ABCn.¹

Brit.

/ˌeɪbiːˈsiː/, U.S.

/ˌeɪˌbiˈsi/

Forms:

α. Middle English abcy, Middle English abice, Middle English–1500s abece, Middle English–1500s abse, Middle English–1600s abce, 1500s abeesee, 1500s absee, 1500s absie, 1500s–1600s abcie, 1600s abcee, 1600s 1800s abeecee, 1600s (1800s U.S. regional) absey; also Scottish pre-1700 abbece, 1800s abersay (Shetland), 1800s aw-be-sae (north-eastern), 1900s– abbacee (Shetland), 1900s– ah-bay-say (Orkney), 1900s– ebbasay (Shetland).

β. Middle English A, B, c, Middle English Abc, Middle English a.b.c, Middle English a.b.c., Middle English 1700s a, b, c, Middle English–1500s A.b.c., Middle English– ABC, Middle English– A.B.C., 1500s A, b, c, 1500s 1800s– abc, 1500s–1800s A, B, C, 1800s A-B-C, 1800s a-b-c.

γ. late Middle English apece, late Middle English apecy, late Middle English–1500s apsy, 1500s apcee, 1500s apcie, 1500s apsie; N.E.D. (1884) also records a form late Middle English apsie.

Capitalization and punctuation in Middle English and Older Scots examples frequently reflects the editorial choices of modern editors of texts, rather than the practice of the manuscripts.

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: A n., B n., C n.

Etymology: < A n. + B n. + C n., the names of the first three letters of the alphabet. Compare Anglo-Norman abicee , Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French abc , abece (French ABC , abécé ) work composed in alphabetical order (a1130), series of letters in the alphabet (1170), alphabet (12th cent.), rudiments, first principles (of a branch of knowledge) (early 17th cent.). Compare later alphabet n.With ABC learner n. and ABC scholar n. at Compounds 1 compare abecedary n.² With sense 4 and ABC book n. at Compounds 2 compare abecedary n.¹ Compare Old English ābēcēdē an ABC, the alphabet (compare also Anglo-Norman abecedé (c1245 or earlier)):OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) iii. iii. 184 Heræfter we wyllað geopenian uplendiscum preostum þæra [stafena] gerena æfter Lydenwara gesceade... Þæræfter Ebreiscra abecede we willað geswutelian and Grecisra.OE Prognostics (Tiber.) (2007) 305 De somniorum diuersiitate secundum ordinem abcharii [read abcdarii] Danielis prophete : be swefena mistlicnesse æfter endebyrdnessæ abecedes Danielis þæt [read þæs] witegan. The spelling history suggests that the word was frequently disyllabic (with no vowel following /b/ or, in γ. forms, /p/) until the 17th cent. (or later in U.S. regional use).

a. The alphabet. Frequently with reference to the teaching or learning of this, now esp. in to know one's ABC. Also in plural in same sense.In later use sometimes used to typify elementary education.

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

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 5393 (MED) He was more þan ten ȝer old ar he couþe is abece.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 259 He founded as meny abbayes as beþ lettres in þe A B C [L. in alphabeto].

c1400 Last Age of Church (1840) p. xxviii (MED) Euery lettre in þe abece may be souned wiþ opyn mouþ saue m lettre one.

c1500 2 Miracles Virgin (Tanner 407) in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. (1923) 38 374 (MED) He was set to þe boke for to spel and rede His a b se and pater noster.

1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) ii. 139 There is xxii. letters in the Abce of hebrew.

1553 (?c1395) Pierce Ploughmans Crede sig. Aii A, and all myn A, b, c, after haue I lerned.

1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Abecè the A B C or Criscrosse-row.

1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 1st Bk. Wks. xiv. 68 Master Tubal Holophernes..taught him his A B C, so well, that he could say it by heart backwards.

1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) ix. 244 As he was little, they would certainly begin him at the ABC.

1782 W. Cowper Conversation in Poems 213 Sorting and puzzling with a deal of glee Those seeds of science called his A B C.

1832 T. Hood Huggins & Duggins in Comic Ann. 146 I'd carve her name on every tree, But I don't know my A. B. C.

1871 ‘L. Carroll’ Through Looking-glass ix. 192 Of course you know your ABC.

1938 E. Goudge Towers in Mist (1998) i. 11 He could lisp out sentences from Virgil when other children were still entangled in their A B C.

1961 L. Stuart tr. F. Castro Hist. will absolve Me 42 Who among us has not learned his ABC's in the little public schoolhouse?

2002 R. Mistry Family Matters (2003) xxi. 484 Unschooled labourers who never learned their ABC.

b. As the type of something elementary or straightforward, esp. in as easy (also plain, simple, etc.) as ABC.

