alphabetn.

Brit.

/ˈalfəbɛt/, U.S.

/ˈælfəˌbɛt/, Hong Kong English

/ˈɛofəˌbɛt/, West African English

/ˈalfabɛt/

Forms: late Middle English–1600s alphabete, 1500s– alphabet.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French alphabet; Latin alphabetum.

Etymology: < (i) Middle French alphabete, Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French alphabet series of letters of a language arranged in the order conventional in that language (14th cent. in Anglo-Norman), elementary reading primer (1547), key to a cipher (1580), system of symbols or signs used for communication (a1630), book in which subjects are presented in alphabetical order, dictionary (1738), and its etymon (ii) post-classical Latin alphabetum set of letters in a fixed order used in a particular writing system (late 3rd cent.), instruction in reading and writing (15th cent. in a British source) < Hellenistic Greek ἀλϕάβητος < ancient Greek ἄλϕα alpha n. + βῆτα beta n., the first two Greek letters taken as a name for the whole (compare e.g. ABC n.¹).Compare Old Occitan alphabet (c1350), Catalan alfabet (13th cent.), Spanish alfabeto (1237), Portuguese alfabeto (1191), Italian alfabeto (13th cent.). Compare also in the Germanic languages: Dutch alfabet (1484 in Middle Dutch as alphabeet ), Middle Low German alfabēt , German Alphabet (c1275 in Middle High German as alfabet ), Icelandic alfabet , Swedish alfabet (1722), Danish alfabet (late 15th cent. in Old Danish as alphabeta , alphabethe ), all < post-classical Latin. In alphabet keeper n. at Compounds 2 apparently showing technical use of alphabet within the postal service to denote a rack with divisions corresponding to letters of the alphabet, in which post to be collected by the addressee was sorted.

I. A set of written symbols in a conventional order, or something relating to this.

a. A set of letters arranged in a conventional order used in a particular writing system; esp. (with the) the set of 26 letters from A to Z used to write words in English (cf. ABC n.¹ 1a). Also more widely: a set of symbols, as syllabic characters, pictographs, ideographs, etc., used in a particular writing system.Quot. ?a1475 may have the extended meaning ‘teaching’, although the passage refers to a conversation with an old man in Egypt, and may indicate simply that he speaks a language other than Latin or Greek (by implication with a distinct set of sounds or letters).initial teaching, International Phonetic, lineal alphabet, etc.: see the first element.

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society > communication > writing > system of writing > alphabet > [noun]

staff-rewOE

abecedariumOE

ABCc1325

alphabet?a1475

character1569

abecedary1596

one's P's and Q's1763

characteristic1769

staverow1866

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1874) V. 193 (MED) Y have be instructe in Latyn and Grewe, but y perceyvede not the a. b. c. or alphabete [L. alphabetum] of that chorle.

1513 tr. Ovid Flores (de Worde) (title page) With theyr Englysshe..and Two alphabete Tables.

1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. A.iii^v To vnderstande this table, wytteth that euery lettre of the alphabete in the boke hath iiii. leaues, saue .f. the laste queyre of the small alphabete, whiche hath .vi. leaues.

1574 J. Baret Aluearie sig. Ci A. Is the name of the first letter..this common vsuall order in our Alphabet or crosrewe.

1650 J. Howell Cotgrave's French-Eng. Dict. (rev. ed.) Of French Lett. sig. b^v Touching the French Abcee, for Alphabet I will not call it according to the Vulgar error, that word being peculiar only to the Greek toung.

1698 J. Collier Short View Immorality Eng. Stage ii. 71 Such nauseous stuff [sc. Juvenal's writing] is almost enough to debauch the Alphabet, and make the Language scandalous.

1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 141. ⁋8 The lexicographer at last finds the conclusion of his alphabet.

1782 W. Cowper Conversation in Poems 213 As alphabets in ivory employ Hour after hour the yet unletter'd boy.

1813 M. Lumsden Gram. Arabic Lang. i. i. 16 The letter..which appears at the head of the alphabet, is more properly known by the name of..hum-za.

1857 F. M. Müller in Times 20 Apr. 6/3 The Chinese alphabet was never intended to represent the sound of words.

1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Nov. 1307/2 She could not recognize a single letter of the alphabet.

1935 M. R. Anand Untouchable 58 Recently he had actually gone and bought a first primer of English. But his self-education hadn't proceeded beyond the alphabet.

1983 J. Hutchinson Lett. ii. 44 The Phoenician alphabet..was the basis of several alphabets, including Hellenic, the source of the alphabets of Europe.

2010 New Yorker 28 June 26/3 It makes relatively little difference whether the language uses an alphabet, like Greek or English, or ideograms, like Chinese.

b. A set of symbols, gestures, words, etc., used to represent the letters, numerals, and other characters of a written language.finger, hand, manual, Morse alphabet, etc.: see the first element.

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society > communication > writing > system of writing > alphabet > [noun] > the alphabet, allusively > series of symbols representing alphabet type

alphabet1607

1607 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Serres in tr. Gen. Inuentorie Hist. France ii. 544 He found the Alphabet of the Ciphre [Fr. l'alphabet de chiffre], whereby the Duke of Guise did communicate with the Earle of Sancerre.

1694 W. Leybourn Recreations Cryptogr. 8 in Pleasure with Profit Not to invent new, strange, and insignificant Characters,..I shall here present you with an Alphabet of known Characters; viz. with those of the Astronomical Signs, Planets and Aspects.

1729 N. Tindal tr. P. Rapin de Thoyras Hist. Eng. IX. xvii. 81 She had sent her Alphabet of Cyphers to some Roman-Catholicks.

1788 A. Young Jrnl. 13 Oct. in Trav. France (1792) 65 His wife, by remarking the corresponding motions of the ball, writes down the words they indicate; from which it appears that he has formed an alphabet of motions.

1838 N.Y. Observer 3 Feb. 18/6 The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph..can..furnish the copy, ready for the hands of any printer who understands the telegraphic alphabet.

1852 E. Highton Electr. Telegr. 63 The following represents Professor Morse's alphabet, composed..of long and short marks.

1904 Army Signalling Regul. 25 Semaphore alphabet.

1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia V. 326/1 The Gronsfeld cipher is identical with a Vigenère system with direct standard alphabets, except that only the first ten alphabets are used in conjunction with a numerical key.

2004 1,000 Signs of Life (Gallaudet Univ. Press) 5 Signers use this alphabet to spell out English words.

c. regional. In the English of Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, South-East Asia, and West Africa: a letter of the alphabet.Frequently representing a direct translation from a local language or dialect in which the word for ‘letter’ and ‘alphabet’ is the same.

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society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > letter

staffc888

bookstaffOE

Kc1000

Yc1000

Zc1000

AOE

EOE

GOE

MOE

ROE

letterc1225

print1340

tawc1400

Wc1465

J1591

stave1866

alphabet1972

X-

1972 E. B. Carr Da Kine Talk 121 My name begins with the alphabet A, so I have to go first in line.

1979 P. Nihalani et al. Indian & Brit. Eng. 21 The pupil wrote a few alphabets on the blackboard.

1980 Eng. World-Wide 1 i. 109 Many BrE [sc. British English] expressions have taken on a different meaning in SME [sc. Singapore and Malaysian English], e.g. alphabet(s), which has come to mean ‘the letters of the alphabet’ as against the whole inventory of symbols.

1984 J. Platt et al. New Englishes vi. 103 My name, you write it with three alphabets not four.

1994 Ashanti Independent 13 Feb. 7 Who during a speech presentation forgot to add the alphabet ‘S’ to a word.

2002 Sunday Times of India 22 Sept. 11/2 Alphabets J, Q and X also are not present in any of the given names.

2003 K. Bolton Chinese Englishes App. 5 288 Alphabet, a letter of the alphabet.

2. A poem that has each verse or line beginning with a different letter of the alphabet in alphabetical order; an abecedary, an alphabet poem; (sometimes also) an acrostic. Cf. ABC n.¹ 2. Now rare.

