called ‘indefinite article.’ Before a vowel-sound an (ăn, emph. æn). [A weakening of OE. án, ‘one,’ already by 1150 reduced before a cons. to a. About the same time the numeral began to be used in a weakened sense (usually unexpressed in OE. as he wæs gód man, ‘he was a good man’; cf. Chron. 1137 ‘he wæs god munec & god man,’ and 1140 ‘he wæs an yuel man’); becoming in this sense proclitic and toneless, ăn, ă, while as a numeral it remained long, ān, ā, and passed regularly during the next cent. into ōn, ō; see the prec. word, Though an began to sink to a in midl. dial. by 1150, it often remained bef. a cons. to 1300; bef. sounded h, an was retained after 1600, and somet. after 1700, as an house, an heifer, an hermitage. The present rule is to use an bef. a vowel-sound (incl. h mute, as an hour); a bef. a consonant-sound (including h sounded, and eu-, u- with sound of yū-, as a host, a one, a eunuch, a unit). But in unaccented syllables, many, perhaps most, writers still retain an bef, sounded h, some even bef. eu, u, as an historian, an euphonic vowel, an united appeal, though this is all but obsolete in speech, and in writing a becomes increasingly common in this position. A, an has been indeclinable in midl. and north. dial. since 1150, but vestiges of the OE. declension (as nom. f. ane, gen. m. anes, gen. & dat. f. are, acc. m. anne) remained much later in southern. In north. an was frequently written ane (with e mute), the use of a and an(e being as elsewhere; but about 1475 Scottish writers began to use ane in all positions, a practice which prevailed till the disuse of literary Scotch after 1600. Quotations illustrating the history of the forms:—
c. 1131. O. E. Chron. (Laud. MS.), anno 1125. Se man ðe hafde an pund he ne mihte cysten ænne peni at anne market. Ibid. (c. 1150), anno 1137. Wel þu myhtes faren all a dæis fare, sculdest þu neure finden man in tune sittende.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 221. God þa ʓeworhte aenne man óf láme.
a. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. Ȝif hie was riche wimman, a lomb.
1205. Layamon, I. 3. A [masc.] Frenchis clerc, Wace wes ihoten, þa luuede he a [fem.] maide, þeo was Lauine mawe.
1483. Caxton, Geoffroi de la Tour, E 4. A baronnesse, ryght a hyghe and noble lady of lygnage.
1532. More, Conf. Tyndale, Wks. 1557, 447/2. We haue two articles in english, a & the: a or an (for bothe is one article, the tone before a consonant the tother before a vowell) is commen to euery thinge almost.
1611. Bible, Acts vii. 47. But Solomon built him an house [1881 Revised a house]. Ibid., vii. 27. An eunuch of great authority [Revised a eunuch].
1732. Pope, Essay Man, iv. 78. Nor in an hermitage set Dr. Clarke.
1763. Johnson, Ascham, Wks. 1816, XII. 306. An yearly pension.
1823. Lingard, Hist. Eng., VI. 219. An eulogium on his talents.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 25/2. In November [1835], the great seal was put to a charter creating a University of London.
1844. Lever, Tom Burke (1857), I. xxxix. 387. To call forth a eulogium on their honourable conduct from Napoleon himself.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, I. 149. All wild to found an University For maidens.
1850. Mrs. Jameson, Sac. & Leg. Art, 206. I found in an old French sermon a eulogium of Mary Magdalene, which for its eloquence and ingenuity seems to me without a parallel.
About the 15th cent. a or an was commonly written in comb. with the following sb. as aman, anoke, anele. When they were separated, much uncertainty prevailed as to the division; thus we find a nend, a noke, a nadder, an adder, an est. In some words a mistaken division has passed into usage: see ADDER, NEWT.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 515. And ryȝt with þat worde he made a nend.]
A is strictly adjective and can only be used with a substantive following. Meanings:—
1. One, some, any: the oneness, or indefiniteness, being implied rather than asserted. It is especially used in first introducing an object to notice, which object, after being introduced by a, is kept in view by the; as ‘I plucked a flower; this is the flower.’ Used before a noun singular, and its attributes.
a. Ordinarily before the name of an individual object or notion, or of a substance, quality or state individualized, and before a collective noun, as a tree, a wish, an ice, a beauty, a new ink, a greater strength, a second youth, a legion, a hundred, a pair.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 121. Vre drihten wes iled to sleȝe al swa me dede a scep.
1297. R. Glouc., 78. He hadde a gret ost in a lutel stonde.
1847. Longf., Ev., I. i. 59. A celestial brightness—a more ethereal beauty.
Mod. An ink that will retain its fluidity; a permanent black. Is it a red wheat? What kind of a wine is this? To walk out in a pouring rain. There was a something—of that we may be sure. Oh, a mere nothing.
b. Also before proper names, used connotatively, with reference to the qualities of the individual; or figuratively as the type of a class.
1596. Shaks., Merch. Ven., IV. i. 223. A Daniel come to iudgement, yea a Daniel!
1665–9. Boyle, Occ. Refl. (1675), IV. xii. 245. Our own History affords us a Henry the Fifth.
1683. D. A., Art of Converse, 53. Cannot ye praise a philosopher unless ye say he is an Aristotle.
c. 1830. A Fable (in 4th Irish Schbk., 50). He whom his party deems a hero, His foes a Judas or a Nero.
