A- . A, as a prefix to English words, is derived from various sources. (1) It frequently signifies on or in (from an, a forms of AS. on),
denoting a state, as in afoot, on foot,
abed, amiss, asleep, aground, aloft, away (AS. onweg), and analogically, ablaze, atremble, etc. (2) AS. of off, from, as
in adown (AS. ofdūne off the
dun or hill). (3) AS. ā- (Goth. us-, ur-, Ger. er-), usually giving an intensive force, and sometimes the sense of
away, on, back, as in
arise, abide, ago. (4) Old
English y- or i- (corrupted from the AS. inseparable particle
ge- , cognate with OHG. ga-, gi-, Goth. ga-), which, as a prefix, made no essential addition to the meaning, as in aware. (5) French à (L. ad to), as in abase,
achieve. (6) L. a, ab, abs, from, as in avert. (7) Greek insep. prefix α without, or privative, not, as in abyss, atheist; akin to E. un-.
Besides these, there are other sources from which the prefix a takes its origin.
A . An expletive, void of sense, to fill up the meter
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.
Shak.
A . A barbarous corruption of have, of he, and
sometimes of it and of
they. "So would I a
done" "A brushes his hat." Shak.
A . [From AS. of off, from. See Of.]
Of. [Obs.] "The name of John a Gaunt." "What time a day is it ?"
Shak. "It's six a clock." B. Jonson.
A (&adot;), prep. [Abbreviated form of an (AS.
on). See On.]
1. In; on; at; by. [Obs.] "A God's name." "Torn a pieces." "Stand a tiptoe." "A Sundays"
Shak. "Wit that men have now
a days." Chaucer. "Set them a work." Robynson (More's Utopia).
2. In process of; in the act of; into;
to; -- used with verbal substantives in -ing which begin with a
consonant. This is a shortened form of the preposition an (which was used before the vowel sound); as in a hunting, a building, a begging.
"Jacob, when he was a dying" Heb. xi. 21. "We'll
a birding together." " It was a doing." Shak. "He burst out a laughing." Macaulay.
The hyphen may be used to connect a with the verbal substantive (as, a-hunting, a-building) or the words may be
written separately. This form of expression is now for the most part obsolete, the a being omitted and the verbal substantive
treated as a participle.
A (&adot; emph. ā). 1.
[Shortened form of an. AS. ān one. See One.]
An adjective, commonly
called the indefinite article, and signifying one or any, but less emphatically.
"At a birth"; "In a word"; "At
a blow". Shak. It is placed before nouns of the singular number denoting an individual object, or a quality
individualized, before collective nouns, and also before plural nouns when the adjective few or the
phrase great many or good many is interposed; as, a dog, a
house, a man; a color; a sweetness; a hundred, a fleet, a regiment; a few persons, a great many days. It is used for
an, for the sake of euphony, before words beginning with a consonant sound [for exception of certain words beginning with h, see An]; as, a table,
a woman, a year, a unit, a eulogy, a ewe, a
oneness, such a one, etc. Formally an was used both before vowels and consonants.
2. [Originally the preposition a (an, on).] In each; to or for each; as,
"twenty leagues a day", "a hundred pounds a year", "a dollar a yard", etc.
A (named ā in the English, and most commonly ä in other languages). The first letter of the English and of many other
alphabets. The capital A of the alphabets
of Middle and Western Europe, as also the small letter (a), besides the forms in Italic, black letter, etc., are all descended from the old Latin
A, which was
borrowed from the Greek Alpha, of the same form; and this was made
from the first letter (&?;) of the Phœnician alphabet, the equivalent of the Hebrew
Aleph, and itself from the Egyptian origin. The Aleph was a consonant letter, with a guttural breath sound that was not
an element of Greek articulation; and the Greeks took it to represent their vowel Alpha with the ä sound, the Phœnician alphabet having no vowel symbols.
This
letter, in English, is used for several different vowel sounds. See Guide to pronunciation, §§ 43-74. The regular long a, as
in fate, etc., is a comparatively modern sound, and has taken the
place of what, till about the early part of
the 17th century, was a sound of the quality of ä (as in far).
2. (Mus.) The name of the sixth tone in
the model major scale (that in C), or the first
tone of the
minor scale, which is named after it the
scale in A minor. The second string of the violin
is tuned to the A in the treble staff. -- A sharp (A♯) is the
name of a musical tone intermediate between A and B. -- A flat (A♭) is the
name of a tone intermediate between A and
G.
A per se (L. per se by itself), one preëminent; a nonesuch. [Obs.]
O fair Creseide, the flower and A per
se
Of Troy and Greece.
Chaucer.
Hear it pronounced