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society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > types of poem according to form > [noun] > acrostic > alphabetical

ABCa1382

alphabet?1531

acrostic1665

?1531 R. Whitford Werke Preparacion vnto Communion (title page) The werke for housholders with the golden pistle and alphabete or crosrowe called an. A.B.C.

1595 P. Howard tr. J. J. Lansperger Epist. Christ to Faithfull Soule 296 A Hymne of the Life and Passion of our Sauiour Christ, made after the manner of an Alphabet, euerie verse beginning with euerie Letter.

a1675 J. Lightfoot Wks. (1684) I. 129 In all the Alphabets, but that of the first Chapter, there is a dislocation of the two letters..Ain and Pe.

1738 London Mag. May 254/2 (title of poem) To a young Lady, on her saying the foregoing Alphabet by heart.

1795 Tomahawk! 2 Nov. 21/1 Musical Alphabet. Ayrton and Aylward, two Doctors in Musick; Blewrit and Baker, [etc.].

1842 W. Ullathorne Sermons 24 Familiar and popular sermons, even alphabets for children, as that acrostic against the Donatists.

1899 S. Schechter & C. Taylor Wisdom of Ben Sira p. li The book of Proverbs ending with an ‘Alphabet’ on the virtuous woman.

1908 Encycl. Relig. & Ethics I. 75/2 Alphabets and other acrostics are found in Jewish prayer books and secular writings.

1919 Amer. Missionary May 85/1 An African alphabet begins A is for Africa, so new yet so old, B is for Bantus, the southern tribes bold.

2004 B. Merry Encycl. Mod. Greek Lit. 14/2 Alphabets..have 24 lines, each beginning with a letter of the Greek alphabet, in succession.

3. An index or list in alphabetical order.

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society > communication > record > written record > arrangement and storage of written records > [noun] > indexing > index > alphabetical

pie?a1527

alphabet1552

pica1847

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Alphabet of a boke, Elenchus.

1578 Bible (Geneva) Pref. These two Alphabets of directions..in maner of a briefe Concordance.

1613 R. Rogers et al. Garden of Spirituall Flowers: 2 Pt. (new ed.) sig. A2 (heading) A Threefold Alphabet of rules concerning Christian practise.

1666 S. Pepys Diary 25 Dec. (1972) VII. 421 Reducing the names of all my books to an Alphabet.

1780 S. Pegge Forme of Cury p. xxxiv Randle Holme, in his multifarious Academy of Armory, has an alphabet of terms and dishes.

1795 in tr. L. Guicciardini Acct. Flemish School Painting Pref. p. xv Painters of uncertain epochs might be thrown in at the most probable period, or in an alphabet at the end.

1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan II. 159 Where's the alphabet? Find Harwood.

1898 Geogr. Jrnl. Mar. 317 A massive contribution to bibliography, arranged in one alphabet.

1966 F. Redl When we deal with Children (1972) iii. 250 In subgrouping them she had not consulted the alphabet but had followed her ‘hunch insight’ about the youngsters.

1998 Art Room Catal. Christmas 30/3 (caption) The Art Book... An easy to use alphabet of 500 of the world's greatest artists.

4. Chiefly Printing and Typography.

a. A complete set of type for reproducing the letters of the alphabet. Now chiefly historical.

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1608 T. Dekker Lanthorne & Candle-light sig. F2 Fellowes..buying vp any old Booke..that lies for wast-paper,..with an Alphabet of letters..beeing able to Print any mans names (for a Dedication) on the suddaine.

1656 J. Evelyn Ess. 1st Bk. Lucretius 174 May we with as much reason believe that a great volume of exquisite Sentences..should result from the..accidental mischance of a Printers Alphabet..without the disposition of..Author.

1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. vi. 158 Putting an alphabet of Roman Lower-case letters into a Stick; and an alphabet of Italic upon that, to see..the difference [in length].

1854 tr. A. de Lamartine Mem. Celebrated Char. II. 314 Wooden types, bored.., strung together.., each with a letter..cut in relief on one side—the first printer's alphabet, coarse, but wonderful.

1897 Amer. Printer & Lithographer Apr. 57/1 There was a mould for each letter, so that it cast an entire alphabet in one action.

1973 S. Morison & P. M. Handover Tally of Types Introd. 31 Bodoni had his own foundry, where his brother cast alphabets which he also supplied to other printers.

b. A system, design, or style of lettering; a font, typeface, or hand. Also: a book, sheet, or sample of this (cf. alphabet book n. (a) at Compounds 2).

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society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > style of type > [noun] > type face or font

letter1576

alphabet1658

font1664

fond1678

fount of type1683

face1876

typeface1887

1658 E. Cocker Pen's Triumph (new ed.) 10 First I commend to your serious..practice, the Alphabets of whatsoever hand or hands you intend to write.

a1726 H. Wanley in T. B. Reed Hist. Old Eng. Let. Foundries (1887) vi. 157 When the alphabet came into the hands of the workman.., he could not imitate the fine and regular stroke of the pen.

1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 5 At last, the Italic alphabet came much in vogue: but there were no Greek types till about the year 1476.

1788 Shepperson & Reynolds's Catal. Valuable & Extensive Coll. Bks. App. 225 Variety of Alphabets for Painters, Carvers, and Jewellers, 1s.

1859 Bookseller 26 Oct. 1336/1 (advt.) Modern Alphabets, Plain and Ornamental, including..Court Hand, Engrossing, Tuscan, [etc.].

1899 A. R. Wells Missionary Man. iv. 42 If you have not a good letterer in your number, use stencils or cut out letters from a printer's alphabet.

1913 Inland Printer May 216 The Gothic alphabet is distinguished by having all lines equally wide, square-cut, and without serifs across their ends.

1999 S. Heller & L. Fili Typology 101/2 French alphabets of the 1930s had grace and style.

II. Figurative and extended uses.

5. figurative and in extended use.

a. A long or complete series.

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the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > [noun] > a series or succession > long or complete

rope?a1549

alphabet1592

1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. C2 Small beere, that would make a man..runne through an Alphabet of faces.

1686 F. Philipps Investigatio Jurium Antiquorum xxv. 502 There was saith Justice Hussey a whole Alphabet of paenall Laws in the time of King Henry the 7th.

1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 209 While tow'ring o'er your Alphabet, like Saul.

1847 Ladies' Repository Feb. 59/1 Each rivulet, bush, and brake, is a letter in the great alphabet of things.

1923 G. B. Shaw in Nation 10 Feb. 715/1 The soldiers would have to be inoculated with a whole alphabet of microbes.

2003 D. Levithan Boy meets Boy 61 Hyacinth and jacaranda and a dozen other flowers that I cannot begin to name. An alphabet of flowers.

b. The elements of which something is composed; the rudiments or the basics of a subject; the key to any study or branch of knowledge. Cf. ABC n.¹ 3.

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society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > rudiments

elements1382

ABCa1393

ground1528

introduction1532

principles1532

rudiments1534

institution1537

accidence1562

institute1578

alphabet1593

ut, re1598

gamut1600

Christ-cross-row1608

grammates1633

initiament1727

notion1839

propaedeutics1842

rudimentaries1852

1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 158 The whole Alphabet of his sweet Eloquence.

1594 M. Drayton Ideas Mirrour xi. sig. C2 Thine eyes taught mee the Alphabet of loue.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus (1623) iii. ii. 44 I (of these) will wrest an Alphabet, And by still practice, learne to know thy meaning.

a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) iv. v. 94 Our Senses..first taught us the Alphabet of this learning.

1721 R. Manning Case stated Church of Rome II. 352 He, who sees no Difference betwixt a Thing being against and above Reason, is ignorant of the very Alphabet of reveal'd Religion.

1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 30 The Italian music, says M. D'Alembert, is a language of which we have not yet the alphabet.

1837 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. I. i. i. 27 The alphabet in which nature writes her answers to such inquiries.