ΚΠ

1689 Irish Hudibras 22 To go's, as plain as A, B, C; But Back's all the Concavity.

1793 Times 4 Mar. 4/1 Individuals..not understanding the principles of Drilling, nor even attending to the directions laid down, though plain as A. B. C.

1867 Arthur's Home Mag. Nov. 294/1 Why I can tell in a moment... It's as easy as A, B, C.

1888 N. Perry Flock of Girls 128 Marigold was stupid on..some points that to the keen, practical girl..seem like A, B, C.

1952 Los Angeles Times 30 Jan. iii. 1/6 True elegance appears to be as simple as ABC in John Carter's spring millinery collection.

2006 Centralian Advocate (Austral.) (Nexis) 18 Aug. (Lifestyle section) 38 Changing from an unhealthy to a healthy lifestyle is as easy as ABC.

2. An alphabetical acrostic; a poem of which the successive stanzas or lines begin with the letters of the alphabet in order.

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

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Jer. Prol. 342 Of his cite the fallingus with fourefold abece [L. quadruplici alphabeto], he weilede, the whiche wee han ȝolden to the mesure of metre and vers.

c1450 ABC of Aristotle (Lamb. 853) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 11 Who-so wilneþ to be wijs..Lerne he oo lettir, & looke on anothir Of þe .a.b.c. of aristotil: argue not aȝen þat.

a1475 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 15th Cent. (1939) 149 (heading) (MED) Here begynneth þe A.B.C. of deuocion.

1597 T. Speght Chaucer's Wks. (title) Chaucers A B C, called La Prière de Nostre Dame.

1629 A. Top Bk. Prayses (new ed.) sig. Y The Psalme hath just the A B C, number of verses, to shew that of som one letter hee treateth.

1684 (title) The young-mans A.B.C. Or, two douzen of verses which a young-man sent to his love, who proved unkind; wrote in the manner of an a[l]phabet.

1855 Bell's Chaucer VI. 125 The A B C is a prayer to the Blessed Virgin somewhat in the manner of an acrostic. It consists of twenty-three stanzas, each of which begins with one of the letters of the alphabet, arranged in their order.

1870 Chambers's Jrnl. 2 July 432/2 Greater writers have attempted similar feats, but this A B C of ‘C. S. C.’ is by far the most successful of them.

1907 J. S. Tunison Dramatic Trad. Dark Ages ii. 79 Aldhelm, who delighted in puzzles and eccentricities of prosody, neglected the acrostic ABC.

1984 T. Augarde Oxf. Guide Word Games xv. 127 Poets from Chaucer to Edward Lear and beyond have written ‘ABC's’, starting each verse with a letter of the alphabet.

3. The rudiments or elementary part of a subject, esp. as taught or learnt. Also in plural in same sense.Common in book titles and sometimes passing into an extended use of sense 4.

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

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. l. 158 (MED) Algorismes Abece, Be which multiplicacioun Is mad and diminucioun Of sommes, be thexperience Of this Art and of this science.

a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 14 That this werk be callit the meroure of wisdome or A. B. C. of cristianite.

1641 J. Milton Animadversions 20 To tutor their unsoundnesse with the Abcie of a Liturgy.

1741 London Mag. Aug. 398/1 He hath managed like a Man that was not acquainted so much as with the ABC of Business.

1788 W. W. Grenville Let. 1 Apr. in Duke of Buckingham Mem. Court & Cabinets George III (1853) I. 369 Besides this, I am unwilling..that my first ostensible début should be in one [of the public services] where I should have the first ABC to learn.

1832 J. K. Paulding Childe Roeliff's Pilgrimage in Tales of Glauber-Spa I. 176 It puzzled honest Reuben Rossmore, who had scarcely studied the A B C of a woman's mind, much less investigated its hidden mysteries.

1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul II. ix. xxxvi. 152 The notion may be that ritualism is only the elementary teaching, the A B C of religion.

1910 J. Miller Poems VI. ii. 201 She don't love him, doctor, she don't as much as know the A B C's of love.

1963 W. E. B. Du Bois (title) An ABC of color.

1992 Oxfam News Summer 18/4 A business which stocked its shelves in the depth of recession and has been learning the ABC of its trade from the moment it turned its first page.

4. A book for teaching children the alphabet or the basics of reading and spelling; a primer. Cf. alphabet book n. (b) at alphabet n. Compounds 2. Also figurative. Now historical.See note at primer n.¹ 2a.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [noun] > reading matter > reading book for learners

primerc1390

ABCc1450

reading made easy1719

reader1782

reading book1840

pre-reader1946

c1450 J. Marion in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1913) 131 53 (MED) Criste god me spede now in my lityll tretyse, And gyfe me grace so for to lerne Myne Abse, that y may haue a relese Of my synnes.

a1475 in F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 271 (MED) Quan a chyld to scole xal set be, A bok hym is browt, Naylyd on a brede of tre, Þat men callyt an abece.

