Ab

[ahb, ahv] 

 

• Examples
• Word Origin

noun

1.

Av.

Ab

Symbol.

1.

Chemistry. alabamine.

2.

Immunology. antibody.

AB

1.

Nautical. able seaman.

2.

airborne.

3.

U.S. Air Force. Airman Basic.

4.

Alberta, Canada (approved for postal use).

5.

antiballistic; antiballistic missile.

AB

Symbol, Physiology.

1.

a major blood group usually enabling a person whose blood is of thistype to donate blood to persons of type AB and to receive blood frompersons of type O, A, B, or AB.

Compare ABO system.

abs

[abz] 

 

plural noun, Informal.

1.

abdominal muscles.

Origin of abs

1980-1985

1980-85, Americanism; by shortening

ab-

1.

a formal element occurring in loanwords from Latin, where it meant“away from”:

abdicate; abolition.

Also, a-, abs-.

Origin

< Latin ab (preposition and prefix) from, away, cognate with Greek apó,Sanskrit ápa, German ab, English of1, off

ab.

1.

about.

2.

Baseball. (times) at bat.

A.B.1

1.

Bachelor of Arts.

Origin

< New Latin, Medieval Latin Artium Baccalaureus

A.B.2

1.

Nautical. able seaman.

2.

Baseball. (times) at bat.

Also, a.b.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2016.
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Examples from the Web for Ab

Contemporary Examples

• On 27 July 2013, Ab Neubauer reported that she was sexually assaulted theprevious evening.
  Spies, Lies, and Rape in the Air Force: An Undercover Agent's Story Jacob Siegel March 3, 2014 
• The Ab T has a saying on the inside, “If you ever disrespect the Ab, we willmake sure you leave in a body bag.”
  The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas: ‘Brutal, Deadly, and Effective’ Seth Ferranti April 3, 2013 
• An Ab is a muscle found on magazine covers, an AD in the mag saysVirginia's For Lovers.
  National Scrabble Day: A Poem So You’ll Know All 101 Two-Letter Words David Bukszpan April 12, 2013 
• “ Ab Welsh, who was a forward with the Saskatoon Quakers was the firstone,” Howe said.
  Gordie Howe Hockey’s Greatest War Horse W.C. Heinz May 30, 2014 
• Ab shooting in car: "Only guns will free us from the past."
  Terrorist Chic The Daily Beast October 7, 2008 

Historical Examples

• Having determined this distance, the weight on Ab was removed and theaerodrome was allowed to regain its former position.
  Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight, Parts I and II S. P. (Samuel Pierpont) Langley and Charles M. (Charles Matthews) Manly 
• But every place he was supposed to sign his name he wrote Ab Karpininstead.
  The Risk Profession Donald Edwin Westlake 
• Sacramento, dum praedictus versus Tantum ergo dicitur, Ab omnibusomnino persistendum erit in inclinatione usque ad cernui.
  The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, December 1864 Various 
• Since Ab 's got to be a statesman, he's bought all of Webster's works and islearning 'em by heart.
  In Our Town William Allen White 
• We get the same temporary current in cd as we would if we should placethe coils parallel and then start the current in Ab.
  Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His Son John Mills 

British Dictionary definitions for Ab

Ab

/æb/

noun

1.

a variant of Av

AB

abbreviation

1.

Also a.b.. able-bodied seaman

2.

(in the US) Bachelor of Arts

3.

(esp in postal addresses) Alberta (Canada)

symbol

4.

a human blood type of the ABO group, containing both the A antigenand the B antigen

abs

/æbz/

plural noun

1.

(informal) abdominal muscles

ABS

abbreviation

1.

acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene: any of a range of tough copolymersused esp for making moulded articles

ab-1

prefix

1.

away from; off; outside of; opposite to: abnormal, abaxial, aboral

Word Origin

from Latin ab away from

ab-2

prefix

1.

denoting a cgs unit of measurement in the electromagnetic system:abvolt

Word Origin

abstracted from absolute

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word Origin and History for Ab

ab-

word-forming element meaning "away, from, from off, down;" from Latinab-, ab "off, away from," from PIE root *apo- (see apo- ). Reduced to a-before -m-, -p-, or -v- ; sometimes abs- before -c- or -t-.

abs

n.

colloquial shortening of abdominals, by 1992.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Ab in Medicine

Ab abbr. 
antibody

ab- 2
pref. 
Used to indicate an electromagnetic unit in the centimeter-gram-secondsystem: abcoulomb.

ab- 1
pref. 
Away from: abaxial.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Related Abbreviations for Ab

ab

Abkhazian 

Ab

antibody 

AB

1.

able-bodied [seaman]

2.

about (shortwave transmission)

3.

airbase

ab.

1.

about

2.

abbreviation

abs

1.

abdominal muscles

2.

absolute temperature

ABS

1.

American Board of Surgery

2.

Animal Behavior Society

3.

antilock braking system

The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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