Obs. or dial. form. of O! and AH!
1. (In northern and early southern Eng.) O! (for which ā! eh! (ē, ē) is still the ordinary northern form) of invocation, surprise, admiration.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 45. Al hwi wepest þou, Paul?
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Tr., 1. A, a! that wondyrful name! A! that delittable name! Ibid., Pr. Consc., 481. For when it es born it cryes swa: If it be man it says ‘a. a.’ And if þe child a woman be, When it es born it says ‘e. e.’
c. 1460. Townley Myst., 109. A, Gylle! what chere?
2. (In later southern Eng.) Ah! of pain, grief, aversion.
c. 1305. E. E. Poems, 58. A beau frere quaþ þis oþer: strong is þi misdede.
1340. Ayenb., 92. A God hou hi byeþ foles and more þanne a best.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knight’s T., 220. He bleynte and cryed, a! As that he stongen were vnto the herte.
c. 1400. Apol. for Lollards, 30. A ȝe vniust prestis, þorow ȝour bidding þe prest of God stintiþ þe office of blessing.
1485. Caxton, Paris & Vienne (1868), 28. A Veray God! I am wel dyscomforted.
3. Prefixed to proper names as a war-cry, as A Warwick! Modern writers treat it as the ‘indefinite article.’
c. 1450. Merlin (1866), II. 287. Than thei cried a Clarance with a lowde voyse.
1808. Scott, Marmion, VI. xxvii. The Border slogan rent the sky: A Home! a Gordon! was the cry.
4. Appended to lines ‘in burlesque poetry, to lengthen out a syllable, without adding to the sense.’ J. Not originally burlesque, but probably originating in the necessary retention of the ME. final -e where wanted for measure, the origin of which being forgotten, it was treated as an addition of ă. Thus ME. sonne—yronne, would be treated as sun a!—run a!
1567. Triall of Treasure (1850), 33. Wherein I doe delight, a;… To liue still in such plighte, a.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iii. 133. And merrily hent the Stile-a … Your sad tyres in a Mile-a.
Hence prob. the modern ballad and lyrical O! (which is not burlesque) as in ‘My Nannie, O.’