1571 in W. Greenwell Wills & Inventories Registry Durham (1860) II. 362 xiiij doss' pap^r latten abeesees iij^s vj^d—iiij doss' abeesees in p'chment ij^s.

1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie Serm. xix. 110. 27 a Wee abide still at our Absie, and wot not what rule or doctrine meaneth.

1637 Decree Starre-Chamber conc. Printing x. sig. D2^v Any Bibles, Testaments..Primers, Abcees,..or other booke or books.

1766 W. Kenrick Falstaff's Wedding (new ed.) i. x. 16 And shall a chit, a cullion, a beardless boy, presume to advise Robert Shallow, Esq? To your a, b, c, your primmer, to school again.

1866 Uniform Trade List Circular 1 98/1 Aladdin... Picture ABC... Nursery ABC.

1902 Trans. Lancs. & Cheshire Antiquarian Soc. 20 112 It appears that contemporaneous with the hornbook there was in use in some schools an ABC of a more elaborate kind.

2000 M. Rickards Encycl. Ephemera 1/1 The two concepts, the abc and the ‘primer’, at some periods tended to merge; at others to separate.

5. British. In full ABC railway guide. A comprehensive train timetable in which the stations are presented in alphabetical order. Now historical.The ABC Railway Guide was first published in 1853. It continued under this name until 1996, and is now published as the OAG Rail Guide.

ΚΠ

1853 (title) A.B.C. or alphabetical railway guide.

1888 B. L. Farjeon Devlin the Barber xxv. 148 At the first book-shop I purchased an ‘ABC’, and ascertained that the next best train to Margate was the 5.15 from Victoria.

1917 W. P. Ridge Amazing Years iii. 41 I found an A.B.C. and selected a train.

1936 A. Christie ABC Murders iv. 31 A railway guide, you say. A Bradshaw—or an ABC?

1969 Jrnl. Transport Econ. & Policy 3 49 These journey times are calculated from the ABC Railway Guide for April 1951 and April 1961.

2010 G. M. Malliet Death at Alma Mater 30 Difficult to explain the thrill of technology to two people probably still wedded to their ABC railway guides.

Compounds

C1. General attributive (in sense 1a).

ABC boy n.

ΚΠ

1545 W. Turner Rescuynge of Romishe Fox sig. F.v He sayd that he spak vnto the a. b. c. boy.

1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius ii. f. 259^v So to throw him down amongest the Apsy boyes, as to leaue him nothing but babishnes and stammering of speache.

1883 E. Eggleston Hoosier School-boy xxiii. 154 The awe-stricken girls on the opposite benches, and the little A B C boys, watched the guilty sinners take their places.

2001 M. Verweij Petrus Vladeraccus Tobias 141 It must mean ‘abc-boy’, i.e. ‘pupil of the very first beginning’.

ABC learner n.

ΚΠ

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 12 A-pece [v.rr. apecy, Apsy] lerner, or he þat lernythe þe abece, alphabeticus, abecedarius.

1632 R. Sherwood Dict. in R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues (new ed.) An Abcee-learner or teacher, Abecedaire (Fr.)

1875 Ballou's Monthly Mag. May 478/2 Even the stammering little ABC learners seemed alive to the beauty of knowledge.

2002 J. Geary Body Electric vi. 114 You made me an ABC learner who often hits the correct letters.

ABC scholar n.

ΚΠ

a1633 A. Munday John a Kent f. 12^v Which a mere abce scholler in the arte, Can doo it with the least facillitie.

1844 C. A. Feiling tr. L. Tieck in J. Oxenford & C. A. Feiling Tales from German 236 You are what I call a real A. B. C. scholar of Heaven's blockheads, and you will not in all your life have the slight merit of ever perceiving your own insignificance.

1989 A. Schafer Goodstein Nashville 1780–1860 ix. 182 One male teacher, occasionally supplemented by a female assistant, taught from forty to one hundred children, the bulk of them ‘ABC Scholars’.

ABC teacher n.

ΚΠ

1632 R. Sherwood Dict. in R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues (new ed.) An Abcee-learner or teacher, Abecedaire (Fr.)

1824 Much to Blame I. vi. 176 Sophy, the ABC teacher, was, he saw, disposed to shake her ferule over him.

1993 H. Liyi & C. A. Chik Mr. China's Son xvi. 214 He knows ABC and our county needs ABC teachers very much at the present stage.

C2.

