Abbreviations

The unabridged entries for the Abbreviations (see also: Acronyms) under each Capital Letter (incl. Add. and Draft Entries) in OED2ECDV4.0.

A, adult, designating films suitable for exhibition to adult audiences; A., a., ampere; A, atom(ic); A, in £A, Australian; Å., Ångström; A.A., Alcoholics Anonymous (orig. U.S.); also, a member of this organization; A.A., A.-A., anti-aircraft; A.A., Automobile Association; A.A.A., Amateur Athletic Association; A.A.A., American Automobile Association; A.A.F., Auxiliary Air Force; A.A.M., air-to-air missile; A. and R. (see quots.); A.B., Bachelor of Arts; A.B.C., Aerated Bread Company; A.B.C., Australian Broadcasting Corporation (formerly Commission); also, † Australian Broadcasting Company; A.B.C.A., Army Bureau of Current Affairs, an organization which provided troops with information about current affairs during the 1939–45 war; ABM, anti-ballistic missile (orig. U.S.); cf. I.C.B.M. s.v. I III; ABS, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene; freq. attrib., esp. designating a group of metallizable plastics consisting of a rubbery phase dispersed in a hard phase and with uses that include tubing, parts of car bodies, and domestic articles; A.C., A/C, aircraftman; A.C., a.c., alternating current; A.C.C., anodal (or anodic) closure contraction; A.C.C.M., (also with pronunc. ˈækəm), Advisory Council for the Church's Ministry; AC/DC, AC-DC [humorously after A.C. and D.C. (alternating and direct electrical current): see above and D III. 3] slang (orig. U.S.), of a person: bisexual; A.C.L.U., American Civil Liberties Union; A.C.P., African, Caribbean, and Pacific (countries), spec. the signatories to the Lomé Convention (see quot. 19752); A.C.S., antireticular cytotoxic serum; A.C.T., Australian Capital Territory; A.C.T.H., adrenocorticotrop(h)ic hormone; A.C.T.T., Association of Cinematograph, Television, and Allied Technicians; A.C.T.U., Australian (formerly also Australasian) Council of Trade Unions; A.C.V., air-cushion vehicle (see air-cushion (b) s.v. air n.1 B. II); A.C.W., aircraftwoman; A.D.C., aide-de-camp, hence A.D.C.-ship, aide-de-campship; A.D.F., automatic direction finder; A.D.G.B., Air Defence of Great Britain; ADH, antidiuretic hormone; A.D.P., automatic data processing; A.D.(S.), autograph document (signed); A.E.F., American Expeditionary Forces; cf. B.E.F. s.v. B III. 1; A.E.U., Amalgamated Engineering Union; A.F., a.f., audio frequency; A.F.C., Air Force Cross; A.F.M., Air Force Medal; A.F.S., Auxiliary Fire Service; A.F.V., armoured fighting vehicle; A.G., Adjutant-General; A.G., Attorney-General; A.G.M., annual general meeting; A.G.R., advanced gas-cooled reactor; A.H., Anno Hegiræ (see hegira); A.I., Air Interception; A.I., A.I.D., A.I.H., artificial insemination (by donor, husband); AI, artificial intelligence; A.I.D., Aeronautical Inspection Directorate (in quot. 1918 Department); A.I.D. (pron. eɪd) (U.S.), Agency for International Development, established in 1961 to give economic aid to underdeveloped countries; A.I.F., Australian Imperial Force; AIM (pron. eɪm) (U.S.), American Indian Movement; a.k.a. (colloq., orig. U.S.), also known as; A.K.C., American Kennel Club; A level, Advanced level (of the General Certificate of Education examination); A.L.P., Australian Labour Party; A.L.(S.), autograph letter (signed); ALU (Computing), arithmetic and logic(al) unit; A.M., Albert Medal; A.M., amplitude modulation; cf. F.M. s.v. F III. 3 a; A.M.A., American Medical Association; A.M.D.G. [L. ad maiorem Dei gloriam], to the greater glory of God (esp. as a motto of the Jesuits); A.M.G., Allied Military Government; A.N.C., African National Congress; A.N.(S.), autograph note (signed); A.O.N.B., area of outstanding natural beauty; cf. S.S.S.I. s.v. S I. 4 a; A.P., Associated Press; APB (U.S.), all-points bulletin (see all III); A.P.C. (Austral. and U.S.), aspirin (= acetylsalicylic acid), phenacetin, and caffeine, used as an analgesic or antipyretic; a mixture, tablet, or capsule containing these; A.P.I., American Petroleum Institute (used spec. with reference to a scale for expressing the relative density of oil, developed by the Institute, in which higher values correspond to lower densities); APL [now usu. expanded as ‘a programming language’, but see quot. 1966], a high-level computer programming language developed by IBM in the mid-1960s; APR, annual(ized) percentage