am

¹

[ am; unstressed uhm, m ]

verb

1. 1st person singular present indicative of be.

Am

²

Symbol, Chemistry.

1. americium.

AM

³

abbreviation for

1. Electronics. amplitude modulation: a method of impressing a signal on a radio carrier wave by varying its amplitude.
2. Radio. a system of broadcasting by means of amplitude modulation.
3. of, relating to, or utilizing such a system. Compare FM
4. Asian male.

Am.

⁴

abbreviation for

1. America.
2. American.

A/m

⁵

1. ampere per meter.

a.m.

⁶

abbreviation for

1. before noon.
2. the period from midnight to noon, especially the period of daylight prior to noon:

   Shall we meet Saturday a.m.?

3. a morning newspaper, sometimes issued shortly before midnight.

A.M.

⁷

abbreviation for

1. a.m. ( def )
2. Master of Arts.

Am.

¹

abbreviation for

1. America(n)

AM

²

abbreviation for

1. associate member
2. Assembly Member (of the National Assembly of Wales)
3. Albert Medal
4. Master of Arts
5. Alsoam amplitude modulation
6. See a.m.
7. Member of the Order of Australia
8. Armenia (international car registration)

a.m.

³

abbreviation for

1. ante meridiem Compare p.m.

am

⁴

verb

1. used with I a form of the present tense (indicative mood) of be 1

am

⁵

the internet domain name for

1. Armenia

A/M

⁶

abbreviation for

1. Air Marshal

am

⁷

abbreviation for

1. See AM
2. See a.m.

Am

⁸

the chemical symbol for

1. americium

AM

1. Abbreviation of amplitude modulation

Usage Note

The abbreviation a.m. for Latin ante merīdiem, meaning “before noon,” refers to the period from midnight until noon. One minute before noon is 11:59 a.m. One minute after noon is 12:01 p.m. Many people distinguish between noon and midnight by saying 12 noon and 12 midnight. Expressions combining a.m. with morning ( 6 a.m. in the morning ) and p.m. with afternoon, evening, or night ( 9 p.m. at night ) are redundant and occur most often in casual speech and writing. Both a.m. and p.m. sometimes appear in capital letters, especially in printed matter.

Word History and Origins

Origin of am¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English am, eam, eom; cognate with Gothic im, Old Norse, Armenian em, Old Irish am (from unattested esmi ), Attic Greek eimí, Aeolic Greek émmi, Doric Greek ēmí (all from prehistoric Greek esmi ), Hittite esmi, early Lithuanian esmì, Old Church Slavonic yesmĭ, Albanian jam (from unattested esmi ), Sanskrit ásmi, from unattested Proto-Indo-European ésmi, from root es- “to be” + -m 1st person singular + -i, present-time marker; is

Origin of am²

First recorded in 1935–40

Origin of am³

From Latin ante merīdiem

Origin of am⁴

A.M. ( def 2 ) from Latin Artium Magister

Word History and Origins

Origin of am¹

Latin: before noon

Origin of am²

Old English eam; related to Old Norse em, Gothic im, Old High German bim, Latin sum, Greek eimi, Sanskrit asmi

Example Sentences

At 1:42 a.m., a commenter bluntly asked: “Jeff, Is it true you are a convicted sex offender?”

From The Daily Beast

It was supposed to land in Singapore at 8:57 a.m. local time.

From The Daily Beast

But Brooklyn was still Brooklyn, and at 1:45 a.m. a dispatcher could be heard saying on the police radio, “Shots fired by an MOS.”

From The Daily Beast

MOSCOW — The capital of Chechnya, Grozny, seemed to blow up around 1:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.

From The Daily Beast

By the time he arrived there at 3:22 a.m., with a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit, he was comatose.

From The Daily Beast

There was a nice breeze from the eastward at 10 A.M., and like a flight of swans the yachts were away together.

From Project Gutenberg

The start took place at 10 A.M., on the Monday morning, when the weather was fine, wind tolerably fresh from south and west.

From Project Gutenberg

At 10 A.M. a fleet of eleven men-of-war appeared in the north-west, steering towards us.

From Project Gutenberg

For this same authority further on says, "It was 11 A.M. before we came in sight of the Alma."

From Project Gutenberg

If both meet together at the same hour, say eleven o'clock, the one will reckon 11 A.M., the other 11 P.M.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dawn