abecedarian, a. and n.
(ˌeɪbɪsiːˈdɛərɪən)
Also 7 ABCDarian; 8 abcedarian.
[f. med.L. abecedāri-us (see abecedary) + -an.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to the alphabet; marked with the alphabet; arranged in alphabetical order, as abecedarian psalms, like the 119th.
| 1665 Glanville Scepsis Scientifica xxiv. §2. 150 The letter which is most distant in the Abecedarian circle from that which the needle turns to. 1668 Bp. Wilkins Real Character 45 The first and more simple ingredients required to the framing of Discourse or Language are stiled Elements Abecedarian. 1751 Chambers Cycl. We meet with Abcedarian psalms, lamentations, prayers, and the like, chiefly among Hebrew writers. 1864 G. Macvicar in Reader 16 July, 78 The earlier chemists, who, under the charm of the moment, adopted an abecedarian method which..can be made to yield nothing more than the most ambiguous syllables. 1881 Athenæum No. 2801. 10/1 Abecedarian requirements have rendered the present volume the least interesting. |
2. Occupied in learning the alphabet, or pertaining to one so occupied.
| 1651 N. Biggs New Disp. §170. 130 Those ABCdarian Nuntii. 1685 Cotton Montaigne I. 606 There is an abecedarian ignorance that precedes knowledge, and a doctoral ignorance that comes after it. 1819 Southey Letters (1856) III. 148 When she heard my abecedarian interpretation of your abominableness. |
B. n. [The adj. used elliptically.]
1. One occupied in learning the alphabet. In U.S. the regular school term.
| 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xxviii. 394 O fond-foolish for an old man to be ever an Abecedarian. 1851 S. Judd Margaret (1871) ii. i. 168 The goal of every breathless whip-fearing abcd-arian's valorous strife. 1880 New Engl. Journal of Educ. 20 May, 325/1 (Time-table) 9 to 9.15 Opening Exercise; 9.15 to 9.25 Abecedarians, &c. &c...Abecedarians should have at least four recitations per day. |
2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet and merest rudiments of instruction.
| 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. (1817) iii. 213 (Thos. Farnabie) His distresses made him stoop so low, as to be an abcdarian, and several were taught their horn-books by him. 1714 Walker Sufferings of Clergy ii. 405 He had a wife and six children, whom he made a shift to maintain, by submitting to be an ABC-darian at Williton in this county. 1803 Hay Wexford Insurrection 65 He therefore commenced abecedarian. 1836 Hor. Smith Tin Trumpet 1 ABCdarian seems to have been an ancient term for a pedagogue. |