The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
pref. Without; not: amoral. [Greek; see ne in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
indef.art. 1. Used before nouns and noun phrases that denote a single but unspecified person or thing: a region; a person. 2. Used before terms that denote number, amount, quantity, or degree: only a few of the voters; a bit more rest; a little excited. 3. a. Used before a proper name to denote a type or a member of a class: the wisdom of a Socrates. b. Used before a mass noun to indicate a single type or example: a dry wine. 4. The same: birds of a feather. 5. Any: not a drop to drink. [Middle English, variant of an, an; see AN1.] Usage Note: In writing, the form a is used before a word beginning with a consonant sound, regardless of its spelling (a frog, a university, a euphemism). The form an is used before a word beginning with a vowel sound (an orange, an hour). · An was once a common variant before words beginning with h in which the first syllable was unstressed; thus 18th-century authors wrote either a historical or an historical but a history, not an history. This usage made sense in that people often did not pronounce the initial h in words such as historical and heroic, but by the late 19th century educated speakers usually gave their initial h's a huff, and the practice of writing an before such words began to die out. Nowadays it survives primarily before the word historical. One may also come across it in the phrases an hysterectomy or an hereditary trait. These usages are acceptable in formal writing. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Tweet pref. 1. On; in: abed. 2. In the act of: aborning. 3. In the direction of: astern. 4. In a specified state or condition: abuzz. Our Living Language Prefixing a- to verb forms ending in -ing, as in a-hunting and a-fishing, was once fairly common in vernacular US speech, particularly in the highland areas of the South and in the Southwest. Such verb forms derive from an Old English construction in which a preposition, usually on, was placed in front of a verbal noun—a verb to which -ing had been added to indicate that the action was extended or ongoing. Gradually such prepositions were shortened to a-. The -ing forms came to be regarded as present participles rather than verbal nouns, and the use of a- was extended to genuine present participles. Eventually a- disappeared from many dialects, including Standard English in the United States and Great Britain, although it is still retained today in some isolated dialect areas. Today, speakers who use the a- prefix do not use it randomly. Rather, a- is only used with -ing words that begin with a consonant, have stress on the first syllable, and function as part of a verb phrase, as in She was a-running. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
prep. In every; to each; per: once a month; one dollar a pound. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
aux.v. Informal Have: He'd a come if he could. [Middle English, alteration of haven, to have; see HAVE.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Tweet abbr. 1. acceleration 2. are (measurement) |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Tweet abbr. 1. acre 2. adjective 3. Latin anno (in the year) 4. Latin annus (year) 5. anode 6. Latin ante (before) 7. anterior |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Tweet abbr. 1. accusative 2. Games ace 3. across 4. adenine 5. alto 6. ampere 7. or Å angstrom 8. answer 9. area 10. Sports assist |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.