2010, Bill Geiger, "6-pack Abs in 9 Weeks", Reps! 17:106
When possible, do your ab workout on a day when you're not training a major muscle group[…].
Usage notes
Most often used attributively. Substantive use is more common in the plural form abs.
Translations
Etymology 2
Abbreviation of abscess.
Noun
ab (pluralabs)
(slang) An abscess caused by injecting an illegal drug, usually heroin.
Translations
Etymology 3
Abbreviations.
Verb
ab (third-person singular simple presentabs, present participleabbing, simple past and past participleabbed)
(climbing, informal) To abseil.
1998, Climbing (issues 178-180, page 22)
I had a climbing rope in my pack, set up an abseil with it, and abbed down to him.
Abbreviation of abort.
Noun
ab
Abbreviation of abortion.
Preposition
ab
Abbreviation of about.
Adverb
ab
Abbreviation of about.
Etymology 4
From the spelling books and the fact that it was the first of the letter combinations.
Noun
ab (pluralabs)
(US) The early stages of; the beginning process; the start.
References
“ab” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
"ab" in Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 2002.
“ab” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Anagrams
-ba-, B. A., B.A., BA, Ba, ba, ba'
Aynu
Etymology
Borrowed from Persianآب (āb).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɑb/
Noun
ab
water
References
Otto Ladstätter, Andreas Tietze, Die Abdal (Äynu) in Xinjiang (1994)
Azerbaijani
Etymology
From Persianآب (āb).
Noun
ab (definite accusativeabı, pluralablar)
(Classical Azerbaijani) water
Synonym:su
Declension
Derived terms
ab-hava(“atmosphere”)(figurative)
abı(“sky-blue”)
Blagar
Noun
ab
fish
References
A. Schapper (citing Steinhauer), Elevation in the spatial deictic systems of Alor-Pantar languages, in The Alor-Pantar languages: History and Typology, edited by Marian Klamer
ASJP, citing L. C. Robinson and G. Holton, Internal classification of the Alor-Pantar language family using computational methods applied to the lexicon (2012)
Catalan
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ap/
(Before a voiced consonant or a vowel) IPA(key): /ab/
(Before a voiced consonant or a vowel in betacist dialects) IPA(key): /aβ/
Preposition
ab
Obsolete form of amb.
Danish
Etymology 1
From Latinab(“of, from”).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ab/, [ɑb̥]
Preposition
ab
ex (out of, sold from)
from (with the origin in time)
Etymology 2
See abe(“to ape, mimic”).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /aːb/, [æːˀb̥]
Verb
ab
imperative of abe
Further reading
“ab” in Den Danske Ordbog
East Central German
Particle
ab
(Strehlen and Schömberg, Silesian)negative particle, do not
East Yugur
Etymology
From Proto-Mongolic*ab-, compare Mongolianавах(avah).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /abqʰə/, [aβqʰə]
Verb
ab
to take
German
Pronunciation
(Germany) IPA(key): /ap/, /ɑp/
(Switzerland, Austro-Bavarian) IPA(key): /ɑb̥/
Rhymes: -ap
Etymology 1
From Old High Germanab, from Proto-Germanic*ab.
Preposition
ab
Beginning at that time or location; from.
Ab heute verfügbar.
Available from today.
Derived terms
ab und zu
Etymology 2
From adverbial use of the preposition in verbs such as abschlagen, abgehen etc.
Adjective
ab
(colloquial, predicative) off; not attached to anything anymore
Der Arm ist ab.
The arm is (hewn) off.
(nonstandard, attributive) off; not attached to anything anymore
Der abbe Arm ist verschwunden.
The (hewn) off arm has disappeared.
Usage notes
The predicative use is common in colloquial German throughout the country.
The attributive forms are mostly used in Western and Northern Germany and are considerably less common than the predicative use. They used to be used mostly jocularly, but become gradually more frequent since they are much shorter than the appropriate full verb forms such as abgetrennt(“disconnected, severed”).
The inflected attributive forms retain the devoiced consonant. Hence, sometimes they are spelled with p, rather than b: Appes Bein.
Related terms
abseits
Interlingua
Preposition
ab
from
Irish
Etymology 1
From Latinabbas(“father”), from Ancient Greekἀββᾶς(abbâs), from Aramaicאַבָּא (’abbā, “father”).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /abˠ/
Noun
abm (genitive singularaba, nominative pluralabaí)
(Christianity) abbot
Coordinate terms:ban-ab, máthairab
Declension
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Contraction of the relative particle a and the prevocalic variant of the past/conditional copula particle b’.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /əbˠ/
Particle
ab
Alternative form of ba(used in relative clauses before a vowel sound).
Related terms
Mutation
Further reading
"ab" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
Entries containing “ab” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
Entries containing “ab” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.
K'iche'
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /aːɓ/
Noun
ab
hammock
steam
mist
References
Allen J. Christenson, Kʼiche-English dictionary, page 7
Kein
Noun
ab
fire
Further reading
Johannes A. Z'Graggen, The Madang-Adelbert Range Sub-Phylum (1975) (as ʌb)
Bemal Organized Phonology Data (as ab)
Latin
Alternative forms
ā(not used before a vowel or h)
abs
af(archaic)
Etymology
From Proto-Italic*ab, from Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó(“off, away”) (whence Englishoff, of and after). See also po-. Cognate with ᾰ̓πό(apó).
Pronunciation
(Classical) IPA(key): /ab/
(Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ab/
Preposition
ab (+ ablative)
(indicating ablation): from, away from, out of
(indicating ablation): down from
(indicating agency):(source of action or event) by, by means of
(indicating instrumentality):(source of action or event) by, by means of, with
(indicating association): to, with
Heauton Timorumenos (“The Self-Tormentor”) by Publius Terentius Afer
Homo sum, humani nihil ā me alienum puto.
I am a man, I consider nothing that is human alien to me.
(indicating location): at, on, in
(time) after, since
Usage notes
Used in conjunction with passive verbs to mark the agent.
References
ab in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
ab in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
ab (third-person singular presentabs, present participleabin, pastabt, past participleabt)
(Orkney) to hinder
References
Scottish Gaelic
Noun
abm (genitive singularaba, pluralabachan)
Alternative form of aba
Turkish
Etymology 1
From Ottoman Turkishآب (āb, “water”), from Persianآب (āb).
Noun
ab (definite accusativeabı, pluralablar)
(obsolete, poetic) water
Etymology 2
From Ottoman Turkishعاب (ˁāb), from Arabicعَاب (ʿāb).
Noun
ab (definite accusativeabı, pluralablar)
(obsolete) defect, flaw, imperfection
Declension
Volapük
Etymology
Borrowed from Germanaber(“but”).
Conjunction
ab
but
Welsh
Etymology
From fab, soft mutation of mab(“son”).
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ab/
Prefix
ab
A patronymic indicator; son of.
Usage notes
This form is found before vowels. Before a consonant, the form ap is used.
Antonyms
ach
ferch
References
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “ab”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies