Dictionary

a en · PRON · etymology 5

Pronunciation

• /ɑ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ʌ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English a, a reduced form of he (“he”)/ha (“he”), heo (“she”)/ha (“she”), ha (“it”), and hie, hie (“they”).

Meanings

1. (qualifier:obsolete outside England and Scotland dialects) He, she, they: the third-person singular or plural nominative.
   • Doctors, they knaws nowt, fur a [they] says what's nawways true. 1864, Tennyson, N. Farmer, Old Style, st. 2
   • He've a got a great venture on hand, but what a [it] be he tell'th no man. 1855, Kingsley, W. Ho!, page 120 (edition of 1889)
2. (qualifier:obsolete outside England and Scotland dialects) He, she, they: the third-person singular or plural nominative. ▸ He, the third-person singular nominative.
   • Well! in a come [in he came]—KING GEORGE to town, / With doust and zweat az netmeg brown, / The hosses all in smoke; 1795, Peter Pindar, The Royal Visit to Exeter, a Political Epistle: by John Ploughshare ... published by Peter Pindar, Esq, page 5:
   • a’ brushes his hat o’ mornings. 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
   • A do veed amang th' lilies. 1860, Kite, Sng. Sol., ii, 16
   • "The amoighty's a taakin' o' you to 'issén, my friend," a said, […] 1864, Tennyson, N. Farmer, Old Style, st. 7, version of 1917, Raymond Macdonald Alden, Alfred Tennyson, how to Know Him, page 226
   • And, by your leave, for all the marvellous rich and sumptuous coat a weareth, he is very like a false jewel in a rich casing. 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 8:
3. (qualifier:obsolete outside England and Scotland dialects) He, she, they: the third-person singular or plural nominative. ▸ She, the third-person singular nominative.
   • A's getting wambling on her pins [shaky on her legs]. 1883, Hardy, Tover, page 124 (edition of 1895)
   • A wanted me to go with her. 1790, Grose, MS. add. (M.)
   • Did a do it! 1876, Bound, Prov.

Forms