Get Affordable VMs - excellent virtual server hosting


browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
alpha

more about alpha

alpha

 

  6  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  In  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end  the 
  first  and  the  last  --Rev.  xxii. 
  13. 
 
  Note:  Formerly  used  also  denote  the  chief;  as  Plato  was  the 
  alpha  of  the  wits. 
 
  Note:  In  cataloguing  stars,  the  brightest  star  of  a 
  constellation  in  designated  by  Alpha  ([alpha]);  as 
  [alpha]  Lyr[ae]. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  A  \A\  (named  [=a]  in  the  English,  and  most  commonly  ["a]  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  ["a]  sound,  the 
  Ph[oe]nician  alphabet  having  no  vowel  symbols.  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  ["a]  (as  in  far). 
 
  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. 
 
  {A  per  se}  (L.  per  se  by  itself),  one  pre["e]minent;  a 
  nonesuch.  [Obs.] 
 
  O  fair  Creseide  the  flower  and  A  per  se  Of  Troy  and 
  Greece.  --Chaucer. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  alpha 
  adj  :  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" 
  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  U.S.  Gazetteer  (1990)  [gazetteer]: 
 
  Alpha,  IL  (village,  FIPS  971) 
  Location:  41.19217  N,  90.38082  W 
  Population  (1990):  753  (324  housing  units) 
  Area:  0.8  sq  km  (land),  0.0  sq  km  (water) 
  Zip  code(s):  61413 
  Alpha,  KY 
  Zip  code(s):  42603 
  Alpha,  MI  (village,  FIPS  1800) 
  Location:  46.04394  N,  88.37826  W 
  Population  (1990):  219  (130  housing  units) 
  Area:  2.4  sq  km  (land),  0.1  sq  km  (water) 
  Alpha,  MN  (city,  FIPS  1162) 
  Location:  43.63919  N,  94.87138  W 
  Population  (1990):  105  (58  housing  units) 
  Area:  0.5  sq  km  (land),  0.0  sq  km  (water) 
  Zip  code(s):  56111 
  Alpha,  NJ  (borough,  FIPS  1030) 
  Location:  40.65975  N,  75.15746  W 
  Population  (1990):  2530  (1003  housing  units) 
  Area:  4.4  sq  km  (land),  0.1  sq  km  (water) 
  Zip  code(s):  08865 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  ALPHA 
 
    (Or  "Input")  An  extension  of  {ALGOL  60}  for  the 
  {M-20}  computer  developed  by  A.P.  Ershov  at  Novosibirsk  in 
  1961.  ALPHA  includes  {matrix}  operations,  {slices},  and 
  complex  arithmetic. 
 
  ["The  Alpha  Automatic  Programming  System",  A.P.  Ershov  ed., 
  A-P  1971]. 
 
  (1995-05-10) 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  Alpha 
 
  1.    A  {compiler  generator}  written  by  Andreas  Koschinsky 
    and  described  in  his  thesis  at  the 
  {Technische  Universitaet  Berlin}.  Alpha  takes  an  {attribute 
  grammar}  and  uses  {Bison}  and  {Flex}  to  generate  a  {parser},  a 
  {scanner}  and  an  {ASE  evaluator}  (Jazayeri  and  Walter). 
 
  The  documentation  is  in  german. 
 
  (1993-02-16) 
 
  2.    {DEC  Alpha}. 
 
  (1995-05-10)




more about alpha