A.

1Sense 1. The first letter of the alphabet in most of the known languages of the earth. It is naturally the first letter, because it represents the first vocal sound naturally formed by the organs of speech, viz., that heard in far, mart, &c., being the sound uttered with a mere opening of the mouth without constraint, and without any effort to alter the natural position or configuration of the lips.

A has, in English, two regular sounds; the “long,” as in place, fate, and the “short,” as in fat. Its occasional sounds are the “broad,” as in wall, fall; the “Italian,” as in father: and four others, as in fast, fare, what, many. As the name of a letter of the alphabet, and when used emphatically as a noun or an article, it is always pronounced ā; but whenever it occurs as an unemphasized word in a purely English phrase, or forms or ends an unaccented syllable, its regular sound is that of a in far, somewhat shortened; but it is apt to lose this distinctive character, and to fall into a faint and obscure sound, like that of u in tub. See Prin. of Prom., §§ 2–8, 44, 45.

2Sense 2. An adjective, commonly called the indefinite article, and signifying one or any, but less emphatically. It is placed before nouns of the singular number denoting an individual object, before collective nouns, and also before plural nouns when the adjective few or the phrase great many is interposed; as, a dog, a house, a man; a hundred, a fleet, a regiment; a few persons, a great many days. It is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon an or ane, one, and is substituted for an, for the sake of euphony, before all words beginning with a consonant sound, except words beginning with the sound of h and having the accent on any other syllable than the first; as, a table, a woman, a year, a unit, a eulogy, a oneness, &c. Formerly an was used both before vowels and consonants.

In such expressions as “twenty leagues a day,” “a hundred pounds a year,” “a dollar a yard,” &c., it denotes each, every. See AN.

3Sense 3. An obsolete and barbarous corruption of have, of he, and sometimes of I.

4Sense 4. (Mus.) The nominal of the sixth tone in the model major scale (that in C), or of the first tone of the minor scale, which is named after it the scale in A minor. It is the sound of the second open string of the violin. — 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.

5Sense 5. This letter serves as a prefix to many English words, as in asleep, afoot, afar, aground, a-going, a-saying, awake, a-c-knowledge. In some cases, it is a contraction of the prepositions on, in, at, of, to, for; as in asleep for in sleep or on sleep, ablaze for in a blaze, aboard for on board, afoot for on foot, aground for on the ground, adays for on days, ado for to do, await for wait for. When used before participles or participial nouns, it admits of a similar explanation; as, a-hunting, in the act of hunting, a-going, in going, &c. It was formerly placed before nouns without being joined to them as a prefix; as, “The world runs a wheels” [i. e., on wheels]. B. Jonson. — In other cases, it is contracted from the A-S. inseparable particle ge-; in O. H. German ga-, gi-, ka-; in Gothic ga-; which forms verbs from verbs, substantives, adjectives, and as a sort of augment to the past participle. In some cases, it only increases the force of the word, without any essential addition of meaning, as in afar. The original signification of this prefix is with, together, corresponding to the Latin com-, con-, co-; as in aware (Ger. gewahr; O. H. Ger. gevaro), acold, abide, abode, &c. In some words of Greek origin, a is privative, giving to them a negative sense; as in abaptiston, q. v.; before a vowel it becomes an: as in anonymous, from ὄνομα, name.

In the Julian calendar, A is the first of the seven dominical letters.