1855. Tennyson, Maud, I. iv. 46. Shall I weep if a Poland fall? shall I shriek if a Hungary fail?
c. A follows the adj. in many a, such a, what a! and the obs. or dial. each a, which a; it follows any adj. preceded by how, so, as, too, as how large a sum; and in earlier Eng. the genit. phrases what manner, no manner, whatkins, nakins, what sort, etc., as what manner a man = cujusmodi homo? (See these words.)
In none of these was the a found in Old English.
Many a is not to be confused with the approximative a many (see 2). Such a was earlier (2–3) a such. Each a and which a survive in the north, as ilk a, whilk a. What manner a, and its likes soon became corrupted to what manner of. See A prep.2 = of.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. iv. 12. Ah, what a shame! ah, what a fault were this! Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., V. iii. 140. And haue (in vaine) said many A prayer vpon her graue.
1611. Bible, Ruth iv. 1. Ho, such a one! [Later reprints, such an one.] Ibid., James iii. 5. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth [1881 Revised Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire.]
Mod. Too high a price for so small an advantage. As fine a child as you will see.
d. With nouns of multitude, after which the gen. sign, or prep. of, has been omitted, a comes apparently before pl. nouns. Compare a score of men, a dozen (of) men, hundreds of men, a hundred men, a thousand miles; and the obs. a certain of men or a certain men, now certain men. (See under these words.)
c. 1225. Sawles Warde, 251. Þah ich hefde a þusent tungen of stele.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froissart, I. lxxx. 101. A certayne of varlettes and boyes, who ran away. Ibid., xiv. 13. A certayne noble knightis … she kept.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. i. 2. It was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will, but poore a thousand crownes.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, I. 32. Belisarius commanded Bessas with a 1000. selected men to charge them.
1860. Tyndall, Glaciers, II. § 11. 290. He had to retreat more than a dozen times.
2. A with numeral adjectives removes their definiteness, or expresses an approximate estimate: some, a matter of, about; as a sixty fathom, a six years, a two hundred spears; so also a many men, a few retainers, the latter already in OE. áne feawa (áne plural = some). An exceedingly common use of a in 14–16th c. Now obs. except in a few, a great many, a good many (a many, a good few, a small few, dialectal). See also under these words.
c. 1000. Gosp. Nicod. (1698), 5. Ane feawa worda.
1297. R. Glouc., 18. Þe kyng with a fewe men hymself flew.
1366. Maundev., 57. That See is wel a 6 myle of largenesse in bredth.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Squyres T., 275. And up they risen, a ten other a twelve.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froissart, I. xxxvii. 50. A ii hundred speres. Ibid., xxxviii. 51. A xx. M. Almaynes.
1551. Turner, Herbal, II. 7. Stepe them a fiue or sixe dayes in vineger.
1595. Drake, Voyage (Hakl. Soc.), 5. He had a three hundred men more in his squadron.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. i. 121. And a many merry men with him.
1611. Bible, Luke ix. 28. An eight days after these sayings.
1684. Bunyan, Pilg. Prog., II. Introd. Have also overcome a many evils.
1833. Tennyson, Miller’s Dau., 221. They have not shed a many tears.
c. 1860. H. Bonar, Hymn. A few more struggles here, A few more partings o’er, A few more toils, a few more tears, And we shall weep no more.
Mod. A great many acquaintances, a good many well-wishers, a few tried friends.
3. In a more definite sense: One, a certain, a particular; the same. Now only used in a few phrases like once on a day; two at a time; two, three, all of a sort, a size, a price, an age.
c. 1220. St. Kathherine (Abb. Cl.), 1. Constantin & Maxence weren on a time … hehest in Rome.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froissart, I. cx. 132. In his dayes, ther was at a tyme, a great tournayeng before Cambray.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, 45. The killing of a man or the takyng of his money … were both a matter.
1553–87. Foxe, A. & M., 695/1 (1596). Whether the christians yeeld to them, or yeeld not, all is a matter.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, I. iii. 244. He and his Phisitions Are of a minde. Ibid. (1602), Haml., V. ii. 277. These Foyles haue all a length.
1688. Sprat, Lett., 18. My perpetual Behaviour therein, was so much all of a piece.
1694. Bp. Tenison, in Evelyn, Mem. (1857), III. 344. Six little pieces of coin (all of a sort) found in an urn by a ploughman.
1701. Swift, Wks. (1755), II. I. 25. The power of these princes … was much of a size with that of the kings in Sparta.
Mod. Provb. Fowls of a feather flock together.
4. ‘Denoting the proportion of one thing to another.’ J.; chiefly of rate or price: in each, to or for each; as a hundred a year, twenty pounds a man, thirty shillings a head, sixpence an ounce, a penny a line. This was originally the preposition a, OE. an, on, defining time, as in twice a day; whence by slight extension, a penny a day (par jour, per diem). Then, being formally identified with the indef. art., a, an was extended analogically from time, to space, measure, weight, number, as a penny a mile, sixpence a pound (la livre), tenpence a hundred, so much a head. See A prep.1 8 b.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xvii. 4. Seofen siðum on dæʓ.
a. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 67. Enes o dai. Ibid., 109. Anes á dái.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xx. 2. A peny for the day.
1526. Tindale, ibid. A peny a daye.
1584. W. E(lderton), A new Yorkshire song [Yorke, Yorke, for my Monie, etc.] Yorksh. Anth. (1851), 2. And they shot for twentie poundes a bowe.
1725. De Foe, Voyage round the World (1840), 50. His men to whom I gave four pieces of eight a man.
1794. Southey, Botany Bay Ecl., 3, Wks. II. 82. To be popt at like pigeons for sixpence a day.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 305. Three hundred and eighty thousand pounds a year.
