abba

noun

1. (Judaism)Father; religious superior; in the Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic churches, a title given to the bishops, and by the bishops to the patriarch; a title given to Jewish scholars in the Talmudic period.

   “The abba of the coenobion went to him and told him about the brother who had slipped up.”

2. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of aba (Middle Eastern garment).

   “The rich turbans and flowing robes of the respectable merchants are finely contrasted with the rude sheepskin covering of the mountaineer, and the dark abba of the wandering Arab.”

   “Conceiving that he had some solid reason for his refusal, which he could not with propriety disclose in presence of Omar Effendi, I did not urge him to accompany me; but laying aside my white burnous, which I had hitherto worn after the fashion of Cairo, put on a black abba of the Capo Verde which was brought me by as black a Hercules, of whom the interpreter remarked that there was only one person in Jerusalem, and that too a fellow-servant, who was piu diavolo che lui, more devil than he.”

3. Father, an honorific title given to God in the New Testament, especially used in prayers.

   “And because yee are sonnes, God hath sent foorth the spirit of his Sonne into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.”

name

1. A popular Swedish music group from the 1970s, one of the best-selling music artists in history.