rate (of interest on money lent on credit); A.P.T., advanced passenger train; ARC, AIDS-related complex; A.R.P. (see air-raid); ASA (also with pronunc. ˈeɪsə), American Standards Association (used spec. in Photogr. with reference to a standard scale for rating film speed); A.S.A.P., a.s.a.p. (also with pronunc. ˈeɪsæp), as soon as possible; A.S.B., Alternative Service Book; A.S.C., Army Service Corps; ASEAN, Asean (pron. ˈeɪsɪən), Association of South-East Asian Nations; ASH (pron. æʃ), Action on Smoking and Health; ASL, American Sign Language; A.S.M., air-to-surface missile; A.S.M., assistant stage-manager; A/S.R.S., Air-Sea Rescue Service; A.S.T.M.S. (also with pronunc. ˈæstəmz), Association of Scientific, Technical, and Managerial Staffs; A.S.V., air(craft) to surface vessel; A.T.A., Air Transport Auxiliary; A.T.&T. (U.S.), American Telephone and Telegraph Company; A.T.C., Air Traffic Control; A.T.C., Air Training Corps; A.T.C., Automatic Train Control; ATM (Banking, orig. U.S.), automated (orig. automatic) teller machine; A.T.S., animal tub-sized; ATV, all-terrain vehicle; A.T.V., Associated Television; Å.U., A.U., Ångström Unit; A.U. = astronomical unit s.v. astronomical a. 3; AUEW, Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers; AV, alternative vote; A.V., Authorized Version (of the Bible); A.V.H., initials of Hungarian secret police, also A.V.O.; A.V.M., Air Vice-Marshal; A.W.O.L., absent without leave (orig. U.S.); A.W.U., Australian Workers' Union; AZT, azidothymidine. Add 1993: A.O.B., any other business; A.O.C., Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée; AS (also A/S) level; Advanced Supplementary level (of the General Certificate of Education). Add 1997: ABH Brit. Law, actual bodily harm (see *actual a. 7); ADA Biochem. and Med. = adenosine deaminase s.v. *adenosine n.; esp. in ADA deficiency, an inherited deficiency of the enzyme ADA, which can cause severe immune deficiency and other immunological disorders. Draft 2001: A and E n. (also A&E) chiefly Brit. and N.Z. = accident and emergency n. at accident n. Additions. Draft 2005: AAVE n. Linguistics African-American Vernacular English; cf. BEV n. at B n. Additions; ABS n. Motoring anti-lock (occas. anti-locking) braking (or brake) system. Draft 2008: A.C.H. n. R.A.F. (now hist. and rare) = aircraft hand n. at aircraft n. Compounds 2. Draft 2001: ADD n. Psychiatry (orig. U.S.) = attention deficit disorder n. at attention n. Additions; (also in quot. 1979 attentional deficit disorder); ADHD n. Psychiatry (orig. U.S.) = attention deficit hyperactivity disorder n. at attention n. Additions; (also in quot. 1987) attention deficient-hyperactivity disorder; ADSL n. Computing and Telecomm. asymmetric (also asynchronous) digital subscriber line (or loop), a technology for the transmission of digital data over standard copper telephone lines which allows the high-speed transmission of signals from the telephone network to an individual subscriber, but a slower rate of transmission from the subscriber to the network. Draft 2004: aet n. Sport (orig. and chiefly Association Football) after extra time. Draft 2003: AFV n. chiefly U.S. = alternative fuel vehicle n. at alternative adj. and n. Additions; AFV n. = armoured fighting vehicle n. at armoured adj. Additions. Draft 2002: AK n.‹ Russian AK, initialism ‹ avtomat Kalašnikova Kalashnikov's automatic (see kalashnikov n.) an automatic kalashnikov rifle; esp. (more fully AK-47) a model of this rifle, first manufactured in 1947. Draft 2005: ALA phr. (also A.L.A., a.l.a., ala) Brit. (in personal advertisements) all letters answered. Draft 2006: AM n. Brit. Assembly Member; (the official abbreviation in English for) a member of the Welsh Assembly; cf. MWA n. at M n. Initialisms 3. Draft 2001: API n. Computing = application programming interface n. at application n. Compounds 2a; (also) = application program interface n. at application n. Compounds 2a. Draft 2007: ASV n. = American Standard Version n. at American n. and adj. Special uses 3a. Draft 2004: ATF n. U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (Bureau), a law enforcement agency within the U.S. Justice Department responsible (since 1968) for enforcing laws and regulations relating to firearms, alcohol, tobacco, explosives, and arson (made an independent bureau within the Treasury Department in 1972, and moved to the Justice Department in 2003).