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my private means were much reduced

  • 1 means

    I mi:nz noun singular or plural
    (the instrument(s), method(s) etc by which a thing is, or may be, done or made to happen: By what means can we find out?) middel, måte
    - by means of
    - by no means     II mi:nz noun plural
    (money available or necessary for living etc: She's a person of considerable means.) (penge)midler, penger
    middel
    subst. flt. \/miːnz\/
    1) middel, midler, måte, verktøy (overført)
    2) utvei, mulighet
    • there is\/are no means of learning what has happened
    3) midler, pengemidler, formue, ressurser
    min private formue var\/ble kraftig redusert
    by all means eller by all manner of means for all del, selvsagt, selvfølgelig, naturligvis på alle mulige måter til enhver pris
    by any means på noen måte, på noen som helst måte
    • can it be done by any means?
    • is he by any means educated?
    by fair means or foul med det gode eller det onde
    by means of ved hjelp av, gjennom
    by means of doing something gjennom å gjøre noe, ved å gjøre noe
    by no means ikke i det hele tatt
    disse varene er på ingen måte tilfredsstillende for all del, slett ikke, overhodet ikke, langt ifra
    • am I in the way? By no means!
    by some means or other på en eller annen måte
    by someone's means med noens hjelp, takket være noen
    by this means på denne måten
    find (the) means to do something finne en mulighet for å gjøre noe, lykkes med å gjøre noe
    foul means ulovlige midler, uhederlig
    independent means privatformue, egne penger
    live beyond one's means leve over evne
    live within one's means sette tæring etter næring
    the means of grace nådemidlene
    means of living\/subsistence eksistensmiddel, eksistensmidler
    means of production produksjonsmiddel
    means of support forsørgelsesmuligheter, eksistensgrunnlag
    a means to an end middel for å nå målet
    a person of means en formuende person, en person med formue
    use underhand means\/methods gå bakveier, bruke uærlige midler
    ways and means midler og veier utvei, løsning
    without means uten midler, ubemidlet

    English-Norwegian dictionary > means

  • 2 Historical Portugal

       Before Romans described western Iberia or Hispania as "Lusitania," ancient Iberians inhabited the land. Phoenician and Greek trading settlements grew up in the Tagus estuary area and nearby coasts. Beginning around 202 BCE, Romans invaded what is today southern Portugal. With Rome's defeat of Carthage, Romans proceeded to conquer and rule the western region north of the Tagus, which they named Roman "Lusitania." In the fourth century CE, as Rome's rule weakened, the area experienced yet another invasion—Germanic tribes, principally the Suevi, who eventually were Christianized. During the sixth century CE, the Suevi kingdom was superseded by yet another Germanic tribe—the Christian Visigoths.
       A major turning point in Portugal's history came in 711, as Muslim armies from North Africa, consisting of both Arab and Berber elements, invaded the Iberian Peninsula from across the Straits of Gibraltar. They entered what is now Portugal in 714, and proceeded to conquer most of the country except for the far north. For the next half a millennium, Islam and Muslim presence in Portugal left a significant mark upon the politics, government, language, and culture of the country.
       Islam, Reconquest, and Portugal Created, 714-1140
       The long frontier struggle between Muslim invaders and Christian communities in the north of the Iberian peninsula was called the Reconquista (Reconquest). It was during this struggle that the first dynasty of Portuguese kings (Burgundian) emerged and the independent monarchy of Portugal was established. Christian forces moved south from what is now the extreme north of Portugal and gradually defeated Muslim forces, besieging and capturing towns under Muslim sway. In the ninth century, as Christian forces slowly made their way southward, Christian elements were dominant only in the area between Minho province and the Douro River; this region became known as "territorium Portu-calense."
       In the 11th century, the advance of the Reconquest quickened as local Christian armies were reinforced by crusading knights from what is now France and England. Christian forces took Montemor (1034), at the Mondego River; Lamego (1058); Viseu (1058); and Coimbra (1064). In 1095, the king of Castile and Léon granted the country of "Portu-cale," what became northern Portugal, to a Burgundian count who had emigrated from France. This was the foundation of Portugal. In 1139, a descendant of this count, Afonso Henriques, proclaimed himself "King of Portugal." He was Portugal's first monarch, the "Founder," and the first of the Burgundian dynasty, which ruled until 1385.
       The emergence of Portugal in the 12th century as a separate monarchy in Iberia occurred before the Christian Reconquest of the peninsula. In the 1140s, the pope in Rome recognized Afonso Henriques as king of Portugal. In 1147, after a long, bloody siege, Muslim-occupied Lisbon fell to Afonso Henriques's army. Lisbon was the greatest prize of the 500-year war. Assisting this effort were English crusaders on their way to the Holy Land; the first bishop of Lisbon was an Englishman. When the Portuguese captured Faro and Silves in the Algarve province in 1248-50, the Reconquest of the extreme western portion of the Iberian peninsula was complete—significantly, more than two centuries before the Spanish crown completed the Reconquest of the eastern portion by capturing Granada in 1492.
       Consolidation and Independence of Burgundian Portugal, 1140-1385
       Two main themes of Portugal's early existence as a monarchy are the consolidation of control over the realm and the defeat of a Castil-ian threat from the east to its independence. At the end of this period came the birth of a new royal dynasty (Aviz), which prepared to carry the Christian Reconquest beyond continental Portugal across the straits of Gibraltar to North Africa. There was a variety of motives behind these developments. Portugal's independent existence was imperiled by threats from neighboring Iberian kingdoms to the north and east. Politics were dominated not only by efforts against the Muslims in
       Portugal (until 1250) and in nearby southern Spain (until 1492), but also by internecine warfare among the kingdoms of Castile, Léon, Aragon, and Portugal. A final comeback of Muslim forces was defeated at the battle of Salado (1340) by allied Castilian and Portuguese forces. In the emerging Kingdom of Portugal, the monarch gradually gained power over and neutralized the nobility and the Church.
       The historic and commonplace Portuguese saying "From Spain, neither a good wind nor a good marriage" was literally played out in diplomacy and war in the late 14th-century struggles for mastery in the peninsula. Larger, more populous Castile was pitted against smaller Portugal. Castile's Juan I intended to force a union between Castile and Portugal during this era of confusion and conflict. In late 1383, Portugal's King Fernando, the last king of the Burgundian dynasty, suddenly died prematurely at age 38, and the Master of Aviz, Portugal's most powerful nobleman, took up the cause of independence and resistance against Castile's invasion. The Master of Aviz, who became King João I of Portugal, was able to obtain foreign assistance. With the aid of English archers, Joao's armies defeated the Castilians in the crucial battle of Aljubarrota, on 14 August 1385, a victory that assured the independence of the Portuguese monarchy from its Castilian nemesis for several centuries.
       Aviz Dynasty and Portugal's First Overseas Empire, 1385-1580
       The results of the victory at Aljubarrota, much celebrated in Portugal's art and monuments, and the rise of the Aviz dynasty also helped to establish a new merchant class in Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal's second city. This group supported King João I's program of carrying the Reconquest to North Africa, since it was interested in expanding Portugal's foreign commerce and tapping into Muslim trade routes and resources in Africa. With the Reconquest against the Muslims completed in Portugal and the threat from Castile thwarted for the moment, the Aviz dynasty launched an era of overseas conquest, exploration, and trade. These efforts dominated Portugal's 15th and 16th centuries.
       The overseas empire and age of Discoveries began with Portugal's bold conquest in 1415 of the Moroccan city of Ceuta. One royal member of the 1415 expedition was young, 21-year-old Prince Henry, later known in history as "Prince Henry the Navigator." His part in the capture of Ceuta won Henry his knighthood and began Portugal's "Marvelous Century," during which the small kingdom was counted as a European and world power of consequence. Henry was the son of King João I and his English queen, Philippa of Lancaster, but he did not inherit the throne. Instead, he spent most of his life and his fortune, and that of the wealthy military Order of Christ, on various imperial ventures and on voyages of exploration down the African coast and into the Atlantic. While mythology has surrounded Henry's controversial role in the Discoveries, and this role has been exaggerated, there is no doubt that he played a vital part in the initiation of Portugal's first overseas empire and in encouraging exploration. He was naturally curious, had a sense of mission for Portugal, and was a strong leader. He also had wealth to expend; at least a third of the African voyages of the time were under his sponsorship. If Prince Henry himself knew little science, significant scientific advances in navigation were made in his day.
       What were Portugal's motives for this new imperial effort? The well-worn historical cliche of "God, Glory, and Gold" can only partly explain the motivation of a small kingdom with few natural resources and barely 1 million people, which was greatly outnumbered by the other powers it confronted. Among Portuguese objectives were the desire to exploit known North African trade routes and resources (gold, wheat, leather, weaponry, and other goods that were scarce in Iberia); the need to outflank the Muslim world in the Mediterranean by sailing around Africa, attacking Muslims en route; and the wish to ally with Christian kingdoms beyond Africa. This enterprise also involved a strategy of breaking the Venetian spice monopoly by trading directly with the East by means of discovering and exploiting a sea route around Africa to Asia. Besides the commercial motives, Portugal nurtured a strong crusading sense of Christian mission, and various classes in the kingdom saw an opportunity for fame and gain.
       By the time of Prince Henry's death in 1460, Portugal had gained control of the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeiras, begun to colonize the Cape Verde Islands, failed to conquer the Canary Islands from Castile, captured various cities on Morocco's coast, and explored as far as Senegal, West Africa, down the African coast. By 1488, Bar-tolomeu Dias had rounded the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and thereby discovered the way to the Indian Ocean.
       Portugal's largely coastal African empire and later its fragile Asian empire brought unexpected wealth but were purchased at a high price. Costs included wars of conquest and defense against rival powers, manning the far-flung navel and trade fleets and scattered castle-fortresses, and staffing its small but fierce armies, all of which entailed a loss of skills and population to maintain a scattered empire. Always short of capital, the monarchy became indebted to bankers. There were many defeats beginning in the 16th century at the hands of the larger imperial European monarchies (Spain, France, England, and Holland) and many attacks on Portugal and its strung-out empire. Typically, there was also the conflict that arose when a tenuously held world empire that rarely if ever paid its way demanded finance and manpower Portugal itself lacked.
       The first 80 years of the glorious imperial era, the golden age of Portugal's imperial power and world influence, was an African phase. During 1415-88, Portuguese navigators and explorers in small ships, some of them caravelas (caravels), explored the treacherous, disease-ridden coasts of Africa from Morocco to South Africa beyond the Cape of Good Hope. By the 1470s, the Portuguese had reached the Gulf of Guinea and, in the early 1480s, what is now Angola. Bartolomeu Dias's extraordinary voyage of 1487-88 to South Africa's coast and the edge of the Indian Ocean convinced Portugal that the best route to Asia's spices and Christians lay south, around the tip of southern Africa. Between 1488 and 1495, there was a hiatus caused in part by domestic conflict in Portugal, discussion of resources available for further conquests beyond Africa in Asia, and serious questions as to Portugal's capacity to reach beyond Africa. In 1495, King Manuel and his council decided to strike for Asia, whatever the consequences. In 1497-99, Vasco da Gama, under royal orders, made the epic two-year voyage that discovered the sea route to western India (Asia), outflanked Islam and Venice, and began Portugal's Asian empire. Within 50 years, Portugal had discovered and begun the exploitation of its largest colony, Brazil, and set up forts and trading posts from the Middle East (Aden and Ormuz), India (Calicut, Goa, etc.), Malacca, and Indonesia to Macau in China.
       By the 1550s, parts of its largely coastal, maritime trading post empire from Morocco to the Moluccas were under siege from various hostile forces, including Muslims, Christians, and Hindi. Although Moroccan forces expelled the Portuguese from the major coastal cities by 1550, the rival European monarchies of Castile (Spain), England, France, and later Holland began to seize portions of her undermanned, outgunned maritime empire.
       In 1580, Phillip II of Spain, whose mother was a Portuguese princess and who had a strong claim to the Portuguese throne, invaded Portugal, claimed the throne, and assumed control over the realm and, by extension, its African, Asian, and American empires. Phillip II filled the power vacuum that appeared in Portugal following the loss of most of Portugal's army and its young, headstrong King Sebastião in a disastrous war in Morocco. Sebastiao's death in battle (1578) and the lack of a natural heir to succeed him, as well as the weak leadership of the cardinal who briefly assumed control in Lisbon, led to a crisis that Spain's strong monarch exploited. As a result, Portugal lost its independence to Spain for a period of 60 years.
       Portugal under Spanish Rule, 1580-1640
       Despite the disastrous nature of Portugal's experience under Spanish rule, "The Babylonian Captivity" gave birth to modern Portuguese nationalism, its second overseas empire, and its modern alliance system with England. Although Spain allowed Portugal's weakened empire some autonomy, Spanish rule in Portugal became increasingly burdensome and unacceptable. Spain's ambitious imperial efforts in Europe and overseas had an impact on the Portuguese as Spain made greater and greater demands on its smaller neighbor for manpower and money. Portugal's culture underwent a controversial Castilianization, while its empire became hostage to Spain's fortunes. New rival powers England, France, and Holland attacked and took parts of Spain's empire and at the same time attacked Portugal's empire, as well as the mother country.
       Portugal's empire bore the consequences of being attacked by Spain's bitter enemies in what was a form of world war. Portuguese losses were heavy. By 1640, Portugal had lost most of its Moroccan cities as well as Ceylon, the Moluccas, and sections of India. With this, Portugal's Asian empire was gravely weakened. Only Goa, Damão, Diu, Bombay, Timor, and Macau remained and, in Brazil, Dutch forces occupied the northeast.
       On 1 December 1640, long commemorated as a national holiday, Portuguese rebels led by the duke of Braganza overthrew Spanish domination and took advantage of Spanish weakness following a more serious rebellion in Catalonia. Portugal regained independence from Spain, but at a price: dependence on foreign assistance to maintain its independence in the form of the renewal of the alliance with England.
