.

   “There was a man here looking for you yesterday.”

   “He had another formidable difficulty in getting him across the river, where both horses stuck for a time in the mire, and Beatte was nearly unseated from his saddle by the force of the current and the struggles of his captive.”

2. One; used before score, dozen, hundred, thousand, million, etc.

   “I've seen it happen a hundred times.”

   “Everybody drinks a lot in wartime, but it seemed to me that I must have drunk enough to float a couple of battleships.”

3. Used in some phrases denoting quantity, such as a few, a good many, a couple, a little, a bit, etc.

   “He's a bit thick, isn't he?”

   “They asked me a few questions.”

4. Used in some phrases denoting quantity, such as a few, a good many, a couple, a little, a bit, etc.

   “There are a few hundred orders that need to be fulfilled by tomorrow.”

   “The blues were eating leisurely, swimming about and opening their great mouths, spouting and filling their enormous stomachs with intense satisfaction. They had no idea of danger. There must have been about fifteen of them, peacefully feeding. One of them, its belly gorged probably with a few trillion plankton, seemed to be lying asleep on the surface.”

5. Used in some adverbial phrases denoting the degree or extent of an action, such as a little, a bit, a lot, etc.

   “The door was opened a little.”

   “If, for example, you ask a child what he likes to do, he may say he doesn't know. However, if you watch him during free time, and note that he plays basketball a lot, you may infer that this is a high-probability behavior, and he finds it reinforcing.”

6. The same; one and the same. Used in phrases such as of a kind, birds of a feather, etc.

   “We are of a mind on matters of morals.”

   “They're two of a kind.”

7. Any; every; used before a noun which has become modified to limit its scope.

   “A man who dies intestate leaves his children troubles and difficulties.”

8. Any; used with a negative to indicate not a single one.

   “It was so dark that we couldn't see a thing.”

   “He fell all that way, and hasn't a bump on his head?”

9. Used before an adjective that modifies a noun (singular or plural) delimited by a numeral.

   “The lottery jackpot is worth a staggering three hundred million dollars.”

   “The holidays are a mere one week away.”

10. One; someone named; used before a person's name, suggesting that the speaker knows little about the person other than the name.

    “We've received an interesting letter from a Mrs. Miggins of London.”

11. Used before an adjective modifying a person's name, typically used to emphasize that person's current condition or emotional state.

    “At Waterloo she asked George for £5 and said that she would go home by tube, and a relieved George watched her descend the Underground steps.”

    “"There, I think that's done it," declared a triumphant John, "we just need to try it with the bar now, where is it?"”

12. Someone or something like; similar to; used before a proper noun to create an example out of it.

    “The center of the village was becoming a Times Square.”

    “The man is a regular Romeo.”

character

Etymology: The letter name is from Middle English ā, from Old French, ultimately from Latin ā. Use of the Latin letter in (Old) English displaced the futhorc letter ᚪ (a) beginning in the 7th century, and partially also ᚫ (æ).

1. The first letter of the English alphabet, written in the Latin script.

   “This expression is zero, for we have replaced the column of a''''s by the column of bs and hence the determinant has two columns identical.”

   “Passmore. Capital P-a-double s-m-o-r-e.”

conj

Etymology: Contraction of and.

1. Contraction of and.

   “By cock a pie and Mous-foot Dent bring's in, / Examples to express forbidden Sin:”

   “Thee lace ma? Chem a laced well-a-fine aready.—Zey wone word more, and chell breſh tha, chell make thy boddize pilmee.”

contraction

Etymology: Contraction of gonna, itself a reduction of going to; see Etymology 8 above (“to”).

1. Used to express a future action; going to.

   “I'm a go see what's going on out there.”

   “"Sure, Billy, I'm a run downstairs to the machine and get me a pack of bigarettes," he said, taking off with his Melody.”

intj

1. ah; er (sound of hesitation)

   “"We will resume yesterday's discourse, young ladies," said he, "and you shall each read a page by turns; so that Miss a—Miss Short may have an opportunity of hearing you"; and the poor girls began to spell a long dismal sermon delivered at Bethesda Chapel, Liverpool, on behalf of the mission for the Chickasaw Indians.”

noun

Etymology: From the common method of counting semiquavers as "one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a" and so on.

1. The fourth semiquaver (sixteenth note) of a beat.

   “The pianist played a C on the a of four.”

num

Etymology: The letter name is from Middle English ā, from Old French, ultimately from Latin ā. Use of the Latin letter in (Old) English displaced the futhorc letter ᚪ (a) beginning in the 7th century, and partially also ᚫ (æ).

1. The first numeral symbol of the English alphabet, called ay and written in the Latin script.

particle

1. Alternative form of -a (“empty syllable added to songs, poetry, verse and other speech”).

   ““I show a you right a here I can fuck a you.” “Is she crazy?” I asked Wyman.”

prep

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Germanic *ab Proto-West Germanic *ab Old English æf Old English of Middle English of English a From Middle English of, with apocope of the final f and vowel reduction.

1. Of.

   “The name of John a Gaunt.”

   “cloth a gold; time a day”

pron

Etymology: From Middle English a, a reduced form of he (“he”)/ha (“he”), heo (“she”)/ha (“she”), ha (“it”), and hie, hie (“they”).

1. He, she, they: the third-person singular or plural nominative.

   “He've a got a great venture on hand, but what a [it] be he tell'th no man.”

   “Doctors, they knaws nowt, fur a [they] says what's nawways true.”

2. He, she, they: the third-person singular or plural nominative.

   “a’ brushes his hat o’ mornings.”

   “Well! in a come [in he came]—KING GEORGE to town, / With doust and zweat az netmeg brown, / The hosses all in smoke;”

3. He, she, they: the third-person singular or plural nominative.

   “A wanted me to go with her.”

   “Did a do it!”

symbol

1. Distance from leading edge to aerodynamic center.
2. specific absorption coefficient
3. specific rotation
4. allele (recessive)

verb

Etymology: From Middle English a, ha contraction of have, or haven.

1. Have (auxiliary verb).

   “I'd a come, if you'd a asked.”

   “So would I a done, by yonder Sunne, / If thou hadſt not come to my bed.”

2. had (auxiliary verb).

   “I wisht you a seen 'im; fust he looked mighty gubious; then he begins ter laff. He'll git likened ter ridin' mighty briefly."”