ABC book n. (also abcee-book, absey-book) = sense 4.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > book > kind of book > textbook or book of instructions > [noun] > introductory

introductoryc1400

abecedary?a1475

institution1537

introduction1540

horn-book1609

ABC book1611

guide1617

initial1716

primer1722

prolegomenon1786

grammar1792

entrée1926

1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Abecedario, a teacher or learner of A B C; also a horne-booke, or A-bee-cee-booke.

a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) i. i. 196 I begin, I shall beseech you; that is question now, And then comes answer like an Absey booke: O sir, sayes answer, at your best command.

1785 Monthly Rev. Feb. 154 The Child's First Book... A useful ABC book, cheap, and neatly printed.

1867 Cumberstone Contest ii. 32 The sight of her A B C book was sure to bring the great tears into her eyes, and before the lesson was over she was generally either half asleep or sobbing piteously.

1914 W. A. Craigie & J. K. Craigie tr. H. C. Andersen Fairy Tales 593 There was a man who had written some new verses for the ABC book; two lines for every letter, as in the old ABC books.

2003 K. Tankersley Threads of Reading vii. 157 Much of the instruction in foundational reading development is still done orally through the use of ABC books.

ABC class n. a class for teaching the rudiments of a subject, esp. the alphabet; the first class in elementary education.

ΚΠ

1804 J. Young Universal Restoration 115 What should we think of the conduct of a preceptor, who should transfer his pupils from the A. B. C. class, to the senior class in College?

1878 Herald & Torch Light (Hagerstown, Maryland) 16 Jan. When the baby grew bigger, I took to teaching an A B C class, as I used to before I was married.

1943 S. Duggan Professor at Large xii. 360 In this school children begin learning English, French or German in the ABC class.

1987 Miami Herald (Nexis) 4 Oct. 5 They conduct ‘ABC’ classes in needlework that are so basic that the first lesson is literally how to thread a needle.

2009 PNG Post-Courier (Austral.) (Nexis) 25 Aug. 8 The students who graduated from ABC classes undertook elementary studies on how to read by blending words using their vowels and phonics.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	abc
释义	ABCn.¹ Brit. /ˌeɪbiːˈsiː/, U.S. /ˌeɪˌbiˈsi/ Forms: α. Middle English abcy, Middle English abice, Middle English–1500s abece, Middle English–1500s abse, Middle English–1600s abce, 1500s abeesee, 1500s absee, 1500s absie, 1500s–1600s abcie, 1600s abcee, 1600s 1800s abeecee, 1600s (1800s U.S. regional) absey; also Scottish pre-1700 abbece, 1800s abersay (Shetland), 1800s aw-be-sae (north-eastern), 1900s– abbacee (Shetland), 1900s– ah-bay-say (Orkney), 1900s– ebbasay (Shetland). β. Middle English A, B, c, Middle English Abc, Middle English a.b.c, Middle English a.b.c., Middle English 1700s a, b, c, Middle English–1500s A.b.c., Middle English– ABC, Middle English– A.B.C., 1500s A, b, c, 1500s 1800s– abc, 1500s–1800s A, B, C, 1800s A-B-C, 1800s a-b-c. γ. late Middle English apece, late Middle English apecy, late Middle English–1500s apsy, 1500s apcee, 1500s apcie, 1500s apsie; N.E.D. (1884) also records a form late Middle English apsie. Capitalization and punctuation in Middle English and Older Scots examples frequently reflects the editorial choices of modern editors of texts, rather than the practice of the manuscripts. Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: A n., B n., C n. Etymology: < A n. + B n. + C n., the names of the first three letters of the alphabet. Compare Anglo-Norman abicee , Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French abc , abece (French ABC , abécé ) work composed in alphabetical order (a1130), series of letters in the alphabet (1170), alphabet (12th cent.), rudiments, first principles (of a branch of knowledge) (early 17th cent.). Compare later alphabet n.With ABC learner n. and ABC scholar n. at Compounds 1 compare abecedary n.² With sense 4 and ABC book n. at Compounds 2 compare abecedary n.¹ Compare Old English ābēcēdē an ABC, the alphabet (compare also Anglo-Norman abecedé (c1245 or earlier)):OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) iii. iii. 184 Heræfter we wyllað geopenian uplendiscum preostum þæra [stafena] gerena æfter Lydenwara gesceade... Þæræfter Ebreiscra abecede we willað geswutelian and Grecisra.OE Prognostics (Tiber.) (2007) 305 De somniorum diuersiitate secundum ordinem abcharii [read abcdarii] Danielis prophete : be swefena mistlicnesse æfter endebyrdnessæ abecedes Danielis þæt [read þæs] witegan. The spelling history suggests that the word was frequently disyllabic (with no vowel following /b/ or, in γ. forms, /p/) until the 17th cent. (or later in U.S. regional use). 1. a. The alphabet. Frequently with reference to the teaching or learning of this, now esp. in to know one's ABC. Also in plural in same sense.In later use sometimes used to typify elementary education. 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 c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 5393 (MED) He was more þan ten ȝer old ar he couþe is abece. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 259 He founded as meny abbayes as beþ lettres in þe A B C [L. in alphabeto]. c1400 Last Age of Church (1840) p. xxviii (MED) Euery lettre in þe abece may be souned wiþ opyn mouþ saue m lettre one. c1500 2 Miracles Virgin (Tanner 407) in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. (1923) 38 374 (MED) He was set to þe boke for to spel and rede His a b se and pater noster. 1530 Myroure Oure Ladye (Fawkes) (1873) ii. 139 There is xxii. letters in the Abce of hebrew. 1553 (?c1395) Pierce Ploughmans Crede sig. Aii A, and all myn A, b, c, after haue I lerned. 1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Abecè the A B C or Criscrosse-row. 1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 1st Bk. Wks. xiv. 68 Master Tubal Holophernes..taught him his A B C, so well, that he could say it by heart backwards. 1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) ix. 244 As he was little, they would certainly begin him at the ABC. 1782 W. Cowper Conversation in Poems 213 Sorting and puzzling with a deal of glee Those seeds of science called his A B C. 1832 T. Hood Huggins & Duggins in Comic Ann. 146 I'd carve her name on every tree, But I don't know my A. B. C. 1871 ‘L. Carroll’ Through Looking-glass ix. 192 Of course you know your ABC. 1938 E. Goudge Towers in Mist (1998) i. 11 He could lisp out sentences from Virgil when other children were still entangled in their A B C. 1961 L. Stuart tr. F. Castro Hist. will absolve Me 42 Who among us has not learned his ABC's in the little public schoolhouse? 2002 R. Mistry Family Matters (2003) xxi. 484 Unschooled labourers who never learned their ABC. b. As the type of something elementary or straightforward, esp. in as easy (also plain, simple, etc.) as ABC. ΚΠ 1689 Irish Hudibras 22 To go's, as plain as A, B, C; But Back's all the Concavity. 1793 Times 4 Mar. 4/1 Individuals..not understanding the principles of Drilling, nor even attending to the directions laid down, though plain as A. B. C. 1867 Arthur's Home Mag. Nov. 294/1 Why I can tell in a moment... It's as easy as A, B, C. 1888 N. Perry Flock of Girls 128 Marigold was stupid on..some points that to the keen, practical girl..seem like A, B, C. 1952 Los Angeles Times 30 Jan. iii. 1/6 True elegance appears to be as simple as ABC in John Carter's spring millinery collection. 