       Restoration and Second Empire, 1640-1822
       Foreign affairs and empire dominated the restoration era and aftermath, and Portugal again briefly enjoyed greater European power and prestige. The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance was renewed and strengthened in treaties of 1642, 1654, and 1661, and Portugal's independence from Spain was underwritten by English pledges and armed assistance. In a Luso-Spanish treaty of 1668, Spain recognized Portugal's independence. Portugal's alliance with England was a marriage of convenience and necessity between two monarchies with important religious, cultural, and social differences. In return for legal, diplomatic, and trade privileges, as well as the use during war and peace of Portugal's great Lisbon harbor and colonial ports for England's navy, England pledged to protect Portugal and its scattered empire from any attack. The previously cited 17th-century alliance treaties were renewed later in the Treaty of Windsor, signed in London in 1899. On at least 10 different occasions after 1640, and during the next two centuries, England was central in helping prevent or repel foreign invasions of its ally, Portugal.
       Portugal's second empire (1640-1822) was largely Brazil-oriented. Portuguese colonization, exploitation of wealth, and emigration focused on Portuguese America, and imperial revenues came chiefly from Brazil. Between 1670 and 1740, Portugal's royalty and nobility grew wealthier on funds derived from Brazilian gold, diamonds, sugar, tobacco, and other crops, an enterprise supported by the Atlantic slave trade and the supply of African slave labor from West Africa and Angola. Visitors today can see where much of that wealth was invested: Portugal's rich legacy of monumental architecture. Meanwhile, the African slave trade took a toll in Angola and West Africa.
       In continental Portugal, absolutist monarchy dominated politics and government, and there was a struggle for position and power between the monarchy and other institutions, such as the Church and nobility. King José I's chief minister, usually known in history as the marquis of Pombal (ruled 1750-77), sharply suppressed the nobility and the
       Church (including the Inquisition, now a weak institution) and expelled the Jesuits. Pombal also made an effort to reduce economic dependence on England, Portugal's oldest ally. But his successes did not last much beyond his disputed time in office.
       Beginning in the late 18th century, the European-wide impact of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon placed Portugal in a vulnerable position. With the monarchy ineffectively led by an insane queen (Maria I) and her indecisive regent son (João VI), Portugal again became the focus of foreign ambition and aggression. With England unable to provide decisive assistance in time, France—with Spain's consent—invaded Portugal in 1807. As Napoleon's army under General Junot entered Lisbon meeting no resistance, Portugal's royal family fled on a British fleet to Brazil, where it remained in exile until 1821. In the meantime, Portugal's overseas empire was again under threat. There was a power vacuum as the monarch was absent, foreign armies were present, and new political notions of liberalism and constitutional monarchy were exciting various groups of citizens.
       Again England came to the rescue, this time in the form of the armies of the duke of Wellington. Three successive French invasions of Portugal were defeated and expelled, and Wellington succeeded in carrying the war against Napoleon across the Portuguese frontier into Spain. The presence of the English army, the new French-born liberal ideas, and the political vacuum combined to create revolutionary conditions. The French invasions and the peninsular wars, where Portuguese armed forces played a key role, marked the beginning of a new era in politics.
       Liberalism and Constitutional Monarchy, 1822-1910
       During 1807-22, foreign invasions, war, and civil strife over conflicting political ideas gravely damaged Portugal's commerce, economy, and novice industry. The next terrible blow was the loss of Brazil in 1822, the jewel in the imperial crown. Portugal's very independence seemed to be at risk. In vain, Portugal sought to resist Brazilian independence by force, but in 1825 it formally acknowledged Brazilian independence by treaty.
       Portugal's slow recovery from the destructive French invasions and the "war of independence" was complicated by civil strife over the form of constitutional monarchy that best suited Portugal. After struggles over these issues between 1820 and 1834, Portugal settled somewhat uncertainly into a moderate constitutional monarchy whose constitution (Charter of 1826) lent it strong political powers to exert a moderating influence between the executive and legislative branches of the government. It also featured a new upper middle class based on land ownership and commerce; a Catholic Church that, although still important, lived with reduced privileges and property; a largely African (third) empire to which Lisbon and Oporto devoted increasing spiritual and material resources, starting with the liberal imperial plans of 1836 and 1851, and continuing with the work of institutions like the Lisbon Society of Geography (established 1875); and a mass of rural peasants whose bonds to the land weakened after 1850 and who began to immigrate in increasing numbers to Brazil and North America.
       Chronic military intervention in national politics began in 19th-century Portugal. Such intervention, usually commencing with coups or pronunciamentos (military revolts), was a shortcut to the spoils of political office and could reflect popular discontent as well as the power of personalities. An early example of this was the 1817 golpe (coup) attempt of General Gomes Freire against British military rule in Portugal before the return of King João VI from Brazil. Except for a more stable period from 1851 to 1880, military intervention in politics, or the threat thereof, became a feature of the constitutional monarchy's political life, and it continued into the First Republic and the subsequent Estado Novo.
       Beginning with the Regeneration period (1851-80), Portugal experienced greater political stability and economic progress. Military intervention in politics virtually ceased; industrialization and construction of railroads, roads, and bridges proceeded; two political parties (Regenerators and Historicals) worked out a system of rotation in power; and leading intellectuals sparked a cultural revival in several fields. In 19th-century literature, there was a new golden age led by such figures as Alexandre Herculano (historian), Eça de Queirós (novelist), Almeida Garrett (playwright and essayist), Antero de Quental (poet), and Joaquim Oliveira Martins (historian and social scientist). In its third overseas empire, Portugal attempted to replace the slave trade and slavery with legitimate economic activities; to reform the administration; and to expand Portuguese holdings beyond coastal footholds deep into the African hinterlands in West, West Central, and East Africa. After 1841, to some extent, and especially after 1870, colonial affairs, combined with intense nationalism, pressures for economic profit in Africa, sentiment for national revival, and the drift of European affairs would make or break Lisbon governments.
       Beginning with the political crisis that arose out of the "English Ultimatum" affair of January 1890, the monarchy became discredtted and identified with the poorly functioning government, political parties splintered, and republicanism found more supporters. Portugal participated in the "Scramble for Africa," expanding its African holdings, but failed to annex territory connecting Angola and Mozambique. A growing foreign debt and state bankruptcy as of the early 1890s damaged the constitutional monarchy's reputation, despite the efforts of King Carlos in diplomacy, the renewal of the alliance in the Windsor Treaty of 1899, and the successful if bloody colonial wars in the empire (1880-97). Republicanism proclaimed that Portugal's weak economy and poor society were due to two historic institutions: the monarchy and the Catholic Church. A republic, its stalwarts claimed, would bring greater individual liberty; efficient, if more decentralized government; and a stronger colonial program while stripping the Church of its role in both society and education.
       As the monarchy lost support and republicans became more aggressive, violence increased in politics. King Carlos I and his heir Luís were murdered in Lisbon by anarchist-republicans on 1 February 1908. Following a military and civil insurrection and fighting between monarchist and republican forces, on 5 October 1910, King Manuel II fled Portugal and a republic was proclaimed.
       First Parliamentary Republic, 1910-26
       Portugal's first attempt at republican government was the most unstable, turbulent parliamentary republic in the history of 20th-century Western Europe. During a little under 16 years of the republic, there were 45 governments, a number of legislatures that did not complete normal terms, military coups, and only one president who completed his four-year term in office. Portuguese society was poorly prepared for this political experiment. Among the deadly legacies of the monarchy were a huge public debt; a largely rural, apolitical, and illiterate peasant population; conflict over the causes of the country's misfortunes; and lack of experience with a pluralist, democratic system.
       The republic had some talented leadership but lacked popular, institutional, and economic support. The 1911 republican constitution established only a limited democracy, as only a small portion of the adult male citizenry was eligible to vote. In a country where the majority was Catholic, the republic passed harshly anticlerical laws, and its institutions and supporters persecuted both the Church and its adherents. During its brief disjointed life, the First Republic drafted important reform plans in economic, social, and educational affairs; actively promoted development in the empire; and pursued a liberal, generous foreign policy. Following British requests for Portugal's assistance in World War I, Portugal entered the war on the Allied side in March 1916 and sent armies to Flanders and Portuguese Africa. Portugal's intervention in that conflict, however, was too costly in many respects, and the ultimate failure of the republic in part may be ascribed to Portugal's World War I activities.
       Unfortunately for the republic, its time coincided with new threats to Portugal's African possessions: World War I, social and political demands from various classes that could not be reconciled, excessive military intervention in politics, and, in particular, the worst economic and financial crisis Portugal had experienced since the 16th and 17th centuries. After the original Portuguese Republican Party (PRP, also known as the "Democrats") splintered into three warring groups in 1912, no true multiparty system emerged. The Democrats, except for only one or two elections, held an iron monopoly of electoral power, and political corruption became a major issue. As extreme right-wing dictatorships elsewhere in Europe began to take power in Italy (1922), neighboring Spain (1923), and Greece (1925), what scant popular support remained for the republic collapsed. Backed by a right-wing coalition of landowners from Alentejo, clergy, Coimbra University faculty and students, Catholic organizations, and big business, career military officers led by General Gomes da Costa executed a coup on 28 May 1926, turned out the last republican government, and established a military government.
       The Estado Novo (New State), 1926-74
       During the military phase (1926-32) of the Estado Novo, professional military officers, largely from the army, governed and administered Portugal and held key cabinet posts, but soon discovered that the military possessed no magic formula that could readily solve the problems inherited from the First Republic. Especially during the years 1926-31, the military dictatorship, even with its political repression of republican activities and institutions (military censorship of the press, political police action, and closure of the republic's rowdy parliament), was characterized by similar weaknesses: personalism and factionalism; military coups and political instability, including civil strife and loss of life; state debt and bankruptcy; and a weak economy. "Barracks parliamentarism" was not an acceptable alternative even to the "Nightmare Republic."
       Led by General Óscar Carmona, who had replaced and sent into exile General Gomes da Costa, the military dictatorship turned to a civilian expert in finance and economics to break the budget impasse and bring coherence to the disorganized system. Appointed minister of finance on 27 April 1928, the Coimbra University Law School professor of economics Antônio de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970) first reformed finance, helped balance the budget, and then turned to other concerns as he garnered extraordinary governing powers. In 1930, he was appointed interim head of another key ministry (Colonies) and within a few years had become, in effect, a civilian dictator who, with the military hierarchy's support, provided the government with coherence, a program, and a set of policies.
       For nearly 40 years after he was appointed the first civilian prime minister in 1932, Salazar's personality dominated the government. Unlike extreme right-wing dictators elsewhere in Europe, Salazar was directly appointed by the army but was never endorsed by a popular political party, street militia, or voter base. The scholarly, reclusive former Coimbra University professor built up what became known after 1932 as the Estado Novo ("New State"), which at the time of its overthrow by another military coup in 1974, was the longest surviving authoritarian regime in Western Europe. The system of Salazar and the largely academic and technocratic ruling group he gathered in his cabinets was based on the central bureaucracy of the state, which was supported by the president of the republic—always a senior career military officer, General Óscar Carmona (1928-51), General Craveiro Lopes (1951-58), and Admiral Américo Tómaz (1958-74)—and the complicity of various institutions. These included a rubber-stamp legislature called the National Assembly (1935-74) and a political police known under various names: PVDE (1932-45), PIDE (1945-69),
       and DGS (1969-74). Other defenders of the Estado Novo security were paramilitary organizations such as the National Republican Guard (GNR); the Portuguese Legion (PL); and the Portuguese Youth [Movement]. In addition to censorship of the media, theater, and books, there was political repression and a deliberate policy of depoliticization. All political parties except for the approved movement of regime loyalists, the União Nacional or (National Union), were banned.
       The most vigorous and more popular period of the New State was 1932-44, when the basic structures were established. Never monolithic or entirely the work of one person (Salazar), the New State was constructed with the assistance of several dozen top associates who were mainly academics from law schools, some technocrats with specialized skills, and a handful of trusted career military officers. The 1933 Constitution declared Portugal to be a "unitary, corporative Republic," and pressures to restore the monarchy were resisted. Although some of the regime's followers were fascists and pseudofascists, many more were conservative Catholics, integralists, nationalists, and monarchists of different varieties, and even some reactionary republicans. If the New State was authoritarian, it was not totalitarian and, unlike fascism in Benito Mussolini's Italy or Adolf Hitler's Germany, it usually employed the minimum of violence necessary to defeat what remained a largely fractious, incoherent opposition.
       With the tumultuous Second Republic and the subsequent civil war in nearby Spain, the regime felt threatened and reinforced its defenses. During what Salazar rightly perceived as a time of foreign policy crisis for Portugal (1936-45), he assumed control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From there, he pursued four basic foreign policy objectives: supporting the Nationalist rebels of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and concluding defense treaties with a triumphant Franco; ensuring that General Franco in an exhausted Spain did not enter World War II on the Axis side; maintaining Portuguese neutrality in World War II with a post-1942 tilt toward the Allies, including granting Britain and the United States use of bases in the Azores Islands; and preserving and protecting Portugal's Atlantic Islands and its extensive, if poor, overseas empire in Africa and Asia.
       During the middle years of the New State (1944-58), many key Salazar associates in government either died or resigned, and there was greater social unrest in the form of unprecedented strikes and clandestine Communist activities, intensified opposition, and new threatening international pressures on Portugal's overseas empire. During the earlier phase of the Cold War (1947-60), Portugal became a steadfast, if weak, member of the US-dominated North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance and, in 1955, with American support, Portugal joined the United Nations (UN). Colonial affairs remained a central concern of the regime. As of 1939, Portugal was the third largest colonial power in the world and possessed territories in tropical Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe Islands) and the remnants of its 16th-century empire in Asia (Goa, Damão, Diu, East Timor, and Macau). Beginning in the early 1950s, following the independence of India in 1947, Portugal resisted Indian pressures to decolonize Portuguese India and used police forces to discourage internal opposition in its Asian and African colonies.
       The later years of the New State (1958-68) witnessed the aging of the increasingly isolated but feared Salazar and new threats both at home and overseas. Although the regime easily overcame the brief oppositionist threat from rival presidential candidate General Humberto Delgado in the spring of 1958, new developments in the African and Asian empires imperiled the authoritarian system. In February 1961, oppositionists hijacked the Portuguese ocean liner Santa Maria and, in following weeks, African insurgents in northern Angola, although they failed to expel the Portuguese, gained worldwide media attention, discredited the New State, and began the 13-year colonial war. After thwarting a dissident military coup against his continued leadership, Salazar and his ruling group mobilized military repression in Angola and attempted to develop the African colonies at a faster pace in order to ensure Portuguese control. Meanwhile, the other European colonial powers (Britain, France, Belgium, and Spain) rapidly granted political independence to their African territories.
