a'

a' (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of a (“all”)

a' (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of a (“all”)

a'

1. (archaic) Alternative form of a (“in”)
   • 1661, Samuel Tuke, "The Adventures of Five Hours", in 1876, Robert Dodsley, William Carew Hazlitt, A Select Collection of Old English Plays, page 217:

     SIL. What, a' God's name, could come into the heads

     Of this people to make them rebel?

     ERN. Why, religion; that came into their heads

     A' God's name.

     GER. But what a devil made the noblemen

     Rebel? they never mind religion.

a'

1. you

• IPA^(key): /ə/

a’

1. (nonstandard) Contraction of an (used to form direct and indirect questions).
   • 1894 March, Peadar Mac Fionnlaoigh, “An rí nach robh le fagháil bháis”, in Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge, volume 1:5, Dublin: Gaelic Union, pages 185–88:

     Chonnaic sé cailín ag nigheachán i sruthán le cois an bhealaigh mhóir ⁊ chuir sé an tiománach síos ag fiafraighe di a’ bpósfadh sí é. […] Chuaidh an rí é féin síos annsin ⁊ d’fhiafraigh dhi a’ bpósfadh sí é.

     He saw a girl washing in a stream by the roadside, and he sent his driver down to ask her if she would marry him. The king himself then went down, and asked her would she marry him.

• IPA^(key): /a/^°
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: a'

a'

1. (Tuscan or literary) truncation of ai (“to the m pl”, contraction of a i)

• a, ah, a-

• IPA^(key): /a/^*
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: a'

a'

1. (regional, informal) uttered before a noun to call whoever it is referred to

   A' Gigi, viè qua!

   Gigi, come here!

   E che mi lasciate qua? A' 'nfami!

   Are you leaving me here? You bastards!

• ahó

a'

1. Rōmaji transcription of あっ

• a, aw
• aa, aal (Shetland)

From Middle English all, from Old English eall (“all, every, entire, whole, universal”), from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz (“all, whole, every”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”).

• IPA^(key): /ɑː/, /ɔː/
• (Northern Scots, Northern Isles) IPA^(key): /aː(l)/

a'

1. all

a'

1. all
   • 1852–1859, Lady John Scott (lyrics and music), “Annie Laurie”, in Scottish Songs‎:

     / Like dew on the gowan lying / Is the fa' o' her fairy feet; / And like winds in summer sighing, / Her voice is low and sweet— / Her voice is low and sweet, / And she's a' the world to me, / And for bonnie Annie Laurie / I'd lay me doon and dee.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

a' (uncountable)

1. all
   • 1825, “Who’s at My Window”, in Allan Cunningham, compiler, The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern; In Four Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for John Taylor, , →OCLC, page 334:

     There’s mirth in the barn and the ha’, the ha’, / There’s mirth in the barn and the ha’: / There's quaffing and laughing, / And dancing and daffing; / And our young bride’s daftest of a’, of a’, / And our young bride’s daftest of a’.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• an a'

• “a', adj.,adv.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• Eagle, Andy, editor (2024), “a'”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

a'

1. inflection of an (“the”):
   1. dative or genitive singular masculine preceding g-, c-, b-, m- or p-
   2. nominative or dative singular feminine preceding g-, c-, b-, m-, p-

   Seall air a' corra-lod! ― Look at the mess!

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

a'

1. (before consonants) Apocopic form of ag

   Tha Seoc a' fuireach ann an Glaschu. - Jock lives in Glasgow.

   Dè tha thu a' leughadh? - What are you reading?

• In the Lewis dialect, ri is used instead.
• Scottish Gaelic has no simple present tense of regular verbs, so constructions with a', ag, or ri are used for both simple and progressive present tenses in English.

Blend of a +‎ 'a

a'

1. at the

a'

1. (Hua dialect) woman

• John Haiman, Hua, a Papuan Language of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea