a'

a' (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of a (“all”) [First attested from 1350 to 1470.]

a' (not comparable)

1. Alternative spelling of a (“all”) [First attested from 1350 to 1470.]

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 me lassate 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, “Annie Laurie”, in Scottish Songs‎^[1]:

     / 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 (2025), “a'”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎^[2]

• IPA^(key): /ə/

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