       At the time of Salazar's removal from power in September 1968, following a stroke, Portugal's efforts to maintain control over its colonies appeared to be successful. President Americo Tomás appointed Dr. Marcello Caetano as Salazar's successor as prime minister. While maintaining the New State's basic structures, and continuing the regime's essential colonial policy, Caetano attempted wider reforms in colonial administration and some devolution of power from Lisbon, as well as more freedom of expression in Lisbon. Still, a great deal of the budget was devoted to supporting the wars against the insurgencies in Africa. Meanwhile in Asia, Portuguese India had fallen when the Indian army invaded in December 1961. The loss of Goa was a psychological blow to the leadership of the New State, and of the Asian empire only East Timor and Macau remained.
       The Caetano years (1968-74) were but a hiatus between the waning Salazar era and a new regime. There was greater political freedom and rapid economic growth (5-6 percent annually to late 1973), but Caetano's government was unable to reform the old system thoroughly and refused to consider new methods either at home or in the empire. In the end, regime change came from junior officers of the professional military who organized the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) against the Caetano government. It was this group of several hundred officers, mainly in the army and navy, which engineered a largely bloodless coup in Lisbon on 25 April 1974. Their unexpected action brought down the 48-year-old New State and made possible the eventual establishment and consolidation of democratic governance in Portugal, as well as a reorientation of the country away from the Atlantic toward Europe.
       Revolution of Carnations, 1974-76
       Following successful military operations of the Armed Forces Movement against the Caetano government, Portugal experienced what became known as the "Revolution of Carnations." It so happened that during the rainy week of the military golpe, Lisbon flower shops were featuring carnations, and the revolutionaries and their supporters adopted the red carnation as the common symbol of the event, as well as of the new freedom from dictatorship. The MFA, whose leaders at first were mostly little-known majors and captains, proclaimed a three-fold program of change for the new Portugal: democracy; decolonization of the overseas empire, after ending the colonial wars; and developing a backward economy in the spirit of opportunity and equality. During the first 24 months after the coup, there was civil strife, some anarchy, and a power struggle. With the passing of the Estado Novo, public euphoria burst forth as the new provisional military government proclaimed the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly, and abolished censorship, the political police, the Portuguese Legion, Portuguese Youth, and other New State organizations, including the National Union. Scores of political parties were born and joined the senior political party, the Portuguese Community Party (PCP), and the Socialist Party (PS), founded shortly before the coup.
       Portugal's Revolution of Carnations went through several phases. There was an attempt to take control by radical leftists, including the PCP and its allies. This was thwarted by moderate officers in the army, as well as by the efforts of two political parties: the PS and the Social Democrats (PPD, later PSD). The first phase was from April to September 1974. Provisional president General Antonio Spínola, whose 1974 book Portugal and the Future had helped prepare public opinion for the coup, met irresistible leftist pressures. After Spinola's efforts to avoid rapid decolonization of the African empire failed, he resigned in September 1974. During the second phase, from September 1974 to March 1975, radical military officers gained control, but a coup attempt by General Spínola and his supporters in Lisbon in March 1975 failed and Spínola fled to Spain.
       In the third phase of the Revolution, March-November 1975, a strong leftist reaction followed. Farm workers occupied and "nationalized" 1.1 million hectares of farmland in the Alentejo province, and radical military officers in the provisional government ordered the nationalization of Portuguese banks (foreign banks were exempted), utilities, and major industries, or about 60 percent of the economic system. There were power struggles among various political parties — a total of 50 emerged—and in the streets there was civil strife among labor, military, and law enforcement groups. A constituent assembly, elected on 25 April 1975, in Portugal's first free elections since 1926, drafted a democratic constitution. The Council of the Revolution (CR), briefly a revolutionary military watchdog committee, was entrenched as part of the government under the constitution, until a later revision. During the chaotic year of 1975, about 30 persons were killed in political frays while unstable provisional governments came and went. On 25 November 1975, moderate military forces led by Colonel Ramalho Eanes, who later was twice elected president of the republic (1976 and 1981), defeated radical, leftist military groups' revolutionary conspiracies.
       In the meantime, Portugal's scattered overseas empire experienced a precipitous and unprepared decolonization. One by one, the former colonies were granted and accepted independence—Guinea-Bissau (September 1974), Cape Verde Islands (July 1975), and Mozambique (July 1975). Portugal offered to turn over Macau to the People's Republic of China, but the offer was refused then and later negotiations led to the establishment of a formal decolonization or hand-over date of 1999. But in two former colonies, the process of decolonization had tragic results.
       In Angola, decolonization negotiations were greatly complicated by the fact that there were three rival nationalist movements in a struggle for power. The January 1975 Alvor Agreement signed by Portugal and these three parties was not effectively implemented. A bloody civil war broke out in Angola in the spring of 1975 and, when Portuguese armed forces withdrew and declared that Angola was independent on 11 November 1975, the bloodshed only increased. Meanwhile, most of the white Portuguese settlers from Angola and Mozambique fled during the course of 1975. Together with African refugees, more than 600,000 of these retornados ("returned ones") went by ship and air to Portugal and thousands more to Namibia, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
       The second major decolonization disaster was in Portugal's colony of East Timor in the Indonesian archipelago. Portugal's capacity to supervise and control a peaceful transition to independence in this isolated, neglected colony was limited by the strength of giant Indonesia, distance from Lisbon, and Portugal's revolutionary disorder and inability to defend Timor. In early December 1975, before Portugal granted formal independence and as one party, FRETILIN, unilaterally declared East Timor's independence, Indonesia's armed forces invaded, conquered, and annexed East Timor. Indonesian occupation encountered East Timorese resistance, and a heavy loss of life followed. The East Timor question remained a contentious international issue in the UN, as well as in Lisbon and Jakarta, for more than 20 years following Indonesia's invasion and annexation of the former colony of Portugal. Major changes occurred, beginning in 1998, after Indonesia underwent a political revolution and allowed a referendum in East Timor to decide that territory's political future in August 1999. Most East Timorese chose independence, but Indonesian forces resisted that verdict until
       UN intervention in September 1999. Following UN rule for several years, East Timor attained full independence on 20 May 2002.
       Consolidation of Democracy, 1976-2000
       After several free elections and record voter turnouts between 25 April 1975 and June 1976, civil war was averted and Portugal's second democratic republic began to stabilize. The MFA was dissolved, the military were returned to the barracks, and increasingly elected civilians took over the government of the country. The 1976 Constitution was revised several times beginning in 1982 and 1989, in order to reempha-size the principle of free enterprise in the economy while much of the large, nationalized sector was privatized. In June 1976, General Ram-alho Eanes was elected the first constitutional president of the republic (five-year term), and he appointed socialist leader Dr. Mário Soares as prime minister of the first constitutional government.
       From 1976 to 1985, Portugal's new system featured a weak economy and finances, labor unrest, and administrative and political instability. The difficult consolidation of democratic governance was eased in part by the strong currency and gold reserves inherited from the Estado Novo, but Lisbon seemed unable to cope with high unemployment, new debt, the complex impact of the refugees from Africa, world recession, and the agitation of political parties. Four major parties emerged from the maelstrom of 1974-75, except for the Communist Party, all newly founded. They were, from left to right, the Communists (PCP); the Socialists (PS), who managed to dominate governments and the legislature but not win a majority in the Assembly of the Republic; the Social Democrats (PSD); and the Christian Democrats (CDS). During this period, the annual growth rate was low (l-2 percent), and the nationalized sector of the economy stagnated.
       Enhanced economic growth, greater political stability, and more effective central government as of 1985, and especially 1987, were due to several developments. In 1977, Portugal applied for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC), now the European Union (EU) since 1993. In January 1986, with Spain, Portugal was granted membership, and economic and financial progress in the intervening years has been significantly influenced by the comparatively large investment, loans, technology, advice, and other assistance from the EEC. Low unemployment, high annual growth rates (5 percent), and moderate inflation have also been induced by the new political and administrative stability in Lisbon. Led by Prime Minister Cavaco Silva, an economist who was trained abroad, the PSD's strong organization, management, and electoral support since 1985 have assisted in encouraging economic recovery and development. In 1985, the PSD turned the PS out of office and won the general election, although they did not have an absolute majority of assembly seats. In 1986, Mário Soares was elected president of the republic, the first civilian to hold that office since the First Republic. In the elections of 1987 and 1991, however, the PSD was returned to power with clear majorities of over 50 percent of the vote.
       Although the PSD received 50.4 percent of the vote in the 1991 parliamentary elections and held a 42-seat majority in the Assembly of the Republic, the party began to lose public support following media revelations regarding corruption and complaints about Prime Minister Cavaco Silva's perceived arrogant leadership style. President Mário Soares voiced criticism of the PSD's seemingly untouchable majority and described a "tyranny of the majority." Economic growth slowed down. In the parliamentary elections of 1995 and the presidential election of 1996, the PSD's dominance ended for the time being. Prime Minister Antônio Guterres came to office when the PS won the October 1995 elections, and in the subsequent presidential contest, in January 1996, socialist Jorge Sampaio, the former mayor of Lisbon, was elected president of the republic, thus defeating Cavaco Silva's bid. Young and popular, Guterres moved the PS toward the center of the political spectrum. Under Guterres, the PS won the October 1999 parliamentary elections. The PS defeated the PSD but did not manage to win a clear, working majority of seats, and this made the PS dependent upon alliances with smaller parties, including the PCP.
       In the local elections in December 2001, the PSD's criticism of PS's heavy public spending allowed the PSD to take control of the key cities of Lisbon, Oporto, and Coimbra. Guterres resigned, and parliamentary elections were brought forward from 2004 to March 2002. The PSD won a narrow victory with 40 percent of the votes, and Jose Durão Barroso became prime minister. Having failed to win a majority of the seats in parliament forced the PSD to govern in coalition with the right-wing Popular Party (PP) led by Paulo Portas. Durão Barroso set about reducing government spending by cutting the budgets of local authorities, freezing civil service hiring, and reviving the economy by accelerating privatization of state-owned enterprises. These measures provoked a 24-hour strike by public-sector workers. Durão Barroso reacted with vows to press ahead with budget-cutting measures and imposed a wage freeze on all employees earning more than €1,000, which affected more than one-half of Portugal's work force.
       In June 2004, Durão Barroso was invited by Romano Prodi to succeed him as president of the European Commission. Durão Barroso accepted and resigned the prime ministership in July. Pedro Santana Lopes, the leader of the PSD, became prime minister. Already unpopular at the time of Durão Barroso's resignation, the PSD-led government became increasingly unpopular under Santana Lopes. A month-long delay in the start of the school year and confusion over his plan to cut taxes and raise public-sector salaries, eroded confidence even more. By November, Santana Lopes's government was so unpopular that President Jorge Sampaio was obliged to dissolve parliament and hold new elections, two years ahead of schedule.
       Parliamentary elections were held on 20 February 2005. The PS, which had promised the electorate disciplined and transparent governance, educational reform, the alleviation of poverty, and a boost in employment, won 45 percent of the vote and the majority of the seats in parliament. The leader of the PS, José Sôcrates became prime minister on 12 March 2005. In the regularly scheduled presidential elections held on 6 January 2006, the former leader of the PSD and prime minister, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, won a narrow victory and became president on 9 March 2006. With a mass protest, public teachers' strike, and street demonstrations in March 2008, Portugal's media, educational, and social systems experienced more severe pressures. With the spreading global recession beginning in September 2008, Portugal's economic and financial systems became more troubled.
       Owing to its geographic location on the southwestern most edge of continental Europe, Portugal has been historically in but not of Europe. Almost from the beginning of its existence in the 12th century as an independent monarchy, Portugal turned its back on Europe and oriented itself toward the Atlantic Ocean. After carving out a Christian kingdom on the western portion of the Iberian peninsula, Portuguese kings gradually built and maintained a vast seaborne global empire that became central to the way Portugal understood its individuality as a nation-state. While the creation of this empire allows Portugal to claim an unusual number of "firsts" or distinctions in world and Western history, it also retarded Portugal's economic, social, and political development. It can be reasonably argued that the Revolution of 25 April 1974 was the most decisive event in Portugal's long history because it finally ended Portugal's oceanic mission and view of itself as an imperial power. After the 1974 Revolution, Portugal turned away from its global mission and vigorously reoriented itself toward Europe. Contemporary Portugal is now both in and of Europe.
       The turn toward Europe began immediately after 25 April 1974. Portugal granted independence to its African colonies in 1975. It was admitted to the European Council and took the first steps toward accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1976. On 28 March 1977, the Portuguese government officially applied for EEC membership. Because of Portugal's economic and social backwardness, which would require vast sums of EEC money to overcome, negotiations for membership were long and difficult. Finally, a treaty of accession was signed on 12 June 1985. Portugal officially joined the EEC (the European Union [EU] since 1993) on 1 January 1986. Since becoming a full-fledged member of the EU, Portugal has been steadily overcoming the economic and social underdevelopment caused by its imperial past and is becoming more like the rest of Europe.
       Membership in the EU has speeded up the structural transformation of Portugal's economy, which actually began during the Estado Novo. Investments made by the Estado Novo in Portugal's economy began to shift employment out of the agricultural sector, which, in 1950, accounted for 50 percent of Portugal's economically active population. Today, only 10 percent of the economically active population is employed in the agricultural sector (the highest among EU member states); 30 percent in the industrial sector (also the highest among EU member states); and 60 percent in the service sector (the lowest among EU member states). The economically active population numbers about 5,000,000 employed, 56 percent of whom are women. Women workers are the majority of the workforce in the agricultural and service sectors (the highest among the EU member states). The expansion of the service sector has been primarily in health care and education. Portugal has had the lowest unemployment rates among EU member states, with the overall rate never being more than 10 percent of the active population. Since joining the EU, the number of employers increased from 2.6 percent to 5.8 percent of the active population; self-employed from 16 to 19 percent; and employees from 65 to 70 percent. Twenty-six percent of the employers are women. Unemployment tends to hit younger workers in industry and transportation, women employed in domestic service, workers on short-term contracts, and poorly educated workers. Salaried workers earn only 63 percent of the EU average, and hourly workers only one-third to one-half of that earned by their EU counterparts. Despite having had the second highest growth of gross national product (GNP) per inhabitant (after Ireland) among EU member states, the above data suggest that while much has been accomplished in terms of modernizing the Portuguese economy, much remains to be done to bring Portugal's economy up to the level of the "average" EU member state.
