A Dictionary of the English Language/A

A Dictionary of the English Language Samuel Johnson A

ab→

See the modern Wiktionary entry at A

A, The first letter of the European alphabets, has, in the English language, three different sounds, which may be termed the broad, open, and slender.

The broad sound, resembling that of the German a, is found in many of our monosyllables, as all, wall, malt, salt, in which a is pronounced as au in cause, or aw in law. Many of these words were anciently written with au, as sault, waulk; which happens to be still retained in fault. This was probably the ancient found of the Saxons, since it is almost uniformly preferred in the rustic pronunciation, and the Northern dialects, as maun for man, haund for hand.

A open, not unlike the a of the Italians, is found in father, rather, and more obscurely in fancy, fast, &c.

A slender or close, is the peculiar a of the English language, resembling the sound of the French e masculine, or diphthong ai in pȧis, or perhaps a middle sound between them, or between the a and e; to this the Arabic a is said nearly to approach. Of this sound we have examples in the words, place, face, waste, and all those that terminate in ation; as relation, nation, generation.

A is short, as, glass, grass; or long, as, glaze, graze: it is marked long, generally, by an e final, plane, or by an i added, as plain. The short a is open, the long a close.

1.

A, an article set before nouns of the singular number; a man, a tree; denoting the number one, as, a man is coming, that is, no more than one; or an indefinite indication, as, a man may come this way, that is, any man. This article has no plural signification. Before a word beginning with a vowel, it is written an, as, an ox, an egg, which a is the contraction.

2.

A, taken materially, or for itself, is a noun; as, a great A, a little a.

3.

A is placed before a participle, or participial noun; and is considered by Wallis as a contraction of at, when it is put before a word denoting some action not yet finished; as, I am a walking. It also seems to be anciently contracted from at, when placed before local surnames; as, Thomas a Becket. In other cases, it seems to signify to, like the French à.

A hunting Chloe went.Prior.

They go a begging to a bankrupt's door.Dryden.

May peace still slumber by these purling fountains!
Which we may every year
Find when we come a fishing here.Wotton.

Now the men fell a rubbing of armour, which a great while had lain oiled.Wotton.

He will knap the spears a pieces with his teeth.More's Antid. Athm.

Another falls a ringing a Pescennius Niger, and judiciously distinguishes the sound of it to be modern.Addison on Medals.

4.

A has a peculiar signification, denoting the proportion of one thing to another. Thus we say, The landlord hath a hundred a year; The ship's crew gained a thousand pounds a man.

The river Inn passes through a wide open country, during all its course through Bavaria; which is a voyage of two days, after the rate of twenty leagues a day.Addison on Italy.

5.

A is used in burlesque poetry, to lengthen out a syllable, without adding to the sense.

For cloves and nutmegs to the line-a,
And even for oranges to China.Dryden.

6.

A is sometimes, in familiar writings, put by a barbarous corruption for he; as, will a come, for will he come.

7.

A, in composition, seems to have sometimes the power of the French in these phrases, a droit, a gauche, &c. and sometimes to be contracted from at; as, aside, aslope, afoot, asleep, athirst, aware.

I 'gin to be a weary of the fun;
And with the state of th' world were now undone.Shakespeare's Macbeth.

And now a breeze from shore began to blow,
The tailors ship their oars, and cease to row;
Then hoist their yards a-trip, and all their sails
Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales.Dryden's Ceyx and Alcyone.

A little house with trees a row,
And, like its master, very low.Pope, Hor.

8.

A is sometimes redundant; as, arise, arouse, awake; the same with rise, rouse, wake.

9.

A, in abbreviations, stands for artium, or arts; as, A. B. batchelor of arts, artium baccalaureus; A. M. master of arts, artium magister; or, anno; as, A. D. anno domini.