1898 Dental Cosmos May 379 The future must furnish..much more knowledge, for as yet we scarcely know the alphabet of the subject.

1921 C. S. Duncan Commerc. Res. iii. 56 The very alphabet of research is to know what to look for.

1990 S. Atran Cognitive Found. of Nat. Hist. (1996) vii. 159 But if mathematical inference and law do not constitute the syntax and semantics of Jung's book of nature, at least geometry provides its alphabet.

2001 R. Wilks in tr. A. Chekhov Steppe & other Stories p. xxii Chekhov was told by the distinguished actor Lensky to abandon the theatre because he did not even know the alphabet of drama composition.

c. The series of constituent parts that make up a code resembling an alphabet in a particular field, as the notes in a musical scale, etc.

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1772 P. Thicknesse Treat. Art Decyphering iii. 45 The plain notes, i.e. the crotchets and minums alone, compose the alphabet,..neither flatts nor sharps, nor the smaller notes between..have anything to do with the reading.

1832 Sat. Mag. 8 Sept. 95/1 There are particular abbreviations and signs, belonging to particular branches of knowledge... Those signs are the alphabets of the sciences.

1879 G. Grove Dict. Music I. 56/2 The musical alphabet..consists of the seven letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

1901 W. Collett-Sandars tr. A. Rosengarten Handbk. Archit. Styles 71 The mouldings..to a certain degree constitute the architectural alphabet.

1988 M. Brookes in M. Kistler Draw Squad Foreword 17 I am teaching people an alphabet of the elements of shape, so that when they look at objects in their world, they know how to draw realistic interpretations of them.

2008 N. Herr Sourcebk. Teaching Sci. 329 Comprehension of the ‘scientific alphabet’ is essential to understand the language of science. There are seven ‘letters’ in the ‘language of measurement’..: distance, mass, time, [etc.].

6. Computing. A set of symbols available for use with a computer or in a program; an ordered character set.Internationally recognized alphabets include ASCII, EBCDIC, and ISO/IEC 8859.

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society > computing and information technology > data > [noun] > character > set of

alphabet1953

character set1954

alphanumerics1958

1953 S. Goldman Information Theory i. 64 The alphabet of possible values of quantitative data is arranged in numerical order.

1957 J. M. Wozencraft Sequential Decoding for Reliable Communication i. 1-1 A communication channel for which the alphabet consists of only two symbols.

1959 Proc. Western Joint Computer Conf. 192/1 The segregation of primary and secondary data is accomplished in a particularly simple way by providing separate transmission symbol ‘alphabets’ for primary and secondary data.

1973 H. Hellerman Digital Computer Syst. Princ. (ed. 2) ii. 25 The alphabet of APL, showing all its atomic symbols as they appear on the terminal keyboard, is illustrated.

1984 J. Scriven Working Electron ii. 58 (heading) Defining your own alphabet.

2004 D. S. Ebert in A. B. Tucker Computer Sci. Handbk. (ed. 2) xxxvii. 5 As with most formal languages, an L-system can be described by an alphabet for the grammar, the grammar production rules, and an initial axiom.

7. The set of nucleotides (or their constituent nucleosides or bases) from which nucleic acid molecules are composed, the sequence of which is the means of encoding and storing genetic information. Also (more fully amino acid alphabet, protein alphabet): the set of twenty amino acids from which the proteins of most living organisms are composed.In most organisms, the set of nucleotides comprises those formed from the purine and pyrimidine bases adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine (in DNA), and uracil (in RNA).

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1954 G. Gamow in Nature 13 Feb. 318/2 The enzymes..are long peptide chains formed by about twenty different kinds of amino acids, and can be considered as long ‘words’ based on a 20-letter alphabet.]

1956 Radiation Res. 5 146 His [sc. Gamow's] basic idea—that the problem is one of recoding the genetical information from a four-letter alphabet to a twenty-letter one—is ingenious.

1970 Currents Mod. Biol. 3 260/2 The transfer RNA molecules are adaptors which bind specifically to a code word in the nucleic acid alphabet and to an amino acid in the protein alphabet.

1993 Discover Aug. 23/1,24/1 Benner's group thought that nature's alphabet might be extended. So they designed another base pair, k (kappa) and X, to fit into the double helix.

2006 Time 9 Oct. 48/2 What causes changes..is random mutation, in which individual base pairs—the ‘letters’ of the genetic alphabet—are flipped around like a typographical error.

Phrases

P1. by (the) alphabet: in alphabetical order; alphabetically.

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c1545 R. Copland tr. P. Tommai Art of Memory sig. Biv^v The pryncyples of the lawes where as chapyters be set in place by alphabete.

1565 J. Hall in tr. Lanfranc Most Excellent Woorke Chirurg. sig. Ooii. (heading) A necessary table exactly drawen by the alphabet as the former.

1621 Lawes E. India Co. lxii. 12 He shall keepe a Booke, and therein by Alphabet set downe the names of euery perticular member of this Company.

1756 S. Johnson in R. Rolt New Dict. Trade Pref. p. i It has lately been the practice of the learned to range knowledge by the alphabet, and publish dictionaries of every kind of literature.

1823 Mechanics Mag. 13 Dec. 243/1 Vote not by alphabet;..it would be [wrong]..to vote for a person merely because the order of the alphabet happens to bring him first under your notice.

1987 P. A. Gilje Road to Mobocracy App. 290 These records were organized by residence rather than by the alphabet.

2011 Sunday Times (Nexis) 18 Dec. 19 Let the computer sort everything by categories, by alphabet, by price, all at the flick of a switch.

P2. in (also into) alphabet: = by (the) alphabet at Phrases 1. Now rare.

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1595 A. Maunsell (title) The first part of the catalogue of English printed bookes which concerneth such matters of diuinitie... Gathered into alphabet, and such method as it is, by Andrew Maunsell, bookeseller.

1597 H. Broughton Epist. Learned Nobility 5 Matrones vertues in Alphabet.

1687 R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times I. 123 A Book of the Several Counties of England, Ranged in Alphabet.

1699 S. Garth Dispensary i. 5 Here Phyals in nice discipline are set, There Gally-pots are rang'd in Alphabet.

1718 C. Molloy Coquet i. 19 You must give me leave to look over my Catalogue, for 'tis impossible for me to remember the Names of all my Acquaintance: Here they are rang'd in Alphabet.

1878 H. B. Wheatley What is Index? 58 Words and names must be arranged in alphabet up to their last letters.

1903 Libr. Jrnl. June 322/2 The first list is arranged in numerical order..; the second is classified by subject, and arranged in alphabet by authors.

Compounds

C1. General attributive, with the sense ‘of or relating to the alphabet; alphabetical’, as alphabet letter, alphabet order, alphabet table, etc.

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1513 [see sense 1a].

1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health sig. Nn3 The Table conteining the principall pointes of the whole booke in Alphabet order.

1604 H. Broughton Aduert. Corrupt. Handling Relig. sig. D2 Their names many together running vpon a letter, shew that from some Alphabet table, they we[r]e fetched: and very vnlearnedly.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 140/1 The Iews and Hebrews used their Alphabet Letters to express their numbers.

1743 W. Stukeley Abury xi. 56 The Egyptians had the good sense, when alphabet-writing was communicated to them, to embrace it, tho' the Chinese will not.

1788 Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 1787 1 Antiquities 15 Our first missionaries of the gospel were saved the slavish task of alphabet-teachers, for they met with a lettered people.

1859 Sci. Amer. 4 June 332/1 A translator machine, by which the telegraphic marks are translated into the ordinary alphabet characters.

1885 Medium & Daybreak 2 Jan. 12/2 An alphabet card was laid on the table.

1931 Pop. Mech. Apr. 552/1 The fragment..is believed to show that alphabet writing existed as early as the nineteenth century B.C.

1990 J. Faley Up Oor Close i. 26 A stick of ring rock, with a ring for your finger after you'd eaten the rock, with some alphabet sweeties.