       Membership in the EU has also speeded up changes in Portuguese society. Over the last 30 years, coastalization and urbanization have intensified. Fully 50 percent of Portuguese live in the coastal urban conurbations of Lisbon, Oporto, Braga, Aveiro, Coimbra, Viseu, Évora, and Faro. The Portuguese population is one of the oldest among EU member states (17.3 percent are 65 years of age or older) thanks to a considerable increase in life expectancy at birth (77.87 years for the total population, 74.6 years for men, 81.36 years for women) and one of the lowest birthrates (10.59 births/1,000) in Europe. Family size averages 2.8 persons per household, with the strict nuclear family (one or two generations) in which both parents work being typical. Common law marriages, cohabitating couples, and single-parent households are more and more common. The divorce rate has also increased. "Youth Culture" has developed. The young have their own meeting places, leisure-time activities, and nightlife (bars, clubs, and discos).
       All Portuguese citizens, whether they have contributed or not, have a right to an old-age pension, invalidity benefits, widowed persons' pension, as well as payments for disabilities, children, unemployment, and large families. There is a national minimum wage (€385 per month), which is low by EU standards. The rapid aging of Portugal's population has changed the ratio of contributors to pensioners to 1.7, the lowest in the EU. This has created deficits in Portugal's social security fund.
       The adult literacy rate is about 92 percent. Illiteracy is still found among the elderly. Although universal compulsory education up to grade 9 was achieved in 1980, only 21.2 percent of the population aged 25-64 had undergone secondary education, compared to an EU average of 65.7 percent. Portugal's higher education system currently consists of 14 state universities and 14 private universities, 15 state polytechnic institutions, one Catholic university, and one military academy. All in all, Portugal spends a greater percentage of its state budget on education than most EU member states. Despite this high level of expenditure, the troubled Portuguese education system does not perform well. Early leaving and repetition rates are among the highest among EU member states.
       After the Revolution of 25 April 1974, Portugal created a National Health Service, which today consists of 221 hospitals and 512 medical centers employing 33,751 doctors and 41,799 nurses. Like its education system, Portugal's medical system is inefficient. There are long waiting lists for appointments with specialists and for surgical procedures.
       Structural changes in Portugal's economy and society mean that social life in Portugal is not too different from that in other EU member states. A mass consumption society has been created. Televisions, telephones, refrigerators, cars, music equipment, mobile phones, and personal computers are commonplace. Sixty percent of Portuguese households possess at least one automobile, and 65 percent of Portuguese own their own home. Portuguese citizens are more aware of their legal rights than ever before. This has resulted in a trebling of the number of legal proceeding since 1960 and an eight-fold increase in the number of lawyers. In general, Portuguese society has become more permissive and secular; the Catholic Church and the armed forces are much less influential than in the past. Portugal's population is also much more culturally, religiously, and ethnically diverse, a consequence of the coming to Portugal of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mainly from former African colonies.
       Portuguese are becoming more cosmopolitan and sophisticated through the impact of world media, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. A prime case in point came in the summer and early fall of 1999, with the extraordinary events in East Timor and the massive Portuguese popular responses. An internationally monitored referendum in East Timor, Portugal's former colony in the Indonesian archipelago and under Indonesian occupation from late 1975 to summer 1999, resulted in a vote of 78.5 percent for rejecting integration with Indonesia and for independence. When Indonesian prointegration gangs, aided by the Indonesian military, responded to the referendum with widespread brutality and threatened to reverse the verdict of the referendum, there was a spontaneous popular outpouring of protest in the cities and towns of Portugal. An avalanche of Portuguese e-mail fell on leaders and groups in the UN and in certain countries around the world as Portugal's diplomats, perhaps to compensate for the weak initial response to Indonesian armed aggression in 1975, called for the protection of East Timor as an independent state and for UN intervention to thwart Indonesian action. Using global communications networks, the Portuguese were able to mobilize UN and world public opinion against Indonesian actions and aided the eventual independence of East Timor on 20 May 2002.
       From the Revolution of 25 April 1974 until the 1990s, Portugal had a large number of political parties, one of the largest Communist parties in western Europe, frequent elections, and endemic cabinet instability. Since the 1990s, the number of political parties has been dramatically reduced and cabinet stability increased. Gradually, the Portuguese electorate has concentrated around two larger parties, the right-of-center Social Democrats (PSD) and the left-of-center Socialist (PS). In the 1980s, these two parties together garnered 65 percent of the vote and 70 percent of the seats in parliament. In 2005, these percentages had risen to 74 percent and 85 percent, respectively. In effect, Portugal is currently a two-party dominant system in which the two largest parties — PS and PSD—alternate in and out of power, not unlike the rotation of the two main political parties (the Regenerators and the Historicals) during the last decades (1850s to 1880s) of the liberal constitutional monarchy. As Portugal's democracy has consolidated, turnout rates for the eligible electorate have declined. In the 1970s, turnout was 85 percent. In Portugal's most recent parliamentary election (2005), turnout had fallen to 65 percent of the eligible electorate.
       Portugal has benefited greatly from membership in the EU, and whatever doubts remain about the price paid for membership, no Portuguese government in the near future can afford to sever this connection. The vast majority of Portuguese citizens see membership in the EU as a "good thing" and strongly believe that Portugal has benefited from membership. Only the Communist Party opposed membership because it reduces national sovereignty, serves the interests of capitalists not workers, and suffers from a democratic deficit. Despite the high level of support for the EU, Portuguese voters are increasingly not voting in elections for the European Parliament, however. Turnout for European Parliament elections fell from 40 percent of the eligible electorate in the 1999 elections to 38 percent in the 2004 elections.
       In sum, Portugal's turn toward Europe has done much to overcome its backwardness. However, despite the economic, social, and political progress made since 1986, Portugal has a long way to go before it can claim to be on a par with the level found even in Spain, much less the rest of western Europe. As Portugal struggles to move from underde-velopment, especially in the rural areas away from the coast, it must keep in mind the perils of too rapid modern development, which could damage two of its most precious assets: its scenery and environment. The growth and future prosperity of the economy will depend on the degree to which the government and the private sector will remain stewards of clean air, soil, water, and other finite resources on which the tourism industry depends and on which Portugal's world image as a unique place to visit rests. Currently, Portugal is investing heavily in renewable energy from solar, wind, and wave power in order to account for about 50 percent of its electricity needs by 2010. Portugal opened the world's largest solar power plant and the world's first commercial wave power farm in 2006.
       An American documentary film on Portugal produced in the 1970s described this little country as having "a Past in Search of a Future." In the years after the Revolution of 25 April 1974, it could be said that Portugal is now living in "a Present in Search of a Future." Increasingly, that future lies in Europe as an active and productive member of the EU.

    Historical dictionary of Portugal > Historical Portugal

  • 3 a

    prep.
    1 to.
    voy a Madrid I'm going to Madrid
    me voy al extranjero I'm going abroad
    llegó a Buenos Aires/a la fiesta he arrived in Buenos Aires/at the party
    2 at (moment).
    a las siete at seven o'clock
    a los once años at the age of eleven
    al caer la noche at nightfall
    al oír la noticia se desmayó on hearing the news, she fainted
    Llegué al amanecer I arrived at dawn.
    3 per, every (frecuency).
    40 horas a la semana 40 hours per o a week
    tres veces al día three times a day
    4 to.
    dáselo a Ricardo give it to Ricardo
    dile a Ricardo que venga tell Ricardo to come
    5 to.
    entró a pagar he came in to pay
    aprender a nadar to learn to swim
    6 by, about to, for.
    * * *
    A, a
    ► nombre femenino (pl as o aes)
    1 (la letra) A, a
    ————————
    A
    1 ( Alteza) Highness; (abreviatura) H
    ————————
    A
    1 ( autopista) motorway; (abreviatura) M
    ————————
    A
    1 ( amperio) ampere, amp; (símbolo) A
    * * *
    prep.
    1) to
    2) into
    3) in
    4) at
    5) on
    6) with
    * * *
    SF = a (=letra) A, a
    * * *
    a femenino (pl aes) ( read as [a]) the letter A, a
    * * *
    = for, per, to.
    Ex. The fine policy matrix corresponds to the loan policy matrix, cell for cell.
    Ex. Indexing can thus be achieved at a detailed level, with often many terms per document, with almost no indexing effort.
    Ex. Accessibility to the documents stored in files is an important factor, so the physical storage is important.
    ----
    * a + Adjetivo + escala = on a + Adjetivo + scale.
    * a alguna parte = someplace.
    * a alta presión = high-pressured, high-pressure.
    * a altas horas de la noche = late at night.
    * a ambas orillas del Atlántico = on both sides of the ocean, on both sides of the Atlantic.
    * a ambos lados de = on either side of.
    * a ambos lados del Altántico = on both sides of the ocean, on both sides of the Atlantic.
    * a ambos lados de + Lugar = on both sides of + Lugar.
    * a años luz de = light years away from.
    * a bajas temperaturas = at low temperature.
    * a bajo coste = low-cost.
    * a bajo costo = low-cost.
    * a bajo nivel = low-level.
    * a bajo precio = lower-cost, at a low price, on the cheap.
    * a base de = in the form of, on a diet of.
    * a base de carne = meaty [meatier -comp., meatiest -sup.].
    * a base de cometer errores = the hard way.
    * a base de errores = the hard way.
    * a boca de jarro = at close range.
    * a bocajarro = point blank.
    * a bombo y platillo = fanfare, with a bang.
    * a bordo = aboard, on board ship.
    * a bordo de = aboard, onboard.
    * a bordo de un barco = shipboard, on board ship.
    * a buen recaudo = in a safe place, in safekeeping.
    * a caballo = on horseback, astride.
    * a caballo entre = astride... and..., midway between.
    * a caballo entre... y... = half way between... and....
    * a caballo regalado no se le mira el diente = never look a gift horse in the mouth.
    * a cada rato = every so often, every now and then, every now and again, every once in a while.
    * a cambio = in return.
    * a cambio de = in exchange for, in return for.
    * a cambio de nada = for nothing.
    * a cántaros = cats and dogs.
    * a cargo = in the saddle.
    * a cargo (de) = charged with, in charge (of), at the helm (of).
    * a cargo de Alguien = under supervision.
    * a cargo de las riendas = in the saddle.
    * a cargo del ayuntamiento = local authority-run.
    * a cargo del gobierno = government-operated, government-run.
    * a cargo de una sola persona = one-man band.
    * a cargo de voluntarios = volunteer-run.
    * a chorros = profusely.
    * a ciegas = blindfold, blindly, blindfolded, in the dark.
    * a ciencia cierta = for sure, for certain.
    * a cierta distancia = some distance away.
    * a cierta distancia de = off.
    * a cierta distancia de la costa = offshore.
    * a cierta distancia del litoral = offshore.
    * a cobro revertido = reverse charges.
    * a color = multi-colour [multi-color -USA].
    * a comienzos de + Expresión Temporal = early + Expresión Temporal, the.
    * a comienzos de + Fecha = in the early + Fecha, in the early part of + Fecha.
    * a comienzos de + Período de Tiempo = by the turn of + Período de Tiempo, at the turn of + Período de Tiempo.
    * a conciencia = deliberately, wilfully [willfully, -USA], by design, on purpose.
    * a condición de que + Subjuntivo = provided (that), providing (that), as long as.
    * a contenido enriquecido = content-enriched.
    * a continuación = next, then, in the following, herewith.
    * a continuación se enumeran = given below.
    * a contracorriente = against the grain.
    * a contraluz = against the light.
    * a contrapelo = against the grain, against the nap.
    * a coro = with one voice, in unison.
    * a corto plazo = before very long, short term [short-term], in the short run, short-range, at short notice, in the short term, short-run.
    * a costa de = at the cost of, at the expense of, at + Nombre's + expense, at cost of.
    * a costa de mucho = at (a) great expense.
    * a costa de otro = at someone else's expense.
    * a costa de otros = at other people's expense.
    * a criterio de = at the discretion of.
    * a cualquier hora = anytime, around the clock.
    * a cualquier hora del día o de la noche = at any hour of the day or night, at any time of the day or night.
    * a cualquier precio = at any cost, at all costs, at any price.
    * a cuatro aguas = hipped.
    * a cuatro patas = on all fours, on four legs.
    * a cuenta de = at the expense of.
    * a cuenta de la empresa = at company expense.
    * a cuenta de otro = at someone else's expense.
    * a cuenta de otros = at other people's expense.
    * a cuenta propia = at + Posesivo + expense, at + Posesivo + own expense.
    * a cuerpo de rey = the lap of luxury.
    * a cuestas = in tow.
    * a decir de todos = by all accounts.
    * a decir verdad = to tell the truth, if the truth be known, if the truth be told, in all truth, in truth, fact is, the fact is (that), to be fair.
    * a decir verdad... = the fact of the matter is that....
    * a demanda = pro re nata.
    * a deshora(s) = at odd times, out of hours.
    * a día de hoy = as of today.
    * a diario = every day.
    * a diestro y siniestro = like there's no tomorrow.
    * a dieta = on a diet.
    * a diferencia de = apart from, as opposed to, in contradistinction to, as contrasted with, in contrast (to/with), quite apart from, in sharp contrast (with).
    * a diferencia de + Nombre = unlike + Nombre.
    * a diferentes niveles = multi-tiered [multitiered], multi-tier [multitier].
    * a discreción = at will, no holds barred.
    * a disgusto = unwillingly, reluctantly.
    * a disposición de = at the disposal of.
    * a distancia = remote, remotely, distantly.
    * a doble espacio = double-spaced.
    * a domicilio = domiciliary.
    * ¿a dónde se dirige(n)...? = whither?.
    * ¿a dónde va(n)...? = whither?.
