v. dial. [A contracted form of are not (see AN’T), used also for am not, is not, in the pop. dialect of London and elsewhere; hence in representations of Cockney speech in Dickens, etc. Cf. wōn’t, dōn’t, cân’t, shân’t.]
1778. Miss Burney, Evelina (1873), I. xxi. 87. Those you are engaged to ain’t half so near related to you as we are.
1829. Lamb, Life & Lett. (1860), I. 348. An’t you glad about Burk’s case?
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. 12. ‘You seem to have a good sister,’ ‘She ain’t half bad.’
