aba

Noun (1)

aba (countable and uncountable, plural abas)

1. A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.
2. A loose-fitting sleeveless garment, made from aba or silk, worn by Arabs.
   • 'A pale mauve abba such as you buy in the East.'1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 5, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 110
   • Here Nessim would sit night after night in the winter, dressed in his old rust-coloured abba, staring gravely at Betelgeuse, or hovering over books of calculations for all the world like a medieval soothsayer.1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine
3. An outer garment made of the above, very simple in form, worn by the Arabs of the desert. The illustration shows such an aba, made of two breadths of stuff sewed together to make an oblong about four by nine feet.

   Synonyms:

   abaya

4. Such a garment that is specific to women.
   • Holonym: hijab

Noun (2)

US/ˈæ.bə/

aba (plural abas)

1. An altazimuth used for astronomy on either land or water.

Noun (3)

aba (plural abas)

1. An electric fish of species Gymnarchus niloticus (frankfish, freshwater rat-tail, African knifefish), found in swamps, lakes and rivers in Africa.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: ABA

ABA

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of American Basketball Association.
2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Amateur Boxing Association.
3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of American Bar Association.
   • The rare outburst comes as the ABA is under continued attack from conservatives who question its methodology and argue that the group that has rated potential nominees for decades is biased against conservatives.2019 October 30, Ariane de Vogue and Alex Rogers, “‘Not qualified’ rating and accusation from American Bar Association moves Trump nominee to tears”, in CNN
   • Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an internal memo obtained by CNN that department attorneys cannot travel to, or speak at, ABA events in their official capacity. Career employees, however, are still able to maintain their ABA membership.2025 April 9, Devan Cole, Donald Judd, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez, “Trump targets two first-term critics, a law firm and the American Bar Association”, in CNN
4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of American Booksellers Association.
5. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of American Beverage Association.
   • Energy drink manufacturers will not sell or market their energy drink products in K-12 schools, in accordance with the industry’s School Beverage Guidelines and in the ABA statement regarding the Sale of Energy Drinks in Schools.2014 November, “ABA Guidance for the Responsible Labeling and Marketing of Energy Drinks”, in CNN en Español, archived from the original on 11 May 2025, page 1

Noun (4) capitalized: ABA

ABA (uncountable)

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of applied behavior analysis.
   • It is a direct echo of a notorious claim made by the psychologist credited with inventing applied behavior analysis (ABA), Ole Ivar Lovaas: in a 1987 article, he wrote that nearly half the children treated with his version of ABA became, according to their teachers, “indistinguishable from their...2023, Naomi Klein, “Autism and the Anti-Vax Prequel”, in Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN
   • The company has calculated that, in some states, this reduction could impact more than two-fifths of its ABA therapy provider groups in network and up to 19% of its patients in therapy.2024 December 14, Annie Waldman, “UnitedHealth is strategically limiting access to critical treatment for kids with autism”, in CNN
2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of abscisic acid, a plant hormone.
   • Rudnicki and colleagues found ABA to increase with ripening of strawberry fruits (16) and of pears (17) and during the development of apple fruits (18).1972, Davis LA, Addicott FT, “Abscisic Acid: Correlations with Abscission and with Development in the Cotton Fruit”, in Plant Physiology (journal), volume 49, number 4, page 644

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Aba

IPA/ɑˈbɑ/

Aba

1. The largest city in Abia State, Nigeria.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Aba

IPA/ˈɑˈbɑ/

Aba

1. Synonym of Ngawa: the Mandarin Chinese-derived name.
   • The main Tibetan areas in Sichuan are now designated as Aba (Ngawa) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Muli Tibetan Autonomous County.1992, Robert Strauss, “Kham & the Sichuan Routes”, in Tibet: A Travel Survival Kit (Lonely Planet), 2nd edition, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 155, column 1
   • The notice, issued by provincial public security authorities, said foreigners were prohibited from entering the Tibetan populated prefecture of Ganzi and several counties in neighboring Aba prefecture.2011 April 22, Michael Martina, Sally Huang, “China bans foreigners from restive Tibetan areas”, in Ben Blanchard, Ken Wills, Yoko Nishikawa, editors, Reuters, archived from the original on 06 Mar...

   Synonyms:

   Ngawa

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Aba

Aba

1. (Greek) a Thracian naiad nymph