    * ¿a dónde vas? = quo vadis, whither thou goest.
    * a dos niveles = two-tier.
    * a dos velas = skint, penniless, broke.
    * a duras penas = with great difficulty.
    * a efectos de = in terms of, for the purpose of + Nombre.
    * a efectos prácticos = to all intents and purposes, for all practical purposes, for all intents and purposes, to all intents.
    * a él = him.
    * a ellos = them.
    * a escala = drawn-to-scale.
    * a escala industrial = on an industrial scale, industrial-scale.
    * a escala mundial = globally, on a global scale.
    * a escala natural = full-scale.
    * a escondidas = by stealth, stealthily, furtively, on the quiet, on the sly.
    * a eso = thereto.
    * a espaldas de = out of sight of.
    * a estas alturas = by now.
    * a este fin = to this end.
    * a este paso = at this rate.
    * a este respecto = in this respect.
    * a este ritmo = at this rate.
    * a estrenar = brand new.
    * a examen = under the microscope.
    * a excepción de = barring, except for, excepting, other than, with the exception of, short of.
    * a excepción de que = except that.
    * a excepción de uno = with one exception.
    * a expensas de = at the expense of, at + Nombre's + expense.
    * a expensas de otro = at someone else's expense.
    * a expensas de otros = at other people's expense.
    * a + Expresión Temporal = as of + Expresión Temporal.
    * a falta de = for want of, in the absence of, in default of, for lack of, short of.
    * a favor = in favour.
    * a favor de = in favour of.
    * a favor de la decisión personal sobre el aborto = pro-choice.
    * a favor de la esclavitud = pro-slavery.
    * a favor de la raza negra = pro-black [problack].
    * a favor de la vida humana = pro-life.
    * a favor y en contra = pro and con.
    * a + Fecha = as per + Fecha.
    * a finales de = by the end of, at the close of + Expresión Temporal.
    * a finales de + Expresión Temporal = as of late + Expresión Temporal, at the end of + Expresión Temporal, by the close of + Expresión Temporal.
    * a finales de + Fecha = in the late + Fecha, in late + Fecha.
    * a finales de los + Década = late + Década, the.
    * a finales del + Siglo = late + Siglo, late period of + Siglo.
    * a fin de cuentas = at the end of the day, in the end, in the final count, in the grand scheme of things, when all is said and done, after all is said and done.
    * a fondo = fully, thoroughly, full-scale.
    * a fondo perdido = non-refundable.
    * ¡a freír espárragos! = on your bike!.
    * a fuerza de = by dint of.
    * a fuerza de cometer errores = the hard way.
    * a fuerza de errores = the hard way.
    * a gas = gas-powered.
    * a gatas = on all fours.
    * a grandes rasgos = broadly, rough draft.
    * a granel = in bulk.
    * a gran escala = large scale [large-scale], massive, on a wide scale, high-volume, wide-scale, on a broad scale, in a big way, on a grand scale.
    * a gran velocidad = at great speed.
    * a grito limpio = at the top of + Posesivo + voice.
    * a grito pelado = at the top of + Posesivo + voice.
    * a gritos = vociferously.
    * a groso modo = crudely.
    * a grosso modo = roughly, rough draft.
    * a gusto = at ease, at leisure.
    * a gusto de = to the liking of, at the pleasure of.
    * a horcajadas = astride.
    * a hurtadillas = surreptitiously, by stealth, stealthily, furtively, on the sly.
    * a imitación de lo clásico = classicising [classicizing, -USA], classicised [classicized, -USA].
    * a iniciativa de = at the initiative of.
    * a iniciativas del gobierno = government-led.
    * a instancia de = at the urging of.
    * a instancias de = at the instigation of, at the behest of, under the auspices of.
    * a intervalos = at intervals.
    * a intervalos + Adjetivo = at + Adjetivo + intervals.
    * a intervalos semanales = at weekly intervals.
    * a invitación de = at the invitation of.
    * a jabón = soapy [soapier -comp., soapiest -sup.].
    * a juicio = on trial.
    * a juicio público = in the public eye.
    * a juzgar por = to judge by, judging by, judging from.
    * a la acuarela = water-coloured [water-colored, -USA].
    * a la alcaldía = mayoral.
    * a la altura de = of the stature of, equal to.
    * a la altura de la cintura = waist high, waist deep.
    * a la altura de la rodilla = knee-high.
    * a la altura de los hombros = shoulder-high.
    * a la anchura de los hombros = shoulder-width.
    * a la anochecida = at nightfall.
    * a la antigua = old-style.
    * a la antigua usanza = old-style.
    * a la atención de = c/o (care of).
    * a la baja = on the wane.
    * a la brasa = grilled.
    * a la buena de Dios = out in the cold.
    * a la cabeza de = in the forefront of/in.
    * a la caída de la noche = at nightfall, at twilight.
    * a la caída de la tarde = at twilight.
    * a la carta = a la carte.
    * a la defensiva = on the defensive.
    * a la derecha = at the right.
    * a la derecha de = on the right side of, on the right-hand side of.
    * a la deriva = rudderless.
    * a la discreción de = at the discretion of.
    * a la disposición de Alguien = at + Posesivo + disposal.
    * a la expectativa de = on the lookout for, on the alert for.
    * a la + Expresión Temporal = a + Expresión Temporal.
    * a la fuerza = forcefully, of necessity, forcibly, compulsorily.
    * a la fuga = on the run, on the lam.
    * a la hora de + Infinitivo = when it came to + Gerundio, when it comes to + Gerundio.
    * a la hora de la verdad = when push comes to shove, if it comes to the crunch, when it comes to the crunch, when the worst comes to the worst, if the worst comes to the worst, when the crunch comes to the crunch, if the crunch comes to the crunch.
    * a la hora del café = at coffee.
    * a la intemperie = in the open, exposed.
    * a la inversa = mirror-fashion, mirror image, in reverse.
    * a la izquierda = at the left.
    * a la larga = in the long term, over the long term, in the end, eventually, for the long pull, over a period of time, over the long haul, in the far term, ultimately, by and by.
    * a la ligera = lightly.
    * a la luz de = in light of, in the light of.
    * a la luz de la luna = by moonlight, in the moonlight, moonlit.
    * a la luz de las estrellas = by starlight.
    * a la luz de las velas = by candlelight, candlelight, candlelit.
    * a la luz del día = in the light of day.
    * a la luz de una lámpara de gas = by gaslight.
    * a la misma altura que = in the same league as.
    * a la moda = trendy [trendier -comp., trendiest -sup.].
    * a la onda = in the know.
    * a la opinión pública = in the public eye.
    * a la par = in concert, in tandem, neck and neck, in a tandem fashion, in parallel.
    * a la par que = in tandem with, hand in hand (with), as the same time as.
    * a la parrilla = grilled, on the grill.
    * a la perfección = superbly.
    * a la plancha = griddled, on the griddle, on the hotplate.
    * a largo plazo = in the long term, over the long term, long-range, in the long run, long-term, over the long run, over the long haul, long-run, in the far term, far-term.
    * a la salida = on the way out.
    * a la sazón = at that time.
    * a las doce del mediodía = at high noon.
    * a la semana = a week, per week.
    * a las mil maravillas = marvellously [marvelously, -USA], famously, like a house on fire.
    * a la sombra de = in the shadow of.
    * a las puertas de = on the threshold of.
    * a la última = hip [hipper -comp., hippest -sup.], on the fast track, hipped.
    * a la vanguardia = on the cutting edge, on the leading edge, in the fast lane, on the fast track, at the leading edge, on the bleeding edge.
    * a la vanguardia de = in the vanguard of, at the forefront of, in the forefront of/in, at the vanguard of.
    * a la velocidad de la luz = at the speed of light.
    * a la velocidad del rayo = at the speed of lightning.
    * a la velocidad del sonido = at the speed of sound.
    * a la venta = on release.
    * a la vez = at once, at one time, at similar times, at the same time, concurrently, side-by-side, simultaneously, at the same instant, in parallel, in tandem, at the one time, in a tandem fashion, at a time, in unison.
    * a la vez que = hand in hand (with), cum, in conjunction with, in unison with.
    * a la vista = in sight, within sight.
    * a la vista de = in light of, in the light of.
    * a la vuelta de = on the return leg of.
    * a la zaga = not far behind, in tow.
    * al azar = lucky draw, lucky dip.
    * al extremo norte = northernmost.
    * al extremo oeste = westernmost.
    * al hacer esto = in doing so.
    * al norte del estado = upstate.
    * a lo extremo = to the extreme.
    * a lo grande = in a big way, big time, grandly, on a grand scale.
    * a lo hecho, pecho = no use crying over spilt/spilled milk, you've made your bed, now you must lie in it!.
    * a lo largo de = along, down, throughout.
    * a lo largo de + Expresión Temporal = sometime + Expresión Temporal.
    * a lo largo de la historia = over time.
    * a lo largo de la ruta = along the way.
    * a lo largo del tiempo = longitudinal, longitudinally.
    * a lo largo de todo = the entire length of.
    * a lo largo y ancho del país = countrywide [country-wide].
    * a lo largo y ancho de + Lugar = up and down + Lugar.
    * a lo lejos = in the distance.
    * a lo loco = helter-skelter, like there's no tomorrow.
    * a lo máximo = at best, at most, at the most.
    * a lo mejor = perhaps.
    * a lo que salga = come what may.
    * a los ojos de = in the eyes of.
    * a lo sumo = at best, at most, at the most.
    * al otro lado del atlántico = across the pond.
    * al otro lado del charco = across the pond.
    * al otro lado del océano = across the pond.
    * a lo zombi = zombielike.
    * a mano = by hand, manually, nearby [near-by], handy, within reach, within easy reach.
    * a mano alzada = by a show of hands.
    * a mano derecha de = on the right side of, on the right-hand side of.
    * a manojos = by the handful.
    * a manos de = at the hands of.
    * a marchas forzadas = in a rush, against the clock.
    * a mares = cats and dogs.
    * a más largo plazo = longer-term.
    * a más..., más... = the + Comparativo..., the + Comparativo....
    * a más tardar = at the latest.
    * a mata caballo = in a hurry, hurried, hurriedly, helter-skelter.
    * a media asta = at half-mast, at half staff.
    * a mediados de = in the middle decades of.
    * a mediados de + Fecha = in the mid + Fecha.
    * a mediados de semana = midweek.
    * a media jornada = half-time [half time].
    * a media mañana = mid-morning.
    * a medianoche = at midnight.
    * a medias = half-hearted [halfhearted], qualified.
    * a medias entre... y... = betwixt and between.
    * a medida = custom, bespoke.
    * a medida que + avanzar + el año = as the year + wear on.
    * a medida que + avanzar + el día = as the day + wear on.
    * a medida que pasaba el tiempo = as time passed (by), as time went by.
    * a medida que pasa el tiempo = as time passes (by).
    * a medida que pasa + Expresión Temporal = as + Expresión Temporal + go by.
    * a medida que + pasar + el año = as the year + wear on.
    * a medida que + pasar + el día = as the day + wear on.
    * a medida que se necesite = on demand, on request, as required.
    * a medida que + transcurrir + el año = as the year + wear on.
    * a medida que + transcurrir + el día = as the day + wear on.
    * a medio abrir = half-opened.
    * a medio camino = halfway [half-way/half way].
    * a medio comprender = half-understood.
    * a medio formar = half-formed.
    * a medio fuego = medium heat.
    * a medio hacer = halfway done, half done.
    * a medio plazo = medium-term, near-term, in the medium term, in the mid-term, mid-term [midterm].
    * a medio rimar = half-rhymed.
    * a medio vestir = half dressed.
    * a menor escala = at a reduced rate.
    * a menos que = unless, short of.
    * a menudo = oftentimes [often times], ofttimes [oft-times].
    * a merced de = at the mercy of.
    * a mí = me.
    * a mi entender = to my mind.
    * a mi modo de ver = in my books.
    * a mi parecer = to my mind, methinks, in my books.
    * a mitad de = half way through, halfway through.
    * a mitad de camino = halfway [half-way/half way].
    * a mitad de camino entre... y... = midway between, half way between... and....
    * a mitad de camino entre... y... = astride... and....
    * a mitad de precio = at half price.
    * a mí también me gustaría tener la misma oportunidad = turnabout is fair play.
    * a modo de = by way of, in the vein of, as a kind of.
    * a modo de aclaración = in parenthesis, on a sidenote.
    * a modo de advertencia = cautionary.
    * a modo de ejemplo = by way of illustration.
    * a modo de explicación = parenthetically.
    * a modo de ilustración = by way of illustration.
    * a modo de inciso = in passing, by the way of (a) digression.
    * a modo de paréntesis = parenthetical.
    * a modo de prólogo = prefatory.
    * a modo de resumen = wrap-up.
    * a mogollón = aplenty [a-plenty].
    * a montón = aplenty [a-plenty].
    * a montones = in droves, by the sackful.
    * a muchos niveles = many-levelled [many-leveled, -USA].
    * a muerte = bitter, bitterly.
    * a nadie le importa nada = nobody + gives a damn.
    * a nivel de barrio = neighbourhood-based.
    * a nivel de calle = on the ground level.
    * a nivel de la calle = at ground level.
    * a nivel del suelo = at ground level.
    * a nivel estatal = statewide [state-wide].
    * a nivel federal = federally, federally.
    * a nivel individual = privately.
    * a nivel local = locally, domestically.
    * a nivel multicultural = multi-culturally [multiculturally].
    * a nivel mundial = worldwide [world-wide], globally.
    * a nivel nacional = nationally, domestically, countrywide [country-wide].
    * a nivel privado = privately.
    * a nivel regional = regionally.
    * a nombre de = payable to.
    * a no ser que = unless.
    * a nosotros = us.
    * a ojo = ocular.
    * a ojos vista = before + Posesivo + (own two) eyes.
    * a orillas del océano = oceanfront.
    * a orillas del río = riverfront.
    * a orillas de un lago = lakeside, lakefront, by the lakeside.
    * a otro sitio = somewhere else.
    * a pares = in pairs.
    * a partes iguales = share and share alike, in equal measure(s).
    * a partir de = on the basis of, based on, working from, from, on a diet of, in response to.