2009 T. A. Roberts No Limits to Literacy for Preschool Eng. Learners iv. 88 Two of them [sc. sets of confusable letters] occur very close together in alphabet order and in the case of p and q and i and j right after each other.

C2.

alphabet agency n. chiefly U.S. an organization or agency known chiefly by its initials. Cf. alphabetical agency n., alphabetical organization n. at alphabetical adj. Compounds.

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1934 Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.) 19 Jan. 2/1 It may be that when columnists..dubbed the..NIRA, CCC, CWA and other government agencies as ‘alphabet agencies’, they were thinking of that particular kind of soup which we call ‘alphabet soup’.

1971 Public Hearings on Noise Abatem. & Control (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 3 46 There will be a hodgepodge of rules, regulations, laws that will make the depression period of alphabet agencies look like child's play.

1988 N.Y. Mag. 5 Dec. 58/2 He is a policy sort who seems more at home in an alphabet agency than out in the streets slinging sound bites with the mayor.

2001 J. P. Tisano Black Swamp Gang iv. 17 Let's call in the police, the EPA, the CIA, the FBI, and any other alphabet agency, to arrest who did this and throw them in jail.

alphabet block n. one of a set of cubes, typically of wood, decorated with one or more letters of the alphabet (and sometimes an illustrative picture), designed as an educational toy.

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1842 N.-Y. Evangelist 15 Dec. 199/6 An endless variety of articles, such as..Chinese and Mosaic puzzles—Alphabet Blocks—Kaleidoscopes, &c.

1903 L. B. Edwards Tu-tze's Tower ix. 146 I never expected to..see a yak... I s'pose I thought they only came on alphabet blocks to teach children the letter Y.

2001 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 14 Oct. 4 [A workshop for] three- to five-year-olds where children can make and decorate their own alphabet blocks.

alphabet book n. (a) a book containing samples of lettering (now rare); (b) a book for teaching the alphabet or the basics of reading and spelling; cf. ABC n.¹ 4.

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society > communication > book > kind of book > textbook or book of instructions > [noun] > introductory > hornbooks and alphabet books

alphabetary1579

horn-book1589

battledore1693

Trimetrical Classic1835

alphabet book1939

1714 G. Shelley Second Part Nat. Writing (advt.) Books Publish'd and Sold... An Alphabet Book in all the Hands, with great Variety of Capital and Small Letters.

1829 Evangelical Mag. & Missionary Chron. June 256/1 Primers and Alphabet Books.

1896 Amer. Machinist 9 Jan. 72/2 We are all familiar with the orthodox alphabet book, in which some engraver has indulged his skill in producing ornamental letters which no draftsman can imitate.

1939 Churchman in Bk. Rev. Digest 1939 (1940) 874/1 The text of this attractive alphabet book..is easy for the beginner to read.

2010 K. D. Harrison Last Speakers iv. 116 Alejo showed us an alphabet book designed to teach basic literacy in the Chamacoco language.

alphabet keeper n. now historical and rare (in Britain and Ireland) an employee responsible for letters kept at the post office until collected by the addressee.

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1694 E. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia (ed. 18) iii. 704 Alphabet-Keeper, Ashburnham Frowde, Esquire, 100l. per Annum.

1766 J. Entick Surv. London in New Hist. London IV. 295 In the foreign office, there is also a comptroller, and an alphabet keeper.

1810 9th Rep. Commissioners Fees in Public Offices Ireland in Rep. Commissioners (Ireland) X. 9 Should any Dead Letter be claimed, and the postage paid to the Dead Letter Office..the amount is entered in a book and paid to the Alphabet-keeper.

1912 J. C. Hemmeon Hist. Brit. Post Office ii. 38 The window-man and alphabet-keeper received the money on prepaid letters and posted lists of those for whom letters had arrived.

2009 S. Whyman Pen & People ii. 50 Customers approached two windows, where a clerk and an alphabet keeper sorted London letters into pigeonholes.

alphabet organization n. chiefly U.S. = alphabet agency n.

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1933 Pampa (Texas) Daily News 27 Dec. 5/4 Capital correspondents have been obliged to familiarize themselves with the ‘alphabet’ organizations set up by the federal and state governments as part of the recovery program.

1972 Flying Mag. June 16/3 Chances are you've never heard of the OFA, but if you ever have an accident, this will become the most important alphabet organization in aviation.

2003 H. Moxham Sovereign Amer. xxx. 99 We will free American businesses from the clutches of OSHA, the IRS, the EPA and all the other alphabet organizations that stifle new startups.

alphabet poem n. a poem that has each verse or line beginning with a different letter of the alphabet (cf. sense 2).

ΚΠ

1829 Southern Rev. Feb. 175 The Alphabet poems of the Anthology.

1999 C. Gerber English 108 Write an alphabet poem! Use each alphabet letter to write a sentence about something you like.

2006 M. B. Long in S. Salih Compan. Middle Eng. Hagiography ii. 48 The manuscript's only decorations are the inkwork on letters A–F of an alphabet poem on the first page.

alphabet song n. (a) an alphabet poem set to music; (b) a song for teaching children the alphabet in which the letters are sung in order to a simple tune.

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1867 Era 1 Sept. 10/1 An alphabet song, during the singing of which they exhibit typographic letters, was a lively effusion.

1868 Baily's Monthly Mag. Jan. 213 He was so renowned for his liberality, that in an alphabet song,..he was thus introduced..‘L.—Liberal Lowther, who always paid more’.

1988 N.Y. Mag. 2 May 92/3 Miles sings..a pathetic little alphabet song itemizing the follies of the group.

2012 Northern Miner (Austral.) (Nexis) 27 Mar. 7 They have been busy learning the alphabet, letter recognition, beginning sounds and singing the Alphabet Song.

alphabet soup n. chiefly U.S. (a) a soup, typically a vegetable soup, containing crackers or pieces of pasta shaped like letters of the alphabet; (b) a jumble of words or letters, a muddle (chiefly in reference to alphabet agencies (alphabet agency n.)).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > soup or pottage > [noun] > clear soup

consommé1815

suimono1822

alphabet soup1884

madrilene1953

1884 Freeborn County (Minnesota) Standard 8 Oct. (heading) Alphabet soup.

1907 Black Cat June 15 Alphabet soup—that thin, clear soup, with little noodle or cracker letters in it.

1907 Bookman Nov. 320/2 I drank alphabet soup for ten days in succession, and turned out so complex a short story that I myself did not know what it meant.

1934 [see alphabet agency n.].

1988 C. Hiaasen Marina Life, Marine Life in C. Hiaasen & D. Stevenson Paradise Screwed (2001) iii. 54 The others are waiting for the Army Corps, DER, DNR and all the other alphabet-soup bureaucracies.