2006 Centralian Advocate (Austral.) (Nexis) 18 Aug. (Lifestyle section) 38 Changing from an unhealthy to a healthy lifestyle is as easy as ABC. 2. An alphabetical acrostic; a poem of which the successive stanzas or lines begin with the letters of the alphabet in order. 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 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Jer. Prol. 342 Of his cite the fallingus with fourefold abece [L. quadruplici alphabeto], he weilede, the whiche wee han ȝolden to the mesure of metre and vers. c1450 ABC of Aristotle (Lamb. 853) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 11 Who-so wilneþ to be wijs..Lerne he oo lettir, & looke on anothir Of þe .a.b.c. of aristotil: argue not aȝen þat. a1475 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 15th Cent. (1939) 149 (heading) (MED) Here begynneth þe A.B.C. of deuocion. 1597 T. Speght Chaucer's Wks. (title) Chaucers A B C, called La Prière de Nostre Dame. 1629 A. Top Bk. Prayses (new ed.) sig. Y The Psalme hath just the A B C, number of verses, to shew that of som one letter hee treateth. 1684 (title) The young-mans A.B.C. Or, two douzen of verses which a young-man sent to his love, who proved unkind; wrote in the manner of an a[l]phabet. 1855 Bell's Chaucer VI. 125 The A B C is a prayer to the Blessed Virgin somewhat in the manner of an acrostic. It consists of twenty-three stanzas, each of which begins with one of the letters of the alphabet, arranged in their order. 1870 Chambers's Jrnl. 2 July 432/2 Greater writers have attempted similar feats, but this A B C of ‘C. S. C.’ is by far the most successful of them. 1907 J. S. Tunison Dramatic Trad. Dark Ages ii. 79 Aldhelm, who delighted in puzzles and eccentricities of prosody, neglected the acrostic ABC. 1984 T. Augarde Oxf. Guide Word Games xv. 127 Poets from Chaucer to Edward Lear and beyond have written ‘ABC's’, starting each verse with a letter of the alphabet. 3. The rudiments or elementary part of a subject, esp. as taught or learnt. Also in plural in same sense.Common in book titles and sometimes passing into an extended use of sense 4. 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 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. l. 158 (MED) Algorismes Abece, Be which multiplicacioun Is mad and diminucioun Of sommes, be thexperience Of this Art and of this science. a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 14 That this werk be callit the meroure of wisdome or A. B. C. of cristianite. 1641 J. Milton Animadversions 20 To tutor their unsoundnesse with the Abcie of a Liturgy. 1741 London Mag. Aug. 398/1 He hath managed like a Man that was not acquainted so much as with the ABC of Business. 1788 W. W. Grenville Let. 1 Apr. in Duke of Buckingham Mem. Court & Cabinets George III (1853) I. 369 Besides this, I am unwilling..that my first ostensible début should be in one [of the public services] where I should have the first ABC to learn. 1832 J. K. Paulding Childe Roeliff's Pilgrimage in Tales of Glauber-Spa I. 176 It puzzled honest Reuben Rossmore, who had scarcely studied the A B C of a woman's mind, much less investigated its hidden mysteries. 1879 F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul II. ix. xxxvi. 152 The notion may be that ritualism is only the elementary teaching, the A B C of religion. 1910 J. Miller Poems VI. ii. 201 She don't love him, doctor, she don't as much as know the A B C's of love. 1963 W. E. B. Du Bois (title) An ABC of color. 1992 Oxfam News Summer 18/4 A business which stocked its shelves in the depth of recession and has been learning the ABC of its trade from the moment it turned its first page. 4. A book for teaching children the alphabet or the basics of reading and spelling; a primer. Cf. alphabet book n. (b) at alphabet n. Compounds 2. Also figurative. Now historical.See note at primer n.¹ 2a. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [noun] > reading matter > reading book for learners primerc1390 ABCc1450 reading made easy1719 reader1782 reading book1840 pre-reader1946 c1450 J. Marion in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1913) 131 53 (MED) Criste god me spede now in my lityll tretyse, And gyfe me grace so for to lerne Myne Abse, that y may haue a relese Of my synnes. a1475 in F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 271 (MED) Quan a chyld to scole xal set be, A bok hym is browt, Naylyd on a brede of tre, Þat men callyt an abece. 1571 in W. Greenwell Wills & Inventories Registry Durham (1860) II. 362 xiiij doss' pap^r latten abeesees iij^s vj^d—iiij doss' abeesees in p'chment ij^s. 1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie Serm. xix. 110. 27 a Wee abide still at our Absie, and wot not what rule or doctrine meaneth. 1637 Decree Starre-Chamber conc. Printing x. sig. D2^v Any Bibles, Testaments..Primers, Abcees,..or other booke or books. 1766 W. Kenrick Falstaff's Wedding (new ed.) i. x. 16 And shall a chit, a cullion, a beardless boy, presume to advise Robert Shallow, Esq? To your a, b, c, your primmer, to school again. 1866 Uniform Trade List Circular 1 98/1 Aladdin... Picture ABC... Nursery ABC. 1902 Trans. Lancs. & Cheshire Antiquarian Soc. 20 112 It appears that contemporaneous with the hornbook there was in use in some schools an ABC of a more elaborate kind. 2000 M. Rickards Encycl. Ephemera 1/1 The two concepts, the abc and the ‘primer’, at some periods tended to merge; at others to separate. 