    * a partir de ahora = from now on, from this point on, henceforth, as of now.
    * a partir de ahora y durante + Cuantificador + años = for + Cuantificador + years to come.
    * a partir de aquí = hereupon.
    * a partir de ello = therefrom.
    * a partir de entonces = from this time on, hereafter, thereafter, whereafter, from then on, thenceforth, henceforth, from that moment on.
    * a partir de ese momento = from that moment on.
    * a partir de este momento = hereinafter.
    * a partir de esto = on this basis, on that basis.
    * a partir de + Fecha = from + Fecha, effective + Fecha.
    * a partir de hoy = as from today.
    * a partir de la medianoche = late night.
    * a partir de los títulos = title-based.
    * a paso de tortuga = at a snail's pace.
    * a paso ligero = on the double.
    * a pasos agigantados = at an exponential rate, at exponential rates, by leaps and bounds.
    * a pedir de boca = without a hitch.
    * a pequeña escala = in a small way, small scale [small-scale].
    * a perpetuidad = in perpetuity.
    * a pesar de (que) = albeit (that), despite, in spite of, notwithstanding, although, despite the fact that, in spite of the fact that.
    * a pesar de todo = all the same, in spite of everything, despite everything, despite it all, in spite of it all, all this said.
    * a pesar de todo + Posesivo + Nombre = for all + Posesivo + Nombre.
    * a petición de = at the request of, at the urging of, at the behest of.
    * a petición del usuario = on demand, on request.
    * a petición popular = by popular demand.
    * a pie = on foot, afoot, dismounted.
    * a pilas = battery-operated.
    * a pique = sinking.
    * a placer = at will.
    * a plena luz del día = in broad daylight.
    * a poca distancia = not far behind.
    * a poca distancia andando = within walking distance, within an easy walk.
    * a poca distancia a pie = within an easy walk, within walking distance.
    * a pocos minutos andando = within walking distance, within easy walking distance, within an easy walk.
    * a pocos minutos a pie = within walking distance, within easy walking distance, within an easy walk.
    * a porrillo = by the handful.
    * a + Posesivo + aire = to + Posesivo + heart's content.
    * a + Posesivo + alcance = in the ballpark for + Pronombre, in + Posesivo + ballpark range.
    * a + Posesivo + costa = at + Posesivo + expense.
    * a + Posesivo + cuidado = in + Posesivo + safekeeping.
    * a + Posesivo + discreción = at will, at + Posesivo + discretion.
    * a + Posesivo + disposición = at + Posesivo + disposal.
    * a + Posesivo + entender = to the best of + Posesivo + belief.
    * a + Posesivo + espaldas = behind + Posesivo + back.
    * a + Posesivo + expensas = at + Posesivo + expense.
    * a + Posesivo + favor = in + Posesivo + favour, to + Posesivo + credit.
    * a + Posesivo + juicio = in + Posesivo + estimation.
    * a + Posesivo + manera = in + Posesivo + own way.
    * a + Posesivo + saber = to the best of + Posesivo + knowledge.
    * a + Posesivo + saber y entender = to the best of + Posesivo + knowledge and belief.
    * a + Posesivo + servicio = at + Posesivo + service.
    * a + Posesivo + sorprender = much to + Posesivo + surprise.
    * a + Posesivo + vista = before + Posesivo + (own two) eyes.
    * a posteriori = reactive, in retrospect, after-the-fact, hindsight, with hindsight, a posteriori, in hindsight.
    * a precio de coste = at cost price, at cost.
    * a precio de costo = at cost price, at cost.
    * a precio de ganga = at a steal.
    * a precio especial = at reduced cost, discounted, cut-rate, cut-price.
    * a precio razonable = at reasonable cost(s).
    * a precio reducido = at a discount.
    * a precios competitivos = competitively priced.
    * a precios especiales = at reduced rates, at preferential rates.
    * a precios razonables = at affordable prices.
    * a presión = pressurised [pressurized, -USA].
    * a primera hora de la mañana = first thing in the morning.
    * a primera hora de + Período del Día = first thing + Período del Día.
    * a primeras horas de la tarde = late afternoon.
    * a primera vista = on first acquaintance, at first sight, on first inspection, on the face of it, at first blush, at first glance, on the surface, prima facie, first-blush.
    * a primeros de + Fecha = in the early + Fecha.
    * a principios de + Fecha = in the early + Fecha.
    * a principios de los + Década = early + Década, the.
    * a priori = proactive [pro-active], foresight, a priori, on the surface.
    * a prisa = quickly.
    * a propósito = deliberate, for the record, incidentally, intentionally, by the way, in passing, anecdotally, purposely, by design, on purpose, wilfully [willfully, -USA], on a sidenote, studiously, by the way of (a) digression, by the by(e), speaking of which, designedly.
    * a propósito de = apropos of.
    * a propósito de nada = for no specific reason, for no particular reason.
    * a prueba = on trial.
    * a prueba de bombas = ruggedised [ruggedized, -USA], bomb-proof.
    * a prueba de conejos = rabbit-proof.
    * a prueba de fallos = fail-safe.
    * a prueba de incendios = fireproof [fire-proof].
    * a prueba de niños = childproof.
    * a prueba de robos = theft proof.
    * a prueba de tornados = tornado proof.
    * a prueba de un tratamiento duro = ruggedised [ruggedized, -USA].
    * a prueba de viento = windproof.
    * a puerta cerrada = behind closed doors.
    * a punta de pistola = at gunpoint.
    * a punto de = on the verge of, a heartbeat away from.
    * a punto de + Infinitivo = about to + Infinitivo.
    * a punto de irse a pique = on the rocks.
    * a punto de morir = on + Posesivo + deathbed.
    * a puñados = by the sackful, by the handful.
    * a quemarropa = point blank.
    * a quien madruga, Dios le ayuda = the early bird catches the worm.
    * a quienquiera que = whomever.
    * a rachas = by fits and starts.
    * a ráfagas = in bursts.
    * a raíz de = in the wake of.
    * a rajatabla = to the letter.
    * a ras de = flush with.
    * a ras de la calle = ground-floor.
    * a ras del suelo = at ground level.
    * a rastras = in tow.
    * a ratos = intermittently.
    * a reacción = jet-assisted.
    * a rebosar (de) = jam-packed (with), filled to capacity.
    * a regañadientes = grudgingly, grudging, begrudgingly, unwillingly, reluctantly.
    * a régimen = on a diet.
    * a remolque = in tow.
    * a reventar (de) = jam-packed (with), filled to capacity.
    * a saber = namely, viz, to wit.
    * a sabiendas = knowing, knowingly, wilfully [willfully, -USA].
    * a sabiendas de que = on the understanding that.
    * a sacudidas = jerkily.
    * a saltitos = jerky [jerkier -comp., jerkiest -sup.].
    * a salvo = in a safe place, in safekeeping, out of harm's way.
    * a sangre fría = cold-blooded.
    * a ser posible = if possible.
    * a simple vista = by the naked eye, superficially, on first thought.
    * a solas = all by + Reflexivo, by + Reflexivo.
    * a su debido tiempo = in due course, timely, in due time.
    * a sueldo = paid.
    * a su precio normal = at full price.
    * a su propio ritmo = at an individual pace.
    * a su tiempo = in a timely fashion, in due course, in a timely manner.
    * a su vez = Verbo + further, in turn, in its/their turn.
    * a tal efecto = to this effect.
    * a tales efectos = hereto.
    * a tarifa reducida = at reduced cost.
    * a tarifas especiales = at reduced rates, at preferential rates.
    * a temperatura ambiente = at room temperature.
    * a tener en cuenta en el futuro = for future reference.
    * a tenor de = in light of, in the face of, in the light of, in view of.
    * a ti = you, thee.
    * a tiempo = in timely fashion, on time, promptly, timely, just in time, in time.
    * a tiempo completo = full-time.
    * a tiempo parcial = part-time.
    * a tientas = in the dark.
    * a tientas y a ciegas = blindly, in the dark.
    * a ti mismo = yourself, thyself.
    * a tiro = within gunshot, within range.
    * a tirones = jerky [jerkier -comp., jerkiest -sup.].
    * a título de = by way of, for the sake of.
    * a título gratuito = gratuitous.
    * a título personal = in a personal capacity, in a private capacity.
    * a toda costa = absolutely, at all costs, come what may, at any cost, at any price.
    * a toda máquina = in the fast lane, fast lane, full steam ahead, at full tilt, full-tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed.
    * a toda marcha = at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed, at full stretch.
    * a toda mecha = at a rate of knots, full steam ahead, at full blast, at full throttle, at top speed, at full speed, at full stretch.
    * a toda pasta = at a rate of knots.
    * a toda pastilla = in the fast lane, on the fast track, fast lane, overdrive, full steam ahead, full-tilt, at full tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at a rate of knots, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed.
    * a toda prueba = unswerving.
    * a todas horas = at all hours, around the clock.
    * a todas luces = patently.
    * a todas partes = far and wide.
    * a toda velocidad = full-tilt, at full tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed.
    * a todo alrededor = all round.
    * a todo color = full-colour, in full colour.
    * a todo gas = full steam ahead, full-tilt, at full tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed, at full stretch.
    * a todo lo largo de = the length of.
    * a todo meter = full steam ahead, at full stretch, at full speed, at full blast, at top speed, at full throttle.
    * a todo ritmo = in full swing, in full force, in full gear.
    * a todos lados = far and wide.
    * a todos los efectos = to all intents and purposes, to all intents, for all practical purposes, for all intents and purposes.
    * a todos los niveles = at all levels.
    * a todos nosotros = us all.
    * a todos por igual = one size fits all.
    * a todo vapor = full steam ahead, full-tilt, at full tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed, at full stretch.
    * a todo volumen = at full blast.
    * a tontas y a ciegas = headlong, runaway.
    * a tontas y locas = like there's no tomorrow, without rhyme or reason.
    * a tope = packed to capacity, in the fast lane, fast lane, choc-a-block, chock-full, in full swing, in full gear, packed to the rafters.
    * a trancas y barrancas = with great difficulty, by fits and starts.
    * a través de = by way of, in the form of, through, via, out of, through the agency of.
    * a través de Internet = Internet-based, Web-based, Web-supported.
    * a través de la historia = over time.
    * a través de la TI = IT-enabled.
    * a través de la web = Web-based, Web-supported.
    * a través de los años = over the years, down the years.
    * a través de los ojos de = through the eyes of.
    * a través de los siglos = over the centuries.
    * a través del teléfono = call-in.
    * a través del tiempo = over time.
    * a través de operador = operator-assisted.
    * a tres bandas = three pronged.
    * a tres niveles = three-tiered.
    * a troche y moche = like there's no tomorrow.
    * a trompicones = by fits and starts.
    * a tropezones = falteringly, hesitantly, haltingly, jerkily.
    * a trozos = piecewise.
    * ¡A tu salud! = Here's to you!.
    * a última hora = at the last minute, at the eleventh hour, last minute [last-minute], at the very last minute, at the very last moment, at the very last.
    * a últimas horas de la tarde = late evening.
    [b]* a últ
    * * *
    a femenino (pl aes) ( read as [a]) the letter A, a
    * * *
    = for, per, to.

    Ex: The fine policy matrix corresponds to the loan policy matrix, cell for cell.

    Ex: Indexing can thus be achieved at a detailed level, with often many terms per document, with almost no indexing effort.
    Ex: Accessibility to the documents stored in files is an important factor, so the physical storage is important.
    * a + Adjetivo + escala = on a + Adjetivo + scale.
    * a alguna parte = someplace.
    * a alta presión = high-pressured, high-pressure.
    * a altas horas de la noche = late at night.
    * a ambas orillas del Atlántico = on both sides of the ocean, on both sides of the Atlantic.
    * a ambos lados de = on either side of.
    * a ambos lados del Altántico = on both sides of the ocean, on both sides of the Atlantic.
    * a ambos lados de + Lugar = on both sides of + Lugar.
    * a años luz de = light years away from.
    * a bajas temperaturas = at low temperature.
    * a bajo coste = low-cost.
    * a bajo costo = low-cost.
    * a bajo nivel = low-level.
    * a bajo precio = lower-cost, at a low price, on the cheap.
    * a base de = in the form of, on a diet of.
    * a base de carne = meaty [meatier -comp., meatiest -sup.].
    * a base de cometer errores = the hard way.
    * a base de errores = the hard way.
    * a boca de jarro = at close range.
    * a bocajarro = point blank.
    * a bombo y platillo = fanfare, with a bang.
    * a bordo = aboard, on board ship.
    * a bordo de = aboard, onboard.
    * a bordo de un barco = shipboard, on board ship.
    * a buen recaudo = in a safe place, in safekeeping.
    * a caballo = on horseback, astride.
    * a caballo entre = astride... and..., midway between.
    * a caballo entre... y... = half way between... and....
    * a caballo regalado no se le mira el diente = never look a gift horse in the mouth.
    * a cada rato = every so often, every now and then, every now and again, every once in a while.
    * a cambio = in return.
    * a cambio de = in exchange for, in return for.
    * a cambio de nada = for nothing.
    * a cántaros = cats and dogs.
    * a cargo = in the saddle.
    * a cargo (de) = charged with, in charge (of), at the helm (of).
    * a cargo de Alguien = under supervision.
    * a cargo de las riendas = in the saddle.
    * a cargo del ayuntamiento = local authority-run.
    * a cargo del gobierno = government-operated, government-run.
    * a cargo de una sola persona = one-man band.
    * a cargo de voluntarios = volunteer-run.
    * a chorros = profusely.
    * a ciegas = blindfold, blindly, blindfolded, in the dark.
    * a ciencia cierta = for sure, for certain.
    * a cierta distancia = some distance away.
    * a cierta distancia de = off.
    * a cierta distancia de la costa = offshore.
    * a cierta distancia del litoral = offshore.
    * a cobro revertido = reverse charges.
    * a color = multi-colour [multi-color -USA].
    * a comienzos de + Expresión Temporal = early + Expresión Temporal, the.
    * a comienzos de + Fecha = in the early + Fecha, in the early part of + Fecha.
    * a comienzos de + Período de Tiempo = by the turn of + Período de Tiempo, at the turn of + Período de Tiempo.
