aba

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A coarse, often striped, felted fabric from the Middle East, woven from goat or camel hair.
2. (countable, uncountable)A loose-fitting sleeveless garment, made from aba or silk, worn by Arabs.

   “'A pale mauve abba such as you buy in the East.'”

   “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.”

3. (countable, uncountable)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.
4. (countable, uncountable)Such a garment that is specific to women.

   “Holonym: hijab”

5. An altazimuth used for astronomy on either land or water.
6. An electric fish of species Gymnarchus niloticus (frankfish, freshwater rat-tail, African knifefish), found in swamps, lakes and rivers in Africa.
7. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of applied behavior analysis.

   “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.”

8. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of abscisic acid.

   “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).”

name

1. The largest city in Abia State, Nigeria.
2. 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.”

   “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.”

   “Last week, two Tibetan teenagers set themselves on fire in a double self-immolation in Aba prefecture, Tibet rights advocacy groups said. Seventeen-year-old Richen and his childhood friend Sonam Dargye, 18, were among the youngest to have died in the fiery protests.”

3. (Greek)a Thracian naiad nymph
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of American Basketball Association.
5. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Amateur Boxing Association.
6. (abbreviation, alt-of, 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.”

   “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.”

7. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of American Booksellers Association.
8. (abbreviation, alt-of, 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.”