Meaning of a- | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Forming verbs with the sense away, up, on, out.
   idiomatic, morpheme
2. In, on, at; used to show a state, condition, or manner. Also passing into sense 2.
   idiomatic, morpheme, rare
3. Forming words with the sense of wholly, or utterly out.
   idiomatic, morpheme
4. Not, without, opposite of.
   morpheme
5. Towards; Used to indicate direction, reduction to, increase to, change into, or motion.
   idiomatic, morpheme
6. Away from.
   idiomatic, morpheme
7. Of, from.
   idiomatic, morpheme
8. Used as a prefix to verbs in the sense of remaining in the same condition. Actively doing something.
   morpheme
9. Forming verbs with the sense of intensified action.
   idiomatic, morpheme
10. In, into. Also passing into sense 5.
    idiomatic, morpheme
11. Used to form the past participle of a verb.
    Devon, morpheme
12. In the direction of, or toward.
    morpheme
13. At such a time.
    archaic, dialectal, morpheme
14. In the act or process of. Used in some dialects before a present participle.
    archaic, dialectal, morpheme

Equivalents

Examples

“arise, await”

“abide, amaze”

“aglow, apace, afire, aboil, a-bling, abluster”

“asunder”

“astern, abeam”

“Come a-morning we are going hunting.”

“hits a-poppin”

“doins a-transpirin”

“The twelfth day of Christmas, My true love sent to me Twelve lords a-leaping, … Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying,”

“circa 1850, Here We Come A-wassailing/Here We Come A-caroling Here we come a-wassailing Among the leaves so green; Here we come a-wand’ring So fair to be seen.”

“Oh waste no words a-wooing The soft sleep to your bed;”

“The hay is a-cutting now. You're a-wanting.”

“The order is rapidly fadin' And the first one now will later be last For the times they are a-changin'”

“If the van’s a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’.”

“aware, alike”

“I have a-gone.”

“I have a-seen a bird.”

“abash”

“amoral, asymmetry, atheism, asexual, acyclic, atypical”

“When invited to believe in the Chimaera, the horse-centaurs, or the winged horse Pegasus, all of them straightforward Pelasgian cult-symbols, a philosopher felt bound to reject them as a-zoölogical improbabilities ….”

“If aroused outside the proper outlet of marriage, [female lust] could range out of control, turning its possessor into an a-feminine monster: that is what happened to fallen women.”

“ascend, aspire, amass, abandon, avenue”

“avert, aperient, abridge, assoil, assoilzie”

“anew, afresh, athirst”

“A-tisket a-tasket, A green and yellow basket”

“a-be, a-going”

“Let that choilt a-be, wilt ta.”

Let that child alone, will you.

CEFR level