    * a conciencia = deliberately, wilfully [willfully, -USA], by design, on purpose.
    * a condición de que + Subjuntivo = provided (that), providing (that), as long as.
    * a contenido enriquecido = content-enriched.
    * a continuación = next, then, in the following, herewith.
    * a continuación se enumeran = given below.
    * a contracorriente = against the grain.
    * a contraluz = against the light.
    * a contrapelo = against the grain, against the nap.
    * a coro = with one voice, in unison.
    * a corto plazo = before very long, short term [short-term], in the short run, short-range, at short notice, in the short term, short-run.
    * a costa de = at the cost of, at the expense of, at + Nombre's + expense, at cost of.
    * a costa de mucho = at (a) great expense.
    * a costa de otro = at someone else's expense.
    * a costa de otros = at other people's expense.
    * a criterio de = at the discretion of.
    * a cualquier hora = anytime, around the clock.
    * a cualquier hora del día o de la noche = at any hour of the day or night, at any time of the day or night.
    * a cualquier precio = at any cost, at all costs, at any price.
    * a cuatro aguas = hipped.
    * a cuatro patas = on all fours, on four legs.
    * a cuenta de = at the expense of.
    * a cuenta de la empresa = at company expense.
    * a cuenta de otro = at someone else's expense.
    * a cuenta de otros = at other people's expense.
    * a cuenta propia = at + Posesivo + expense, at + Posesivo + own expense.
    * a cuerpo de rey = the lap of luxury.
    * a cuestas = in tow.
    * a decir de todos = by all accounts.
    * a decir verdad = to tell the truth, if the truth be known, if the truth be told, in all truth, in truth, fact is, the fact is (that), to be fair.
    * a decir verdad... = the fact of the matter is that....
    * a demanda = pro re nata.
    * a deshora(s) = at odd times, out of hours.
    * a día de hoy = as of today.
    * a diario = every day.
    * a diestro y siniestro = like there's no tomorrow.
    * a dieta = on a diet.
    * a diferencia de = apart from, as opposed to, in contradistinction to, as contrasted with, in contrast (to/with), quite apart from, in sharp contrast (with).
    * a diferencia de + Nombre = unlike + Nombre.
    * a diferentes niveles = multi-tiered [multitiered], multi-tier [multitier].
    * a discreción = at will, no holds barred.
    * a disgusto = unwillingly, reluctantly.
    * a disposición de = at the disposal of.
    * a distancia = remote, remotely, distantly.
    * a doble espacio = double-spaced.
    * a domicilio = domiciliary.
    * ¿a dónde se dirige(n)...? = whither?.
    * ¿a dónde va(n)...? = whither?.
    * ¿a dónde vas? = quo vadis, whither thou goest.
    * a dos niveles = two-tier.
    * a dos velas = skint, penniless, broke.
    * a duras penas = with great difficulty.
    * a efectos de = in terms of, for the purpose of + Nombre.
    * a efectos prácticos = to all intents and purposes, for all practical purposes, for all intents and purposes, to all intents.
    * a él = him.
    * a ellos = them.
    * a escala = drawn-to-scale.
    * a escala industrial = on an industrial scale, industrial-scale.
    * a escala mundial = globally, on a global scale.
    * a escala natural = full-scale.
    * a escondidas = by stealth, stealthily, furtively, on the quiet, on the sly.
    * a eso = thereto.
    * a espaldas de = out of sight of.
    * a estas alturas = by now.
    * a este fin = to this end.
    * a este paso = at this rate.
    * a este respecto = in this respect.
    * a este ritmo = at this rate.
    * a estrenar = brand new.
    * a examen = under the microscope.
    * a excepción de = barring, except for, excepting, other than, with the exception of, short of.
    * a excepción de que = except that.
    * a excepción de uno = with one exception.
    * a expensas de = at the expense of, at + Nombre's + expense.
    * a expensas de otro = at someone else's expense.
    * a expensas de otros = at other people's expense.
    * a + Expresión Temporal = as of + Expresión Temporal.
    * a falta de = for want of, in the absence of, in default of, for lack of, short of.
    * a favor = in favour.
    * a favor de = in favour of.
    * a favor de la decisión personal sobre el aborto = pro-choice.
    * a favor de la esclavitud = pro-slavery.
    * a favor de la raza negra = pro-black [problack].
    * a favor de la vida humana = pro-life.
    * a favor y en contra = pro and con.
    * a + Fecha = as per + Fecha.
    * a finales de = by the end of, at the close of + Expresión Temporal.
    * a finales de + Expresión Temporal = as of late + Expresión Temporal, at the end of + Expresión Temporal, by the close of + Expresión Temporal.
    * a finales de + Fecha = in the late + Fecha, in late + Fecha.
    * a finales de los + Década = late + Década, the.
    * a finales del + Siglo = late + Siglo, late period of + Siglo.
    * a fin de cuentas = at the end of the day, in the end, in the final count, in the grand scheme of things, when all is said and done, after all is said and done.
    * a fondo = fully, thoroughly, full-scale.
    * a fondo perdido = non-refundable.
    * ¡a freír espárragos! = on your bike!.
    * a fuerza de = by dint of.
    * a fuerza de cometer errores = the hard way.
    * a fuerza de errores = the hard way.
    * a gas = gas-powered.
    * a gatas = on all fours.
    * a grandes rasgos = broadly, rough draft.
    * a granel = in bulk.
    * a gran escala = large scale [large-scale], massive, on a wide scale, high-volume, wide-scale, on a broad scale, in a big way, on a grand scale.
    * a gran velocidad = at great speed.
    * a grito limpio = at the top of + Posesivo + voice.
    * a grito pelado = at the top of + Posesivo + voice.
    * a gritos = vociferously.
    * a groso modo = crudely.
    * a grosso modo = roughly, rough draft.
    * a gusto = at ease, at leisure.
    * a gusto de = to the liking of, at the pleasure of.
    * a horcajadas = astride.
    * a hurtadillas = surreptitiously, by stealth, stealthily, furtively, on the sly.
    * a imitación de lo clásico = classicising [classicizing, -USA], classicised [classicized, -USA].
    * a iniciativa de = at the initiative of.
    * a iniciativas del gobierno = government-led.
    * a instancia de = at the urging of.
    * a instancias de = at the instigation of, at the behest of, under the auspices of.
    * a intervalos = at intervals.
    * a intervalos + Adjetivo = at + Adjetivo + intervals.
    * a intervalos semanales = at weekly intervals.
    * a invitación de = at the invitation of.
    * a jabón = soapy [soapier -comp., soapiest -sup.].
    * a juicio = on trial.
    * a juicio público = in the public eye.
    * a juzgar por = to judge by, judging by, judging from.
    * a la acuarela = water-coloured [water-colored, -USA].
    * a la alcaldía = mayoral.
    * a la altura de = of the stature of, equal to.
    * a la altura de la cintura = waist high, waist deep.
    * a la altura de la rodilla = knee-high.
    * a la altura de los hombros = shoulder-high.
    * a la anchura de los hombros = shoulder-width.
    * a la anochecida = at nightfall.
    * a la antigua = old-style.
    * a la antigua usanza = old-style.
    * a la atención de = c/o (care of).
    * a la baja = on the wane.
    * a la brasa = grilled.
    * a la buena de Dios = out in the cold.
    * a la cabeza de = in the forefront of/in.
    * a la caída de la noche = at nightfall, at twilight.
    * a la caída de la tarde = at twilight.
    * a la carta = a la carte.
    * a la defensiva = on the defensive.
    * a la derecha = at the right.
    * a la derecha de = on the right side of, on the right-hand side of.
    * a la deriva = rudderless.
    * a la discreción de = at the discretion of.
    * a la disposición de Alguien = at + Posesivo + disposal.
    * a la expectativa de = on the lookout for, on the alert for.
    * a la + Expresión Temporal = a + Expresión Temporal.
    * a la fuerza = forcefully, of necessity, forcibly, compulsorily.
    * a la fuga = on the run, on the lam.
    * a la hora de + Infinitivo = when it came to + Gerundio, when it comes to + Gerundio.
    * a la hora de la verdad = when push comes to shove, if it comes to the crunch, when it comes to the crunch, when the worst comes to the worst, if the worst comes to the worst, when the crunch comes to the crunch, if the crunch comes to the crunch.
    * a la hora del café = at coffee.
    * a la intemperie = in the open, exposed.
    * a la inversa = mirror-fashion, mirror image, in reverse.
    * a la izquierda = at the left.
    * a la larga = in the long term, over the long term, in the end, eventually, for the long pull, over a period of time, over the long haul, in the far term, ultimately, by and by.
    * a la ligera = lightly.
    * a la luz de = in light of, in the light of.
    * a la luz de la luna = by moonlight, in the moonlight, moonlit.
    * a la luz de las estrellas = by starlight.
    * a la luz de las velas = by candlelight, candlelight, candlelit.
    * a la luz del día = in the light of day.
    * a la luz de una lámpara de gas = by gaslight.
    * a la mano de = available at the fingertips of.
    * a la misma altura que = in the same league as.
    * a la moda = trendy [trendier -comp., trendiest -sup.].
    * a la onda = in the know.
    * a la opinión pública = in the public eye.
    * a la par = in concert, in tandem, neck and neck, in a tandem fashion, in parallel.
    * a la par que = in tandem with, hand in hand (with), as the same time as.
    * a la parrilla = grilled, on the grill.
    * a la perfección = superbly.
    * a la plancha = griddled, on the griddle, on the hotplate.
    * a largo plazo = in the long term, over the long term, long-range, in the long run, long-term, over the long run, over the long haul, long-run, in the far term, far-term.
    * a la salida = on the way out.
    * a la sazón = at that time.
    * a las doce del mediodía = at high noon.
    * a la semana = a week, per week.
    * a las mil maravillas = marvellously [marvelously, -USA], famously, like a house on fire.
    * a la sombra de = in the shadow of.
    * a las puertas de = on the threshold of.
    * a la última = hip [hipper -comp., hippest -sup.], on the fast track, hipped.
    * a la vanguardia = on the cutting edge, on the leading edge, in the fast lane, on the fast track, at the leading edge, on the bleeding edge.
    * a la vanguardia de = in the vanguard of, at the forefront of, in the forefront of/in, at the vanguard of.
    * a la velocidad de la luz = at the speed of light.
    * a la velocidad del rayo = at the speed of lightning.
    * a la velocidad del sonido = at the speed of sound.
    * a la venta = on release.
    * a la vez = at once, at one time, at similar times, at the same time, concurrently, side-by-side, simultaneously, at the same instant, in parallel, in tandem, at the one time, in a tandem fashion, at a time, in unison.
    * a la vez que = hand in hand (with), cum, in conjunction with, in unison with.
    * a la vista = in sight, within sight.
    * a la vista de = in light of, in the light of.
    * a la vuelta de = on the return leg of.
    * a la zaga = not far behind, in tow.
    * al azar = lucky draw, lucky dip.
    * al extremo norte = northernmost.
    * al extremo oeste = westernmost.
    * al hacer esto = in doing so.
    * al norte del estado = upstate.
    * a lo extremo = to the extreme.
    * a lo grande = in a big way, big time, grandly, on a grand scale.
    * a lo hecho, pecho = no use crying over spilt/spilled milk, you've made your bed, now you must lie in it!.
    * a lo largo de = along, down, throughout.
    * a lo largo de + Expresión Temporal = sometime + Expresión Temporal.
    * a lo largo de la historia = over time.
    * a lo largo de la ruta = along the way.
    * a lo largo del tiempo = longitudinal, longitudinally.
    * a lo largo de todo = the entire length of.
    * a lo largo y ancho del país = countrywide [country-wide].
    * a lo largo y ancho de + Lugar = up and down + Lugar.
    * a lo lejos = in the distance.
    * a lo loco = helter-skelter, like there's no tomorrow.
    * a lo máximo = at best, at most, at the most.
    * a lo mejor = perhaps.
    * a lo que salga = come what may.
    * a los ojos de = in the eyes of.
    * a lo sumo = at best, at most, at the most.
    * al otro lado del atlántico = across the pond.
    * al otro lado del charco = across the pond.
    * al otro lado del océano = across the pond.
    * a lo zombi = zombielike.
    * a mano = by hand, manually, nearby [near-by], handy, within reach, within easy reach.
    * a mano alzada = by a show of hands.
    * a mano derecha de = on the right side of, on the right-hand side of.
    * a manojos = by the handful.
    * a manos de = at the hands of.
    * a marchas forzadas = in a rush, against the clock.
    * a mares = cats and dogs.
    * a más largo plazo = longer-term.
    * a más..., más... = the + Comparativo..., the + Comparativo....
    * a más tardar = at the latest.
    * a mata caballo = in a hurry, hurried, hurriedly, helter-skelter.
    * a media asta = at half-mast, at half staff.
    * a mediados de = in the middle decades of.
    * a mediados de + Fecha = in the mid + Fecha.
    * a mediados de semana = midweek.
    * a media jornada = half-time [half time].
    * a media mañana = mid-morning.
    * a medianoche = at midnight.
    * a medias = half-hearted [halfhearted], qualified.
    * a medias entre... y... = betwixt and between.
    * a medida = custom, bespoke.
    * a medida que + avanzar + el año = as the year + wear on.
    * a medida que + avanzar + el día = as the day + wear on.
    * a medida que pasaba el tiempo = as time passed (by), as time went by.
    * a medida que pasa el tiempo = as time passes (by).
    * a medida que pasa + Expresión Temporal = as + Expresión Temporal + go by.
    * a medida que + pasar + el año = as the year + wear on.
    * a medida que + pasar + el día = as the day + wear on.
    * a medida que se necesite = on demand, on request, as required.
    * a medida que + transcurrir + el año = as the year + wear on.
    * a medida que + transcurrir + el día = as the day + wear on.
    * a medio abrir = half-opened.
    * a medio camino = halfway [half-way/half way].
    * a medio comprender = half-understood.
    * a medio formar = half-formed.
    * a medio fuego = medium heat.
    * a medio hacer = halfway done, half done.
    * a medio plazo = medium-term, near-term, in the medium term, in the mid-term, mid-term [midterm].
    * a medio rimar = half-rhymed.
    * a medio vestir = half dressed.
