int. [a combination of the two interjections AH! and HA! formerly written separately, a ha. Cf. mod. Germ. aha! Fr. ah! ah!] An exclamation expressing, with different intonations, surprise (arch. or obs.), triumph or satisfaction, and mockery or irony.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nonne Pr. T., 561. They crieden, out!… A ha the fox! and after him thay ran.
1509. Parlyament of Deuylles, xc. ‘A ha’ sayd Adam, ‘my God I se.’
1611. Bible, Is. xliv. 16. He warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm. Ibid., Ps. xxxv. 21. Yea they opened their mouth wide against me, and saide, Aha, Aha, our eye hath seene it.
1861. C. Reade, Cloister & Hearth, I. 344. Next will come—Cramps of the Stomach. Aha! Then—Bilious Vomit. Aha!
