One-Letter Words, a Dictionary Read Online Free Page A
Author: Craig Conley
Tags: General, Social Science, Reference, Popular Culture
symbolic meaning all the more serious and chilling? After all, A is really harmless enough, even if A is the scarlet letter. —William H. Gass, The Tunnel
6. (in literature) “Do you know what A means, little Piglet?…It means Learning, it means Education, it means all the things that you and Pooh haven’t got.”
—A. A. Milne, The World of Pooh
7. (in literature) “A is the roof, the gable with its crossbeam, the arch; or it is two friends greeting, who embrace and shake hands.” —Victor Hugo, quoted in ABZ by Mel Gooding
8. (in film) The title of a ten-minute short film from Germany, written and directed by Jan Lenica in 1965. The synopsis states: “A writer is persecuted by an enormous and abusive letter ‘A.’ Just as he thinks he has gotten rid of it, a giant ‘B’ appears.”
9. n. A written representation of the letter.
[3-D graphic designer Peter Cho] points to a dancing A and challenges me to define the properties of this or any other letter. Cutting-edge technology allows us to give letters virtually any form, he says, but the brain somehow provides the mental ability to recognise a specific letter. —Leo Gullbring, “The Rebirth of Space” in Frame Magazine
10. n. A device, such as a printer’s type, for reproducing the letter.
POINTS IN TIME AND SPACE
11. n. The beginning, as in “from A to Z.” Intuition is the journey from A to Z without stopping at any other letter along the way. —Gavin De Becker, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
12. n. The first letter of the alphabet.
Her embarcation card, filed under A, had eluded the search made by the harbour police. —Georges Perec, Life: A User’s Manual
A is the inside, as it were, the origin and source from which the other letters flow, and likewise the final goal to which all the others flow back, as rivers flow into the ocean or into the great sea. —Hermes, “Tractatus aureus” (Golden Treatise of Hermes)
13. prep. In each.
[E]ach dialysis session bothered him less, and by now he was used to being hooked to the machine three times a week. —Sanjay Nigam, Transplanted Man: A Novel
14. prep. (informal) Of. Have you the time a day?
15. n. A precursor.
[A] feeling of timelessness, the feeling that what we know as time is only the result of a naïve faith in causality—the notion that A in the past caused B in the present, which will cause C in the future. —Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
16. n. A high-level perception of cosmic unity, beyond causality.
[A]ctually A, B, and C are all part of a pattern that can be truly understood only by opening the doors of perception and experiencing it…in this moment…this supreme moment…this kairos.—Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
17. n. Waking consciousness.
Allegorically, the initial A of [the sacred Hindu syllable] AUM is said to represent the field and state of Waking Consciousness, where objects are of “gross matter”…and are separate both from each other and from the consciousness beholding them. —Joseph Campbell, The Mythic Image
MUSIC
18. n. The sixth note in a C-major musical scale.
Suppose you played the note A on a piano, and then went up eight white keys to another A. A musician would say the second A is one “octave” higher than the first A. —David M. Schwartz, Q Is for Quark: A Science Alphabet Book
19. n. A written or printed representation of a musical note A.
20. n. A string, key, or pipe tuned to the note A.
21. n. The first section in a piece of music.
The final passacaglia’s five bar theme is clearly derived from section A of the Chorale and its surprising five bar phrasing. —OrganConcert. info
DESIGNATIONS
22. n. A standard, as in “A one.”
Her gears being in/A 1 shape. —e. e. Cummings, “she being Brand”
23. n. A grade in school meaning superior.
The second skit [starring comedian
6. (in literature) “Do you know what A means, little Piglet?…It means Learning, it means Education, it means all the things that you and Pooh haven’t got.”
—A. A. Milne, The World of Pooh
7. (in literature) “A is the roof, the gable with its crossbeam, the arch; or it is two friends greeting, who embrace and shake hands.” —Victor Hugo, quoted in ABZ by Mel Gooding
8. (in film) The title of a ten-minute short film from Germany, written and directed by Jan Lenica in 1965. The synopsis states: “A writer is persecuted by an enormous and abusive letter ‘A.’ Just as he thinks he has gotten rid of it, a giant ‘B’ appears.”
9. n. A written representation of the letter.
[3-D graphic designer Peter Cho] points to a dancing A and challenges me to define the properties of this or any other letter. Cutting-edge technology allows us to give letters virtually any form, he says, but the brain somehow provides the mental ability to recognise a specific letter. —Leo Gullbring, “The Rebirth of Space” in Frame Magazine
10. n. A device, such as a printer’s type, for reproducing the letter.
POINTS IN TIME AND SPACE
11. n. The beginning, as in “from A to Z.” Intuition is the journey from A to Z without stopping at any other letter along the way. —Gavin De Becker, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence
12. n. The first letter of the alphabet.
Her embarcation card, filed under A, had eluded the search made by the harbour police. —Georges Perec, Life: A User’s Manual
A is the inside, as it were, the origin and source from which the other letters flow, and likewise the final goal to which all the others flow back, as rivers flow into the ocean or into the great sea. —Hermes, “Tractatus aureus” (Golden Treatise of Hermes)
13. prep. In each.
[E]ach dialysis session bothered him less, and by now he was used to being hooked to the machine three times a week. —Sanjay Nigam, Transplanted Man: A Novel
14. prep. (informal) Of. Have you the time a day?
15. n. A precursor.
[A] feeling of timelessness, the feeling that what we know as time is only the result of a naïve faith in causality—the notion that A in the past caused B in the present, which will cause C in the future. —Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
16. n. A high-level perception of cosmic unity, beyond causality.
[A]ctually A, B, and C are all part of a pattern that can be truly understood only by opening the doors of perception and experiencing it…in this moment…this supreme moment…this kairos.—Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
17. n. Waking consciousness.
Allegorically, the initial A of [the sacred Hindu syllable] AUM is said to represent the field and state of Waking Consciousness, where objects are of “gross matter”…and are separate both from each other and from the consciousness beholding them. —Joseph Campbell, The Mythic Image
MUSIC
18. n. The sixth note in a C-major musical scale.
Suppose you played the note A on a piano, and then went up eight white keys to another A. A musician would say the second A is one “octave” higher than the first A. —David M. Schwartz, Q Is for Quark: A Science Alphabet Book
19. n. A written or printed representation of a musical note A.
20. n. A string, key, or pipe tuned to the note A.
21. n. The first section in a piece of music.
The final passacaglia’s five bar theme is clearly derived from section A of the Chorale and its surprising five bar phrasing. —OrganConcert. info
DESIGNATIONS
22. n. A standard, as in “A one.”
Her gears being in/A 1 shape. —e. e. Cummings, “she being Brand”
23. n. A grade in school meaning superior.
The second skit [starring comedian
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