5. British. In full ABC railway guide. A comprehensive train timetable in which the stations are presented in alphabetical order. Now historical.The ABC Railway Guide was first published in 1853. It continued under this name until 1996, and is now published as the OAG Rail Guide. ΚΠ 1853 (title) A.B.C. or alphabetical railway guide. 1888 B. L. Farjeon Devlin the Barber xxv. 148 At the first book-shop I purchased an ‘ABC’, and ascertained that the next best train to Margate was the 5.15 from Victoria. 1917 W. P. Ridge Amazing Years iii. 41 I found an A.B.C. and selected a train. 1936 A. Christie ABC Murders iv. 31 A railway guide, you say. A Bradshaw—or an ABC? 1969 Jrnl. Transport Econ. & Policy 3 49 These journey times are calculated from the ABC Railway Guide for April 1951 and April 1961. 2010 G. M. Malliet Death at Alma Mater 30 Difficult to explain the thrill of technology to two people probably still wedded to their ABC railway guides. Compounds C1. General attributive (in sense 1a). ABC boy n. ΚΠ 1545 W. Turner Rescuynge of Romishe Fox sig. F.v He sayd that he spak vnto the a. b. c. boy. 1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius ii. f. 259^v So to throw him down amongest the Apsy boyes, as to leaue him nothing but babishnes and stammering of speache. 1883 E. Eggleston Hoosier School-boy xxiii. 154 The awe-stricken girls on the opposite benches, and the little A B C boys, watched the guilty sinners take their places. 2001 M. Verweij Petrus Vladeraccus Tobias 141 It must mean ‘abc-boy’, i.e. ‘pupil of the very first beginning’. ABC learner n. ΚΠ Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 12 A-pece [v.rr. apecy, Apsy] lerner, or he þat lernythe þe abece, alphabeticus, abecedarius. 1632 R. Sherwood Dict. in R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues (new ed.) An Abcee-learner or teacher, Abecedaire (Fr.) 1875 Ballou's Monthly Mag. May 478/2 Even the stammering little ABC learners seemed alive to the beauty of knowledge. 2002 J. Geary Body Electric vi. 114 You made me an ABC learner who often hits the correct letters. ABC scholar n. ΚΠ a1633 A. Munday John a Kent f. 12^v Which a mere abce scholler in the arte, Can doo it with the least facillitie. 1844 C. A. Feiling tr. L. Tieck in J. Oxenford & C. A. Feiling Tales from German 236 You are what I call a real A. B. C. scholar of Heaven's blockheads, and you will not in all your life have the slight merit of ever perceiving your own insignificance. 1989 A. Schafer Goodstein Nashville 1780–1860 ix. 182 One male teacher, occasionally supplemented by a female assistant, taught from forty to one hundred children, the bulk of them ‘ABC Scholars’. ABC teacher n. ΚΠ 1632 R. Sherwood Dict. in R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues (new ed.) An Abcee-learner or teacher, Abecedaire (Fr.) 1824 Much to Blame I. vi. 176 Sophy, the ABC teacher, was, he saw, disposed to shake her ferule over him. 1993 H. Liyi & C. A. Chik Mr. China's Son xvi. 214 He knows ABC and our county needs ABC teachers very much at the present stage. C2. ABC book n. (also abcee-book, absey-book) = sense 4. ΘΚΠ society > communication > book > kind of book > textbook or book of instructions > [noun] > introductory introductoryc1400 abecedary?a1475 institution1537 introduction1540 horn-book1609 ABC book1611 guide1617 initial1716 primer1722 prolegomenon1786 grammar1792 entrée1926 1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Abecedario, a teacher or learner of A B C; also a horne-booke, or A-bee-cee-booke. a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) i. i. 196 I begin, I shall beseech you; that is question now, And then comes answer like an Absey booke: O sir, sayes answer, at your best command. View more context for this quotation 1785 Monthly Rev. Feb. 154 The Child's First Book... A useful ABC book, cheap, and neatly printed. 1867 Cumberstone Contest ii. 32 The sight of her A B C book was sure to bring the great tears into her eyes, and before the lesson was over she was generally either half asleep or sobbing piteously. 1914 W. A. Craigie & J. K. Craigie tr. H. C. Andersen Fairy Tales 593 There was a man who had written some new verses for the ABC book; two lines for every letter, as in the old ABC books. 2003 K. Tankersley Threads of Reading vii. 157 Much of the instruction in foundational reading development is still done orally through the use of ABC books. ABC class n. a class for teaching the rudiments of a subject, esp. the alphabet; the first class in elementary education. ΚΠ 1804 J. Young Universal Restoration 115 What should we think of the conduct of a preceptor, who should transfer his pupils from the A. B. C. class, to the senior class in College? 1878 Herald & Torch Light (Hagerstown, Maryland) 16 Jan. When the baby grew bigger, I took to teaching an A B C class, as I used to before I was married. 1943 S. Duggan Professor at Large xii. 360 In this school children begin learning English, French or German in the ABC class. 1987 Miami Herald (Nexis) 4 Oct. 5 They conduct ‘ABC’ classes in needlework that are so basic that the first lesson is literally how to thread a needle. 2009 PNG Post-Courier (Austral.) (Nexis) 25 Aug. 8 The students who graduated from ABC classes undertook elementary studies on how to read by blending words using their vowels and phonics. