p.a.

Prepositional phrase

1. In a year.
   • Salt fish for dinner twice every week, or 104 times per annum, is abominable.1876 August 15, “Mr [Charles] Reade and the Glasgow Old Man’s Home”, in North British Daily Mail, number 9,186, Glasgow: Gunn & Cameron, →OCLC, page 2, column 4
2. For a year.
   • Areas of no more than ten acres of crown land may be granted as bee-arms on annual licenses, the rent being one shilling an acre per annum.1918, International Review of Agricultural Economics, volume 9, page 917

Noun

public address system (plural public address systems)

1. An electronic voice-amplification apparatus, usually containing a set of two loudspeakers and a central control unit, used for singing, giving a speech, play-by-play commentary at events, or broadcasting in public areas like in airports or stations.
   • People had to poo in bags, you see. Jan had to get on the public address system and explain to thousands of disbelieving passengers that “number ones” could be done in the shower but “number twos” must be done in the red biohazard bags being distributed, then placed in corridors for collection by...2025 June 24, Lucy Mangan, “Poop Cruise review – a fascinating look at a toilet disaster that still haunts passengers 12 years later”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms:

   PA, PA system, intercom system, tannoy