ab ovo

American  

[ahb oh-woh, ab oh-voh] / ɑb ˈoʊ woʊ, æb ˈoʊ voʊ /

adverb

Latin.

1. from the beginning.

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ab ovo British  

/ æb ˈəʊvəʊ /

1. from the beginning

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Etymology

Origin of ab ovo

Literally, “from the egg”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ab ovo

Again, of the Paradise Lost: ‘It has the totality of the poem as distinguished from the ab ovo birth and parentage or straight line of history.’

From English Critical Essays Nineteenth Century by Jones, Edmund David

Does it begin in medias res, as is proper, or ab ovo Ledae, as Horace has said that an epic ought not?

From A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

T. says it is no proof that Eels are bred in fresh water because they may be found in ponds having no connection with a river—the proof required is ab ovo.

From Essays in Natural History and Agriculture by Garnett, Thomas

Too many memoirs begin with tradition; to trace a subject ab ovo seems to have a fatal attraction for the human mind.

From Maria Edgeworth by Zimmern, Helen

Instead of being ab ovo ad malum, it was ab malo ad ovum.

From The Castaways by Pearse, Lolbran