2002 Time Out N.Y. 18 Apr. 40/3 A menu of suitably retro fare, such as..kid-approved alphabet soup.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	alphabet
释义	alphabetn. Brit. /ˈalfəbɛt/, U.S. /ˈælfəˌbɛt/, Hong Kong English /ˈɛofəˌbɛt/, West African English /ˈalfabɛt/ Forms: late Middle English–1600s alphabete, 1500s– alphabet. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French alphabet; Latin alphabetum. Etymology: < (i) Middle French alphabete, Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French alphabet series of letters of a language arranged in the order conventional in that language (14th cent. in Anglo-Norman), elementary reading primer (1547), key to a cipher (1580), system of symbols or signs used for communication (a1630), book in which subjects are presented in alphabetical order, dictionary (1738), and its etymon (ii) post-classical Latin alphabetum set of letters in a fixed order used in a particular writing system (late 3rd cent.), instruction in reading and writing (15th cent. in a British source) < Hellenistic Greek ἀλϕάβητος < ancient Greek ἄλϕα alpha n. + βῆτα beta n., the first two Greek letters taken as a name for the whole (compare e.g. ABC n.¹).Compare Old Occitan alphabet (c1350), Catalan alfabet (13th cent.), Spanish alfabeto (1237), Portuguese alfabeto (1191), Italian alfabeto (13th cent.). Compare also in the Germanic languages: Dutch alfabet (1484 in Middle Dutch as alphabeet ), Middle Low German alfabēt , German Alphabet (c1275 in Middle High German as alfabet ), Icelandic alfabet , Swedish alfabet (1722), Danish alfabet (late 15th cent. in Old Danish as alphabeta , alphabethe ), all < post-classical Latin. In alphabet keeper n. at Compounds 2 apparently showing technical use of alphabet within the postal service to denote a rack with divisions corresponding to letters of the alphabet, in which post to be collected by the addressee was sorted. I. A set of written symbols in a conventional order, or something relating to this. 1. a. A set of letters arranged in a conventional order used in a particular writing system; esp. (with the) the set of 26 letters from A to Z used to write words in English (cf. ABC n.¹ 1a). Also more widely: a set of symbols, as syllabic characters, pictographs, ideographs, etc., used in a particular writing system.Quot. ?a1475 may have the extended meaning ‘teaching’, although the passage refers to a conversation with an old man in Egypt, and may indicate simply that he speaks a language other than Latin or Greek (by implication with a distinct set of sounds or letters).initial teaching, International Phonetic, lineal alphabet, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > system of writing > alphabet > [noun] staff-rewOE abecedariumOE ABCc1325 alphabet?a1475 character1569 abecedary1596 one's P's and Q's1763 characteristic1769 staverow1866 ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1874) V. 193 (MED) Y have be instructe in Latyn and Grewe, but y perceyvede not the a. b. c. or alphabete [L. alphabetum] of that chorle. 1513 tr. Ovid Flores (de Worde) (title page) With theyr Englysshe..and Two alphabete Tables. 1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. A.iii^v To vnderstande this table, wytteth that euery lettre of the alphabete in the boke hath iiii. leaues, saue .f. the laste queyre of the small alphabete, whiche hath .vi. leaues. 1574 J. Baret Aluearie sig. Ci A. Is the name of the first letter..this common vsuall order in our Alphabet or crosrewe. 1650 J. Howell Cotgrave's French-Eng. Dict. (rev. ed.) Of French Lett. sig. b^v Touching the French Abcee, for Alphabet I will not call it according to the Vulgar error, that word being peculiar only to the Greek toung. 1698 J. Collier Short View Immorality Eng. Stage ii. 71 Such nauseous stuff [sc. Juvenal's writing] is almost enough to debauch the Alphabet, and make the Language scandalous. 1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 141. ⁋8 The lexicographer at last finds the conclusion of his alphabet. 1782 W. Cowper Conversation in Poems 213 As alphabets in ivory employ Hour after hour the yet unletter'd boy. 1813 M. Lumsden Gram. Arabic Lang. i. i. 16 The letter..which appears at the head of the alphabet, is more properly known by the name of..hum-za. 1857 F. M. Müller in Times 20 Apr. 6/3 The Chinese alphabet was never intended to represent the sound of words. 1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Nov. 1307/2 She could not recognize a single letter of the alphabet. 1935 M. R. Anand Untouchable 58 Recently he had actually gone and bought a first primer of English. But his self-education hadn't proceeded beyond the alphabet. 1983 J. Hutchinson Lett. ii. 44 The Phoenician alphabet..was the basis of several alphabets, including Hellenic, the source of the alphabets of Europe. 2010 New Yorker 28 June 26/3 It makes relatively little difference whether the language uses an alphabet, like Greek or English, or ideograms, like Chinese. b. A set of symbols, gestures, words, etc., used to represent the letters, numerals, and other characters of a written language.finger, hand, manual, Morse alphabet, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > system of writing > alphabet > [noun] > the alphabet, allusively > series of symbols representing alphabet type alphabet1607 1607 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Serres in tr. Gen. Inuentorie Hist. France ii. 544 He found the Alphabet of the Ciphre [Fr. l'alphabet de chiffre], whereby the Duke of Guise did communicate with the Earle of Sancerre. 1694 W. Leybourn Recreations Cryptogr. 8 in Pleasure with Profit Not to invent new, strange, and insignificant Characters,..I shall here present you with an Alphabet of known Characters; viz. with those of the Astronomical Signs, Planets and Aspects. 1729 N. Tindal tr. P. Rapin de Thoyras Hist. Eng. IX. xvii. 81 She had sent her Alphabet of Cyphers to some Roman-Catholicks. 1788 A. Young Jrnl. 13 Oct. in Trav. France (1792) 65 His wife, by remarking the corresponding motions of the ball, writes down the words they indicate; from which it appears that he has formed an alphabet of motions. 1838 N.Y. Observer 3 Feb. 18/6 The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph..can..furnish the copy, ready for the hands of any printer who understands the telegraphic alphabet. 1852 E. Highton Electr. Telegr. 63 The following represents Professor Morse's alphabet, composed..of long and short marks. 1904 Army Signalling Regul. 25 Semaphore alphabet. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia V. 326/1 The Gronsfeld cipher is identical with a Vigenère system with direct standard alphabets, except that only the first ten alphabets are used in conjunction with a numerical key. 2004 1,000 Signs of Life (Gallaudet Univ. Press) 5 Signers use this alphabet to spell out English words. c. regional. In the English of Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, South-East Asia, and West Africa: a letter of the alphabet.Frequently representing a direct translation from a local language or dialect in which the word for ‘letter’ and ‘alphabet’ is the same. ΘΚΠ society > communication > writing > written character > [noun] > letter staffc888 bookstaffOE Kc1000 Yc1000 Zc1000 AOE EOE GOE MOE ROE letterc1225 print1340 tawc1400 Wc1465 J1591 stave1866 alphabet1972 X- 1972 E. B. Carr Da Kine Talk 121 My name begins with the alphabet A, so I have to go first in line. 1979 P. Nihalani et al. Indian & Brit. Eng. 21 The pupil wrote a few alphabets on the blackboard. 1980 Eng. World-Wide 1 i. 109 Many BrE [sc. British English] expressions have taken on a different meaning in SME [sc. Singapore and Malaysian English], e.g. alphabet(s), which has come to mean ‘the letters of the alphabet’ as against the whole inventory of symbols. 1984 J. Platt et al. New Englishes vi. 103 My name, you write it with three alphabets not four. 1994 Ashanti Independent 13 Feb. 7 Who during a speech presentation forgot to add the alphabet ‘S’ to a word. 2002 Sunday Times of India 22 Sept. 11/2 Alphabets J, Q and X also are not present in any of the given names. 2003 K. Bolton Chinese Englishes App. 5 288 Alphabet, a letter of the alphabet. 2. A poem that has each verse or line beginning with a different letter of the alphabet in alphabetical order; an abecedary, an alphabet poem; (sometimes also) an acrostic. Cf. ABC n.¹ 2. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > types of poem according to form > [noun] > acrostic > alphabetical ABCa1382 alphabet?1531 acrostic1665 ?1531 R. Whitford Werke Preparacion vnto Communion (title page) The werke for housholders with the golden pistle and alphabete or crosrowe called an. A.B.C. 1595 P. Howard tr. J. J. Lansperger Epist. Christ to Faithfull Soule 296 A Hymne of the Life and Passion of our Sauiour Christ, made after the manner of an Alphabet, euerie verse beginning with euerie Letter. a1675 J. Lightfoot Wks. (1684) I. 129 In all the Alphabets, but that of the first Chapter, there is a dislocation of the two letters..Ain and Pe. 1738 London Mag. May 254/2 (title of poem) To a young Lady, on her saying the foregoing Alphabet by heart. 1795 Tomahawk! 2 Nov. 21/1 Musical Alphabet. Ayrton and Aylward, two Doctors in Musick; Blewrit and Baker, [etc.]. 1842 W. Ullathorne Sermons 24 Familiar and popular sermons, even alphabets for children, as that acrostic against the Donatists. 1899 S. Schechter & C. Taylor Wisdom of Ben Sira p. li The book of Proverbs ending with an ‘Alphabet’ on the virtuous woman. 1908 Encycl. Relig. & Ethics I. 75/2 Alphabets and other acrostics are found in Jewish prayer books and secular writings. 1919 Amer. Missionary May 85/1 An African alphabet begins A is for Africa, so new yet so old, B is for Bantus, the southern tribes bold. 2004 B. Merry Encycl. Mod. Greek Lit. 14/2 Alphabets..have 24 lines, each beginning with a letter of the Greek alphabet, in succession. 3. An index or list in alphabetical order. ΘΚΠ society > communication > record > written record > arrangement and storage of written records > [noun] > indexing > index > alphabetical pie?a1527 alphabet1552 pica1847 1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Alphabet of a boke, Elenchus. 1578 Bible (Geneva) Pref. These two Alphabets of directions..in maner of a briefe Concordance. 1613 R. Rogers et al. Garden of Spirituall Flowers: 2 Pt. (new ed.) sig. A2 (heading) A Threefold Alphabet of rules concerning Christian practise. 1666 S. Pepys Diary 25 Dec. (1972) VII. 421 Reducing the names of all my books to an Alphabet. 1780 S. Pegge Forme of Cury p. xxxiv Randle Holme, in his multifarious Academy of Armory, has an alphabet of terms and dishes. 1795 in tr. L. Guicciardini Acct. Flemish School Painting Pref. p. xv Painters of uncertain epochs might be thrown in at the most probable period, or in an alphabet at the end. 1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan II. 159 Where's the alphabet? Find Harwood. 1898 Geogr. Jrnl. Mar. 317 A massive contribution to bibliography, arranged in one alphabet. 1966 F. Redl When we deal with Children (1972) iii. 250 In subgrouping them she had not consulted the alphabet but had followed her ‘hunch insight’ about the youngsters. 1998 Art Room Catal. Christmas 30/3 (caption) The Art Book... An easy to use alphabet of 500 of the world's greatest artists. 4. Chiefly Printing and Typography. a. A complete set of type for reproducing the letters of the alphabet. Now chiefly historical. ΚΠ 1608 T. Dekker Lanthorne & Candle-light sig. F2 Fellowes..buying vp any old Booke..that lies for wast-paper,..with an Alphabet of letters..beeing able to Print any mans names (for a Dedication) on the suddaine. 1656 J. Evelyn Ess. 1st Bk. Lucretius 174 May we with as much reason believe that a great volume of exquisite Sentences..should result from the..accidental mischance of a Printers Alphabet..without the disposition of..Author. 1755 J. Smith Printer's Gram. vi. 158 Putting an alphabet of Roman Lower-case letters into a Stick; and an alphabet of Italic upon that, to see..the difference [in length]. 1854 tr. A. de Lamartine Mem. Celebrated Char. II. 314 Wooden types, bored.., strung together.., each with a letter..cut in relief on one side—the first printer's alphabet, coarse, but wonderful. 1897 Amer. Printer & Lithographer Apr. 57/1 There was a mould for each letter, so that it cast an entire alphabet in one action. 1973 S. Morison & P. M. Handover Tally of Types Introd. 31 Bodoni had his own foundry, where his brother cast alphabets which he also supplied to other printers. b. A system, design, or style of lettering; a font, typeface, or hand. Also: a book, sheet, or sample of this (cf. alphabet book n. (a) at Compounds 2). ΘΚΠ society > communication > printing > types, blocks, or plates > relating to type > style of type > [noun] > type face or font letter1576 alphabet1658 font1664 fond1678 fount of type1683 face1876 typeface1887 1658 E. Cocker Pen's Triumph (new ed.) 10 First I commend to your serious..practice, the Alphabets of whatsoever hand or hands you intend to write. a1726 H. Wanley in T. B. Reed Hist. Old Eng. Let. Foundries (1887) vi. 157 When the alphabet came into the hands of the workman.., he could not imitate the fine and regular stroke of the pen. 1770 P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 5 At last, the Italic alphabet came much in vogue: but there were no Greek types till about the year 1476. 1788 Shepperson & Reynolds's Catal. Valuable & Extensive Coll. Bks. App. 225 Variety of Alphabets for Painters, Carvers, and Jewellers, 1s. 1859 Bookseller 26 Oct. 1336/1 (advt.) Modern Alphabets, Plain and Ornamental, including..Court Hand, Engrossing, Tuscan, [etc.]. 1899 A. R. Wells Missionary Man. iv. 42 If you have not a good letterer in your number, use stencils or cut out letters from a printer's alphabet. 1913 Inland Printer May 216 The Gothic alphabet is distinguished by having all lines equally wide, square-cut, and without serifs across their ends. 1999 S. Heller & L. Fili Typology 101/2 French alphabets of the 1930s had grace and style. II. Figurative and extended uses. 5. figurative and in extended use. a. A long or complete series. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > [noun] > a series or succession > long or complete rope?a1549 alphabet1592 1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. C2 Small beere, that would make a man..runne through an Alphabet of faces. 1686 F. Philipps Investigatio Jurium Antiquorum xxv. 502 There was saith Justice Hussey a whole Alphabet of paenall Laws in the time of King Henry the 7th. 1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 209 While tow'ring o'er your Alphabet, like Saul. 1847 Ladies' Repository Feb. 59/1 Each rivulet, bush, and brake, is a letter in the great alphabet of things. 1923 G. B. Shaw in Nation 10 Feb. 715/1 The soldiers would have to be inoculated with a whole alphabet of microbes. 2003 D. Levithan Boy meets Boy 61 Hyacinth and jacaranda and a dozen other flowers that I cannot begin to name. An alphabet of flowers. b. The elements of which something is composed; the rudiments or the basics of a subject; the key to any study or branch of knowledge. Cf. ABC n.¹ 3. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > subject or object of study > [noun] > rudiments elements1382 ABCa1393 ground1528 introduction1532 principles1532 rudiments1534 institution1537 accidence1562 institute1578 alphabet1593 ut, re1598 gamut1600 Christ-cross-row1608 grammates1633 initiament1727 notion1839 propaedeutics1842 rudimentaries1852 1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 158 The whole Alphabet of his sweet Eloquence. 1594 M. Drayton Ideas Mirrour xi. sig. C2 Thine eyes taught mee the Alphabet of loue. a1616 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus (1623) iii. ii. 44 I (of these) will wrest an Alphabet, And by still practice, learne to know thy meaning. a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) iv. v. 94 Our Senses..first taught us the Alphabet of this learning. 1721 R. Manning Case stated Church of Rome II. 352 He, who sees no Difference betwixt a Thing being against and above Reason, is ignorant of the very Alphabet of reveal'd Religion. 1771 C. Burney Present State Music France & Italy 30 The Italian music, says M. D'Alembert, is a language of which we have not yet the alphabet. 1837 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. I. i. i. 27 The alphabet in which nature writes her answers to such inquiries. 1898 Dental Cosmos May 379 The future must furnish..much more knowledge, for as yet we scarcely know the alphabet of the subject. 1921 C. S. Duncan Commerc. Res. iii. 56 The very alphabet of research is to know what to look for. 1990 S. Atran Cognitive Found. of Nat. Hist. (1996) vii. 159 But if mathematical inference and law do not constitute the syntax and semantics of Jung's book of nature, at least geometry provides its alphabet. 