Result from Foreign Dictionaries (4 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Alpha \Al"pha\, n. [L. alpha, Gr. 'a`lfa, from Heb. [=a]leph, name of the first letter in the alphabet, also meaning ox.] The first letter in the Greek alphabet, answering to A, and hence used to denote the beginning. [1913 Webster] In am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. --Rev. xxii. 13. [1913 Webster] Note: Formerly used also denote the chief; as, Plato was the alpha of the wits. [1913 Webster] Note: In cataloguing stars, the brightest star of a constellation in designated by Alpha ([alpha]); as, [alpha] Lyr[ae]. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: A \A\ (named [=a] in the English, and most commonly [aum] in other languages). The first letter of the English and of many other alphabets. The capital A of the alphabets of Middle and Western Europe, as also the small letter (a), besides the forms in Italic, black letter, etc., are all descended from the old Latin A, which was borrowed from the Greek {Alpha}, of the same form; and this was made from the first letter (?) of the Ph[oe]nician alphabet, the equivalent of the Hebrew Aleph, and itself from the Egyptian origin. The Aleph was a consonant letter, with a guttural breath sound that was not an element of Greek articulation; and the Greeks took it to represent their vowel Alpha with the [aum] sound, the Ph[oe]nician alphabet having no vowel symbols. [1913 Webster] This letter, in English, is used for several different vowel sounds. See Guide to pronunciation, [sect][sect] 43-74. The regular long a, as in fate, etc., is a comparatively modern sound, and has taken the place of what, till about the early part of the 17th century, was a sound of the quality of [aum] (as in far). [1913 Webster] 2. (Mus.) The name of the sixth tone in the model major scale (that in C), or the first tone of the minor scale, which is named after it the scale in A minor. The second string of the violin is tuned to the A in the treble staff. -- A sharp (A[sharp]) is the name of a musical tone intermediate between A and B. -- A flat (A[flat]) is the name of a tone intermediate between A and G. [1913 Webster] {A per se} (L. per se by itself), one pre["e]minent; a nonesuch. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] O fair Creseide, the flower and A per se Of Troy and Greece. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: alpha adj 1: first in order of importance; "the alpha male in the group of chimpanzees"; "the alpha star in a constellation is the brightest or main star" 2: early testing stage of a software or hardware product; "alpha version" n 1: the 1st letter of the Greek alphabet 2: the beginning of a series or sequence; "the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end"-- Revelations From French-English FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.3.4 [fd-fra-eng]: alpha /alfa/ alpha