ANS

American Name Society.

An

[ahn]

noun

the Sumerian god of heaven: the counterpart of the Akkadian Anu.

ans.

answer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ans

Contemporary Examples of ans

ANS researchers found that all off-site health consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi accident may ultimately be negligible.
Japanese Debris Plume From Tsunami Migrating Across Pacific Ocean
Daniel Stone
March 9, 2012
Abandoning the project now, ANS officials note, would make all that spending a colossal waste.
Yucca Nuclear Site Returns
Daniel Stone
August 26, 2011

Historical Examples of ans

Ans bashfully crept in beside the sleeping child, taking care not to waken her, and lay there thinking of his new responsibility.
A Little Norsk; Or, Ol' Pap's Flaxen
Hamlin Garland
It was then, and for the first time, that they heard the slow and groping utterance of Ans Handerson.
The Faith of Men
Jack London
Their fall released into German control the railway junction at Ans.
The Story of the Great War, Volume II (of VIII)
Various
Ans, we've got to send Flaxen back to St. Peter; she's so homesick she don't know what to do.
A Little Norsk; Or, Ol' Pap's Flaxen
Hamlin Garland
It was a custom with the I'ans, and a few other West Country families, to have their burials at night.
Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Second Series
William Bottrell

British Dictionary definitions for ans

An

noun

myth the Sumerian sky godBabylonian counterpart: Anu

An

the chemical symbol for

actinon

AN

abbreviation for

Anglo-Norman

an

determiner

a form of the indefinite article used before an initial vowel soundan old car; an elf; an honour

Word Origin for an

Old English ān one

usage

An was formerly often used before words that begin with h and are unstressed on the first syllable: an hotel; an historic meeting . Sometimes the initial h was not pronounced. This usage is now becoming obsolete

an

an'

conjunction

(subordinating) an obsolete or dialect word for if See and (def. 9)

an

the internet domain name for

Netherlands Antilles

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ans

an

indefinite article before words beginning with vowels, 12c., from Old English an (with a long vowel) "one; lone," also used as a prefix an- "single, lone;" see one for the divergence of that word from this. Also see a, of which this is the older, fuller form.

In other European languages, identity between indefinite article and the word for "one" remains explicit (e.g. French un, German ein, etc.) Old English got by without indefinite articles: He was a good man in Old English was he wæs god man. Circa 15c., a and an commonly were written as one word with the following noun, which contributed to the confusion over how such words as newt and umpire ought to be divided (see N).

In Shakespeare, etc., an sometimes is a contraction of as if (a usage first attested c.1300), especially before it.