2001 R. Wilks in tr. A. Chekhov Steppe & other Stories p. xxii Chekhov was told by the distinguished actor Lensky to abandon the theatre because he did not even know the alphabet of drama composition. c. The series of constituent parts that make up a code resembling an alphabet in a particular field, as the notes in a musical scale, etc. ΚΠ 1772 P. Thicknesse Treat. Art Decyphering iii. 45 The plain notes, i.e. the crotchets and minums alone, compose the alphabet,..neither flatts nor sharps, nor the smaller notes between..have anything to do with the reading. 1832 Sat. Mag. 8 Sept. 95/1 There are particular abbreviations and signs, belonging to particular branches of knowledge... Those signs are the alphabets of the sciences. 1879 G. Grove Dict. Music I. 56/2 The musical alphabet..consists of the seven letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. 1901 W. Collett-Sandars tr. A. Rosengarten Handbk. Archit. Styles 71 The mouldings..to a certain degree constitute the architectural alphabet. 1988 M. Brookes in M. Kistler Draw Squad Foreword 17 I am teaching people an alphabet of the elements of shape, so that when they look at objects in their world, they know how to draw realistic interpretations of them. 2008 N. Herr Sourcebk. Teaching Sci. 329 Comprehension of the ‘scientific alphabet’ is essential to understand the language of science. There are seven ‘letters’ in the ‘language of measurement’..: distance, mass, time, [etc.]. 6. Computing. A set of symbols available for use with a computer or in a program; an ordered character set.Internationally recognized alphabets include ASCII, EBCDIC, and ISO/IEC 8859. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > data > [noun] > character > set of alphabet1953 character set1954 alphanumerics1958 1953 S. Goldman Information Theory i. 64 The alphabet of possible values of quantitative data is arranged in numerical order. 1957 J. M. Wozencraft Sequential Decoding for Reliable Communication i. 1-1 A communication channel for which the alphabet consists of only two symbols. 1959 Proc. Western Joint Computer Conf. 192/1 The segregation of primary and secondary data is accomplished in a particularly simple way by providing separate transmission symbol ‘alphabets’ for primary and secondary data. 1973 H. Hellerman Digital Computer Syst. Princ. (ed. 2) ii. 25 The alphabet of APL, showing all its atomic symbols as they appear on the terminal keyboard, is illustrated. 1984 J. Scriven Working Electron ii. 58 (heading) Defining your own alphabet. 2004 D. S. Ebert in A. B. Tucker Computer Sci. Handbk. (ed. 2) xxxvii. 5 As with most formal languages, an L-system can be described by an alphabet for the grammar, the grammar production rules, and an initial axiom. 7. The set of nucleotides (or their constituent nucleosides or bases) from which nucleic acid molecules are composed, the sequence of which is the means of encoding and storing genetic information. Also (more fully amino acid alphabet, protein alphabet): the set of twenty amino acids from which the proteins of most living organisms are composed.In most organisms, the set of nucleotides comprises those formed from the purine and pyrimidine bases adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine (in DNA), and uracil (in RNA). ΚΠ 1954 G. Gamow in Nature 13 Feb. 318/2 The enzymes..are long peptide chains formed by about twenty different kinds of amino acids, and can be considered as long ‘words’ based on a 20-letter alphabet.] 1956 Radiation Res. 5 146 His [sc. Gamow's] basic idea—that the problem is one of recoding the genetical information from a four-letter alphabet to a twenty-letter one—is ingenious. 1970 Currents Mod. Biol. 3 260/2 The transfer RNA molecules are adaptors which bind specifically to a code word in the nucleic acid alphabet and to an amino acid in the protein alphabet. 1993 Discover Aug. 23/1,24/1 Benner's group thought that nature's alphabet might be extended. So they designed another base pair, k (kappa) and X, to fit into the double helix. 2006 Time 9 Oct. 48/2 What causes changes..is random mutation, in which individual base pairs—the ‘letters’ of the genetic alphabet—are flipped around like a typographical error. Phrases P1. by (the) alphabet: in alphabetical order; alphabetically. ΚΠ c1545 R. Copland tr. P. Tommai Art of Memory sig. Biv^v The pryncyples of the lawes where as chapyters be set in place by alphabete. 1565 J. Hall in tr. Lanfranc Most Excellent Woorke Chirurg. sig. Ooii. (heading) A necessary table exactly drawen by the alphabet as the former. 1621 Lawes E. India Co. lxii. 12 He shall keepe a Booke, and therein by Alphabet set downe the names of euery perticular member of this Company. 1756 S. Johnson in R. Rolt New Dict. Trade Pref. p. i It has lately been the practice of the learned to range knowledge by the alphabet, and publish dictionaries of every kind of literature. 1823 Mechanics Mag. 13 Dec. 243/1 Vote not by alphabet;..it would be [wrong]..to vote for a person merely because the order of the alphabet happens to bring him first under your notice. 1987 P. A. Gilje Road to Mobocracy App. 290 These records were organized by residence rather than by the alphabet. 2011 Sunday Times (Nexis) 18 Dec. 19 Let the computer sort everything by categories, by alphabet, by price, all at the flick of a switch. P2. in (also into) alphabet: = by (the) alphabet at Phrases 1. Now rare. ΚΠ 1595 A. Maunsell (title) The first part of the catalogue of English printed bookes which concerneth such matters of diuinitie... Gathered into alphabet, and such method as it is, by Andrew Maunsell, bookeseller. 1597 H. Broughton Epist. Learned Nobility 5 Matrones vertues in Alphabet. 1687 R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times I. 123 A Book of the Several Counties of England, Ranged in Alphabet. 1699 S. Garth Dispensary i. 5 Here Phyals in nice discipline are set, There Gally-pots are rang'd in Alphabet. 1718 C. Molloy Coquet i. 19 You must give me leave to look over my Catalogue, for 'tis impossible for me to remember the Names of all my Acquaintance: Here they are rang'd in Alphabet. 1878 H. B. Wheatley What is Index? 58 Words and names must be arranged in alphabet up to their last letters. 1903 Libr. Jrnl. June 322/2 The first list is arranged in numerical order..; the second is classified by subject, and arranged in alphabet by authors. Compounds C1. General attributive, with the sense ‘of or relating to the alphabet; alphabetical’, as alphabet letter, alphabet order, alphabet table, etc. ΚΠ 1513 [see sense 1a]. 1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health sig. Nn3 The Table conteining the principall pointes of the whole booke in Alphabet order. 1604 H. Broughton Aduert. Corrupt. Handling Relig. sig. D2 Their names many together running vpon a letter, shew that from some Alphabet table, they we[r]e fetched: and very vnlearnedly. 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 140/1 The Iews and Hebrews used their Alphabet Letters to express their numbers. 1743 W. Stukeley Abury xi. 56 The Egyptians had the good sense, when alphabet-writing was communicated to them, to embrace it, tho' the Chinese will not. 1788 Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 1787 1 Antiquities 15 Our first missionaries of the gospel were saved the slavish task of alphabet-teachers, for they met with a lettered people. 1859 Sci. Amer. 4 June 332/1 A translator machine, by which the telegraphic marks are translated into the ordinary alphabet characters. 1885 Medium & Daybreak 2 Jan. 12/2 An alphabet card was laid on the table. 1931 Pop. Mech. Apr. 552/1 The fragment..is believed to show that alphabet writing existed as early as the nineteenth century B.C. 1990 J. Faley Up Oor Close i. 26 A stick of ring rock, with a ring for your finger after you'd eaten the rock, with some alphabet sweeties. 2009 T. A. Roberts No Limits to Literacy for Preschool Eng. Learners iv. 88 Two of them [sc. sets of confusable letters] occur very close together in alphabet order and in the case of p and q and i and j right after each other. C2. alphabet agency n. chiefly U.S. an organization or agency known chiefly by its initials. Cf. alphabetical agency n., alphabetical organization n. at alphabetical adj. Compounds. ΚΠ 1934 Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.) 