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022). ABCn.² Brit. /ˌeɪbiːˈsiː/, U.S. /ˌeɪˌbiˈsi/ Origin: Formed within English, as an initialism. Etymons: English animal charcoal, blood, clay. Etymology: Initialism < the initial letters of animal charcoal, blood, and clay, principal ingredients of the mixture used, punningly after ABC as the first three letters of the alphabet.This process was patented by William Cameron Sillar, Robert George Sillar, and George William Wigner in June 1868. They explain the name as follows:c1868 W. C. Sillar et al. A. B. C. Sewage Process 7 The A. B. C. mixture (so called from the initials of the three principal ingredients—Animal-charcoal, Blood, and Clay)... Now chiefly historical. A process for treating sewage involving the addition to it of a mixture that causes the precipitation of much of the solid matter as a sludge, which was then available for sale as manure. Also: †the mixture itself (obsolete). Usually attributive, esp. in ABC process.The mixture consisted of animal charcoal, blood, and clay; alum was usually also added, as an accelerator. ΚΠ 1868 Chem. News 7 Aug. 66/2 Laboratory experiments showed that this ‘A B C compound’..had the power of precipitating nearly all the manurial constituents of sewer water, the whole settling in a flocculent mass at the bottom of the vessel in the course of a few minutes. c1868 W. C. Sillar et al. A. B. C. Sewage Process 8 With a very small addition of A. B. C.—not more than 10 per cent. of the quantity originally used—the same power was retained to the fifth time of using it. 1872 Morning Post 7 May 3/4 The shareholders..of the Native Guano Company, visited the works at Crossness for the purpose of witnessing the ‘A B C’ sewage process in operation... The name of the ‘A B C’ process has been derived from the initials of the chief ingredients used: alumina, blood, clay, and charcoal. 1882 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener & Home Farmer 26 Oct. 392/1 It will compel the authorities of towns to seriously consider the advisability of adopting the A B C process of sewage-disposal. 1903 W. R. Maguire Domest. Sanitary Drainage Plumbing (ed. 4) iv. 108 The A. B. C. process has been adopted by many towns with meagre success. 1933 Sewage Wks. 5 595 Some processes, notably the A.B.C. process about 1870 using alum, blood, charcoal and clay, were boomed because of supposed value of their sludges for fertilizer. 1978 Times 4 Apr. 26 (advt.) Federative Republic of Brazil... Supply of process sub-systems for the first stage of Barueri and ABC sewage treatment plants. 1985 Victorian Stud. 28 398 The inventors of the A.B.C. process..were inspired by Hebrews 9.22 (‘All things are by law purged with blood’). This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021). † ABCv. Forms: see ABC n.¹ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: ABC n.¹ Etymology: < ABC n.¹ Obsolete. intransitive. To say the alphabet, or letters of the alphabet. ΚΠ 1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Abecedáre, to alphabet or abee-cee. 1804 S. T. Coleridge Let. 16 Apr. (1895) II. 471 The whole name sounding as if you were abeeceeing, S. M. U. L. 1839 T. Hood My Son & Heir in Hood's Own 543 A Coppersmith I can't endure—Nor petty Usher A, B, C-ing. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online September 2018). > as lemmas ABC ABC n. now historical Aerated Bread Company; (also) a cafeteria or shop run by the company. ΚΠ 1889 E. Dowson Let. 17 Mar. (1967) 50 I did go down to the ABC after leaving my atrocity with you on Friday. 1894 Punch 15 Dec. 285/1 I pass an A.B.C., Where I purchase two or three Cakes and scones. 1941 E. Blunden Thomas Hardy 120 Afterwards we went to a Lyons tea-shop, at which he [sc. Hardy] was a little alarmed, being used only to an A.B.C. 2006 G. Shaw et al. in J. Benson & L. Ugolini Cultures of Selling iii. 86 Whilst a typical bakery might produce around 200,000 pounds of bread per year, ABC methods could produce ten times this from just one machine. extracted from An. ABC ABC n. American Broadcasting Company. ΚΠ 1929 Radio Broadcast Apr. 372/2 (caption) Adolph E. Linden, President of the American Broadcasting Company which operates the ABC Western Network. 1948 Life 6 Sept. 41/1 The progress of ABC, a relative newcomer in the field, typifies the rapid expansion of television facilities this year. 2009 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Nov. 54/3 The first era arrived..via bunny ears and national broadcast networks, such as NBC and ABC. extracted from An. ABC ABC n. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (formerly Commission, Company). ΘΚΠ society > communication > broadcasting > broadcasting service > [noun] > broadcasting company B.B.C.1923 British Broadcasting Corporation1926 C.B.S.1930 ABC1931 Portland Place1937 Independent Broadcasting Authority1954 ORTF1964 PBS1969 I.B.A.1971 LBC1973 1931 Austral. Broadcasting Co. Ltd. Year Bk. 1930 24 (heading) The widespread ramifications of the A.B.C. 1957 ‘N. Shute’ On Beach iv. 132 The A.B.C.'s been doing a good job in telling people just the way things are. 2006 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 12 July 20/2 The ABC studios at Toowong in Brisbane could fetch more than $45 million. extracted from An. < n.¹c1325n.²1868v.1611 as lemmas
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ABCn.1

Compounds

ABCn.2

† ABCv.

> as lemmas

ABCn.¹

ABCn.²