Dictionary

a en · VERB · etymology 4

Pronunciation

• /ə/

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (dialectal, slang) Have (auxiliary verb).
   • Oi'd a gen im a clout, if oi'd been theer. [1886, Robert Hollan, “A, prep.”, in A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Chester (English Dialect Society; XVI), London: Trübner & Co.:
   • I'd a come, if you'd a asked.
   • 'I never told him, pleaded Liam. 'If I 'ad a done, he'd a taken the rifles, wouldn't he? Thing is, I wanted to fire a gun for real. See what it felt like. So I just borrowed it and went out on me own to have a go. But I didn't get the chance because I came across a patrol and I panicked and chucked the thing in a bin.' 2013, William Brodrick, The Discourtesy of Death, London: Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 247:
   • "Well, I reckon it did, marm, for that shot would a gone a couple a inches deeper but for my old mammy's camphor bag," answered the cheerful philosopher. 1863 May 22 – 1863 June 26, L[ouisa] M[ay] Alcott, “A Day”, in Hospital Sketches, Boston, Mass.: James Redpath, […], published August 1863, →OCLC, page 36:
   • They live in the river bottom. Don't you know a thing? I thought you must a seen them, since they was here all winter, cutting at the woods and burning brush. 1964, John Ehle, The Land Breakers, New York, N.Y. […]: Harper & Row, Publishers, page 53:
   • He dropped below me, with the current, and by-and-by he come a-swinging up shore in the easy water, and he went by so close I could a reached out the gun and touched him. 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 54:
   • So would I a done, by yonder Sunne, / If thou hadſt not come to my bed. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], signature H2, recto:
2. (dialectal, rare, slang) 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." 1887 October, Octave Thanet [pseudonym; Alice French], “The Mortgage on Jeffy”, in Scribner's Magazine, volume II, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 478, column 1:

Forms

Deriveds

coulda · shoulda · woulda