19 Jan. 2/1 It may be that when columnists..dubbed the..NIRA, CCC, CWA and other government agencies as ‘alphabet agencies’, they were thinking of that particular kind of soup which we call ‘alphabet soup’. 1971 Public Hearings on Noise Abatem. & Control (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 3 46 There will be a hodgepodge of rules, regulations, laws that will make the depression period of alphabet agencies look like child's play. 1988 N.Y. Mag. 5 Dec. 58/2 He is a policy sort who seems more at home in an alphabet agency than out in the streets slinging sound bites with the mayor. 2001 J. P. Tisano Black Swamp Gang iv. 17 Let's call in the police, the EPA, the CIA, the FBI, and any other alphabet agency, to arrest who did this and throw them in jail. alphabet block n. one of a set of cubes, typically of wood, decorated with one or more letters of the alphabet (and sometimes an illustrative picture), designed as an educational toy. ΚΠ 1842 N.-Y. Evangelist 15 Dec. 199/6 An endless variety of articles, such as..Chinese and Mosaic puzzles—Alphabet Blocks—Kaleidoscopes, &c. 1903 L. B. Edwards Tu-tze's Tower ix. 146 I never expected to..see a yak... I s'pose I thought they only came on alphabet blocks to teach children the letter Y. 2001 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 14 Oct. 4 [A workshop for] three- to five-year-olds where children can make and decorate their own alphabet blocks. alphabet book n. (a) a book containing samples of lettering (now rare); (b) a book for teaching the alphabet or the basics of reading and spelling; cf. ABC n.¹ 4. ΘΚΠ society > communication > book > kind of book > textbook or book of instructions > [noun] > introductory > hornbooks and alphabet books alphabetary1579 horn-book1589 battledore1693 Trimetrical Classic1835 alphabet book1939 1714 G. Shelley Second Part Nat. Writing (advt.) Books Publish'd and Sold... An Alphabet Book in all the Hands, with great Variety of Capital and Small Letters. 1829 Evangelical Mag. & Missionary Chron. June 256/1 Primers and Alphabet Books. 1896 Amer. Machinist 9 Jan. 72/2 We are all familiar with the orthodox alphabet book, in which some engraver has indulged his skill in producing ornamental letters which no draftsman can imitate. 1939 Churchman in Bk. Rev. Digest 1939 (1940) 874/1 The text of this attractive alphabet book..is easy for the beginner to read. 2010 K. D. Harrison Last Speakers iv. 116 Alejo showed us an alphabet book designed to teach basic literacy in the Chamacoco language. alphabet keeper n. now historical and rare (in Britain and Ireland) an employee responsible for letters kept at the post office until collected by the addressee. ΚΠ 1694 E. Chamberlayne Angliæ Notitia (ed. 18) iii. 704 Alphabet-Keeper, Ashburnham Frowde, Esquire, 100l. per Annum. 1766 J. Entick Surv. London in New Hist. London IV. 295 In the foreign office, there is also a comptroller, and an alphabet keeper. 1810 9th Rep. Commissioners Fees in Public Offices Ireland in Rep. Commissioners (Ireland) X. 9 Should any Dead Letter be claimed, and the postage paid to the Dead Letter Office..the amount is entered in a book and paid to the Alphabet-keeper. 1912 J. C. Hemmeon Hist. Brit. Post Office ii. 38 The window-man and alphabet-keeper received the money on prepaid letters and posted lists of those for whom letters had arrived. 2009 S. Whyman Pen & People ii. 50 Customers approached two windows, where a clerk and an alphabet keeper sorted London letters into pigeonholes. alphabet organization n. chiefly U.S. = alphabet agency n. ΚΠ 1933 Pampa (Texas) Daily News 27 Dec. 5/4 Capital correspondents have been obliged to familiarize themselves with the ‘alphabet’ organizations set up by the federal and state governments as part of the recovery program. 1972 Flying Mag. June 16/3 Chances are you've never heard of the OFA, but if you ever have an accident, this will become the most important alphabet organization in aviation. 2003 H. Moxham Sovereign Amer. xxx. 99 We will free American businesses from the clutches of OSHA, the IRS, the EPA and all the other alphabet organizations that stifle new startups. alphabet poem n. a poem that has each verse or line beginning with a different letter of the alphabet (cf. sense 2). ΚΠ 1829 Southern Rev. Feb. 175 The Alphabet poems of the Anthology. 1999 C. Gerber English 108 Write an alphabet poem! Use each alphabet letter to write a sentence about something you like. 2006 M. B. Long in S. Salih Compan. Middle Eng. Hagiography ii. 48 The manuscript's only decorations are the inkwork on letters A–F of an alphabet poem on the first page. alphabet song n. (a) an alphabet poem set to music; (b) a song for teaching children the alphabet in which the letters are sung in order to a simple tune. ΚΠ 1867 Era 1 Sept. 10/1 An alphabet song, during the singing of which they exhibit typographic letters, was a lively effusion. 1868 Baily's Monthly Mag. Jan. 213 He was so renowned for his liberality, that in an alphabet song,..he was thus introduced..‘L.—Liberal Lowther, who always paid more’. 1988 N.Y. Mag. 2 May 92/3 Miles sings..a pathetic little alphabet song itemizing the follies of the group. 2012 Northern Miner (Austral.) (Nexis) 27 Mar. 7 They have been busy learning the alphabet, letter recognition, beginning sounds and singing the Alphabet Song. alphabet soup n. chiefly U.S. (a) a soup, typically a vegetable soup, containing crackers or pieces of pasta shaped like letters of the alphabet; (b) a jumble of words or letters, a muddle (chiefly in reference to alphabet agencies (alphabet agency n.)). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > soup or pottage > [noun] > clear soup consommé1815 suimono1822 alphabet soup1884 madrilene1953 1884 Freeborn County (Minnesota) Standard 8 Oct. (heading) Alphabet soup. 1907 Black Cat June 15 Alphabet soup—that thin, clear soup, with little noodle or cracker letters in it. 1907 Bookman Nov. 320/2 I drank alphabet soup for ten days in succession, and turned out so complex a short story that I myself did not know what it meant. 1934 [see alphabet agency n.]. 1988 C. Hiaasen Marina Life, Marine Life in C. Hiaasen & D. Stevenson Paradise Screwed (2001) iii. 54 The others are waiting for the Army Corps, DER, DNR and all the other alphabet-soup bureaucracies. 2002 Time Out N.Y. 18 Apr. 40/3 A menu of suitably retro fare, such as..kid-approved alphabet soup. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021). alphabetv. Brit. /ˈalfəbɛt/, U.S. /ˈælfəˌbɛt/ Forms: 1600s allphabet, 1700s– alphabet. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: alphabet n. Etymology: < alphabet n. Compare earlier alphabeted adj., alphabeting n. Now rare (U.S. in later use). transitive. To arrange in alphabetical order; to alphabetize. ΘΚΠ society > communication > record > written record > arrangement and storage of written records > arrange and store written records [verb (transitive)] > index alphabet1671 alphabetize1691 calendar1859 card index1891 1671 in Rep. Comm. Publ. Rec. Irel. (1815) 39 You..may dispense with the respective officers..from Indexing or Allphabetting such of them as shall be certified not to bee necessary..to be Indexed or Allphabetted. a1703 S. Pepys in H. B. Wheatley Samuel Pepys (1880) v. 93 Before this Index be transcribed far to collect and alphabet the particulars contained in the List of additional Books inserted at the end. 1754 W. Weston Compl. Merchant's Clerk i. 9 Turn to the Alphabet in your Ledger,..observing, in Alphabeting the Names of Men, to put them under the initial Letter of their Surname. 1785 F. White Philadelphia Directory (advt.) The next [collection] shall be alphabeted so as to find any person's name at a view. 1830 Fraser's Mag. 1 243 A careful committal to the memory of the..ladies alphabeted in Clayton's Court Guide. 1886 Libr. Jrnl. Mar. 73/2 This method of indexing can no more be patented or copyrighted than alphabeting an index. 1915 Ann. Iowa Apr. 10 All letters concerning temperance are arranged by years and alphabeted under each year by the name of the writer. 1954 L. Shores Basic Ref. Sources 19 Does the sequence of content follow classified, chronologic,..or alphabetic order? If alphabetic, are the topics large or small? How are they alphabeted? This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.?a1475v.1671
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alphabetn.

Phrases

Compounds

alphabetv.