    * a menor escala = at a reduced rate.
    * a menos que = unless, short of.
    * a menudo = oftentimes [often times], ofttimes [oft-times].
    * a merced de = at the mercy of.
    * a mí = me.
    * a mi entender = to my mind.
    * a mi modo de ver = in my books.
    * a mi parecer = to my mind, methinks, in my books.
    * a mitad de = half way through, halfway through.
    * a mitad de camino = halfway [half-way/half way].
    * a mitad de camino entre... y... = midway between, half way between... and....
    * a mitad de camino entre... y... = astride... and....
    * a mitad de precio = at half price.
    * a mí también me gustaría tener la misma oportunidad = turnabout is fair play.
    * a modo de = by way of, in the vein of, as a kind of.
    * a modo de aclaración = in parenthesis, on a sidenote.
    * a modo de advertencia = cautionary.
    * a modo de ejemplo = by way of illustration.
    * a modo de explicación = parenthetically.
    * a modo de ilustración = by way of illustration.
    * a modo de inciso = in passing, by the way of (a) digression.
    * a modo de paréntesis = parenthetical.
    * a modo de prólogo = prefatory.
    * a modo de resumen = wrap-up.
    * a mogollón = aplenty [a-plenty].
    * a montón = aplenty [a-plenty].
    * a montones = in droves, by the sackful.
    * a muchos niveles = many-levelled [many-leveled, -USA].
    * a muerte = bitter, bitterly.
    * a nadie le importa nada = nobody + gives a damn.
    * a nivel de barrio = neighbourhood-based.
    * a nivel de calle = on the ground level.
    * a nivel de la calle = at ground level.
    * a nivel del suelo = at ground level.
    * a nivel estatal = statewide [state-wide].
    * a nivel federal = federally, federally.
    * a nivel individual = privately.
    * a nivel local = locally, domestically.
    * a nivel multicultural = multi-culturally [multiculturally].
    * a nivel mundial = worldwide [world-wide], globally.
    * a nivel nacional = nationally, domestically, countrywide [country-wide].
    * a nivel privado = privately.
    * a nivel regional = regionally.
    * a nombre de = payable to.
    * a no ser que = unless.
    * a nosotros = us.
    * a ojo = ocular.
    * a ojos vista = before + Posesivo + (own two) eyes.
    * a orillas del océano = oceanfront.
    * a orillas del río = riverfront.
    * a orillas de un lago = lakeside, lakefront, by the lakeside.
    * a otro sitio = somewhere else.
    * a pares = in pairs.
    * a partes iguales = share and share alike, in equal measure(s).
    * a partir de = on the basis of, based on, working from, from, on a diet of, in response to.
    * a partir de ahora = from now on, from this point on, henceforth, as of now.
    * a partir de ahora y durante + Cuantificador + años = for + Cuantificador + years to come.
    * a partir de aquí = hereupon.
    * a partir de ello = therefrom.
    * a partir de entonces = from this time on, hereafter, thereafter, whereafter, from then on, thenceforth, henceforth, from that moment on.
    * a partir de ese momento = from that moment on.
    * a partir de este momento = hereinafter.
    * a partir de esto = on this basis, on that basis.
    * a partir de + Fecha = from + Fecha, effective + Fecha.
    * a partir de hoy = as from today.
    * a partir de la medianoche = late night.
    * a partir de los títulos = title-based.
    * a paso de tortuga = at a snail's pace.
    * a paso ligero = on the double.
    * a pasos agigantados = at an exponential rate, at exponential rates, by leaps and bounds.
    * a pedir de boca = without a hitch.
    * a pequeña escala = in a small way, small scale [small-scale].
    * a perpetuidad = in perpetuity.
    * a pesar de (que) = albeit (that), despite, in spite of, notwithstanding, although, despite the fact that, in spite of the fact that.
    * a pesar de todo = all the same, in spite of everything, despite everything, despite it all, in spite of it all, all this said.
    * a pesar de todo + Posesivo + Nombre = for all + Posesivo + Nombre.
    * a petición de = at the request of, at the urging of, at the behest of.
    * a petición del usuario = on demand, on request.
    * a petición popular = by popular demand.
    * a pie = on foot, afoot, dismounted.
    * a pilas = battery-operated.
    * a pique = sinking.
    * a placer = at will.
    * a plena luz del día = in broad daylight.
    * a poca distancia = not far behind.
    * a poca distancia andando = within walking distance, within an easy walk.
    * a poca distancia a pie = within an easy walk, within walking distance.
    * a pocos minutos andando = within walking distance, within easy walking distance, within an easy walk.
    * a pocos minutos a pie = within walking distance, within easy walking distance, within an easy walk.
    * a porrillo = by the handful.
    * a + Posesivo + aire = to + Posesivo + heart's content.
    * a + Posesivo + alcance = in the ballpark for + Pronombre, in + Posesivo + ballpark range.
    * a + Posesivo + costa = at + Posesivo + expense.
    * a + Posesivo + cuidado = in + Posesivo + safekeeping.
    * a + Posesivo + discreción = at will, at + Posesivo + discretion.
    * a + Posesivo + disposición = at + Posesivo + disposal.
    * a + Posesivo + entender = to the best of + Posesivo + belief.
    * a + Posesivo + espaldas = behind + Posesivo + back.
    * a + Posesivo + expensas = at + Posesivo + expense.
    * a + Posesivo + favor = in + Posesivo + favour, to + Posesivo + credit.
    * a + Posesivo + juicio = in + Posesivo + estimation.
    * a + Posesivo + manera = in + Posesivo + own way.
    * a + Posesivo + saber = to the best of + Posesivo + knowledge.
    * a + Posesivo + saber y entender = to the best of + Posesivo + knowledge and belief.
    * a + Posesivo + servicio = at + Posesivo + service.
    * a + Posesivo + sorprender = much to + Posesivo + surprise.
    * a + Posesivo + vista = before + Posesivo + (own two) eyes.
    * a posteriori = reactive, in retrospect, after-the-fact, hindsight, with hindsight, a posteriori, in hindsight.
    * a precio de coste = at cost price, at cost.
    * a precio de costo = at cost price, at cost.
    * a precio de ganga = at a steal.
    * a precio especial = at reduced cost, discounted, cut-rate, cut-price.
    * a precio razonable = at reasonable cost(s).
    * a precio reducido = at a discount.
    * a precios competitivos = competitively priced.
    * a precios especiales = at reduced rates, at preferential rates.
    * a precios razonables = at affordable prices.
    * a presión = pressurised [pressurized, -USA].
    * a primera hora de la mañana = first thing in the morning.
    * a primera hora de + Período del Día = first thing + Período del Día.
    * a primeras horas de la tarde = late afternoon.
    * a primera vista = on first acquaintance, at first sight, on first inspection, on the face of it, at first blush, at first glance, on the surface, prima facie, first-blush.
    * a primeros de + Fecha = in the early + Fecha.
    * a principios de + Fecha = in the early + Fecha.
    * a principios de los + Década = early + Década, the.
    * a priori = proactive [pro-active], foresight, a priori, on the surface.
    * a prisa = quickly.
    * a propósito = deliberate, for the record, incidentally, intentionally, by the way, in passing, anecdotally, purposely, by design, on purpose, wilfully [willfully, -USA], on a sidenote, studiously, by the way of (a) digression, by the by(e), speaking of which, designedly.
    * a propósito de = apropos of.
    * a propósito de nada = for no specific reason, for no particular reason.
    * a prueba = on trial.
    * a prueba de bombas = ruggedised [ruggedized, -USA], bomb-proof.
    * a prueba de conejos = rabbit-proof.
    * a prueba de fallos = fail-safe.
    * a prueba de incendios = fireproof [fire-proof].
    * a prueba de niños = childproof.
    * a prueba de robos = theft proof.
    * a prueba de tornados = tornado proof.
    * a prueba de un tratamiento duro = ruggedised [ruggedized, -USA].
    * a prueba de viento = windproof.
    * a puerta cerrada = behind closed doors.
    * a punta de pistola = at gunpoint.
    * a punto de = on the verge of, a heartbeat away from.
    * a punto de + Infinitivo = about to + Infinitivo.
    * a punto de irse a pique = on the rocks.
    * a punto de morir = on + Posesivo + deathbed.
    * a puñados = by the sackful, by the handful.
    * a quemarropa = point blank.
    * a quien madruga, Dios le ayuda = the early bird catches the worm.
    * a quienquiera que = whomever.
    * a rachas = by fits and starts.
    * a ráfagas = in bursts.
    * a raíz de = in the wake of.
    * a rajatabla = to the letter.
    * a ras de = flush with.
    * a ras de la calle = ground-floor.
    * a ras del suelo = at ground level.
    * a rastras = in tow.
    * a ratos = intermittently.
    * a reacción = jet-assisted.
    * a rebosar (de) = jam-packed (with), filled to capacity.
    * a regañadientes = grudgingly, grudging, begrudgingly, unwillingly, reluctantly.
    * a régimen = on a diet.
    * a remolque = in tow.
    * a reventar (de) = jam-packed (with), filled to capacity.
    * a saber = namely, viz, to wit.
    * a sabiendas = knowing, knowingly, wilfully [willfully, -USA].
    * a sabiendas de que = on the understanding that.
    * a sacudidas = jerkily.
    * a saltitos = jerky [jerkier -comp., jerkiest -sup.].
    * a salvo = in a safe place, in safekeeping, out of harm's way.
    * a sangre fría = cold-blooded.
    * a ser posible = if possible.
    * a simple vista = by the naked eye, superficially, on first thought.
    * a solas = all by + Reflexivo, by + Reflexivo.
    * a su debido tiempo = in due course, timely, in due time.
    * a sueldo = paid.
    * a su precio normal = at full price.
    * a su propio ritmo = at an individual pace.
    * a su tiempo = in a timely fashion, in due course, in a timely manner.
    * a su vez = Verbo + further, in turn, in its/their turn.
    * a tal efecto = to this effect.
    * a tales efectos = hereto.
    * a tarifa reducida = at reduced cost.
    * a tarifas especiales = at reduced rates, at preferential rates.
    * a temperatura ambiente = at room temperature.
    * a tener en cuenta en el futuro = for future reference.
    * a tenor de = in light of, in the face of, in the light of, in view of.
    * a ti = you, thee.
    * a tiempo = in timely fashion, on time, promptly, timely, just in time, in time.
    * a tiempo completo = full-time.
    * a tiempo parcial = part-time.
    * a tientas = in the dark.
    * a tientas y a ciegas = blindly, in the dark.
    * a ti mismo = yourself, thyself.
    * a tiro = within gunshot, within range.
    * a tirones = jerky [jerkier -comp., jerkiest -sup.].
    * a título de = by way of, for the sake of.
    * a título gratuito = gratuitous.
    * a título personal = in a personal capacity, in a private capacity.
    * a toda costa = absolutely, at all costs, come what may, at any cost, at any price.
    * a toda máquina = in the fast lane, fast lane, full steam ahead, at full tilt, full-tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed.
    * a toda marcha = at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed, at full stretch.
    * a toda mecha = at a rate of knots, full steam ahead, at full blast, at full throttle, at top speed, at full speed, at full stretch.
    * a toda pasta = at a rate of knots.
    * a toda pastilla = in the fast lane, on the fast track, fast lane, overdrive, full steam ahead, full-tilt, at full tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at a rate of knots, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed.
    * a toda prueba = unswerving.
    * a todas horas = at all hours, around the clock.
    * a todas luces = patently.
    * a todas partes = far and wide.
    * a toda velocidad = full-tilt, at full tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed.
    * a todo alrededor = all round.
    * a todo color = full-colour, in full colour.
    * a todo gas = full steam ahead, full-tilt, at full tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed, at full stretch.
    * a todo lo largo de = the length of.
    * a todo meter = full steam ahead, at full stretch, at full speed, at full blast, at top speed, at full throttle.
    * a todo ritmo = in full swing, in full force, in full gear.
    * a todos lados = far and wide.
    * a todos los efectos = to all intents and purposes, to all intents, for all practical purposes, for all intents and purposes.
    * a todos los niveles = at all levels.
    * a todos nosotros = us all.
    * a todos por igual = one size fits all.
    * a todo vapor = full steam ahead, full-tilt, at full tilt, full-throttle, at full throttle, at top speed, at full blast, at full speed, at full stretch.
    * a todo volumen = at full blast.
    * a tontas y a ciegas = headlong, runaway.
    * a tontas y locas = like there's no tomorrow, without rhyme or reason.
    * a tope = packed to capacity, in the fast lane, fast lane, choc-a-block, chock-full, in full swing, in full gear, packed to the rafters.
    * a trancas y barrancas = with great difficulty, by fits and starts.
    * a través de = by way of, in the form of, through, via, out of, through the agency of.
    * a través de Internet = Internet-based, Web-based, Web-supported.
    * a través de la historia = over time.
    * a través de la TI = IT-enabled.
    * a través de la web = Web-based, Web-supported.
    * a través de los años = over the years, down the years.
    * a través de los ojos de = through the eyes of.
    * a través de los siglos = over the centuries.
    * a través del teléfono = call-in.
    * a través del tiempo = over time.
    * a través de operador = operator-assisted.
    * a tres bandas = three pronged.
    * a tres niveles = three-tiered.
    * a troche y moche = like there's no tomorrow.
    * a trompicones = by fits and starts.
    * a tropezones = falteringly, hesitantly, haltingly, jerkily.
    * a trozos = piecewise.
    * ¡A tu salud! = Here's to you!.
    * a última hora = at the last minute, at the eleventh hour, last minute [last-minute], at the very last minute, at the very last moment, at the very last.
    * a últimas horas de la tarde = late evening.
    * a últ

    * * *
    a
    La preposición a suele emplearse precedida de ciertos verbos como empezar, ir, oler, sonar etc, en cuyo caso ver bajo el respectivo verbo.
    No se traduce cuando introduce el complemento directo de persona (ser humano, pronombres personales que lo representan como quien, alguien, etc) o un nombre con un objeto o animal personalizado: amo a mi patria = I love my country, pasear al perro = to walk the dog.
    En los casos en que precede al artículo definido el para formar la contracción al, ver bajo la siguiente entrada, donde también se encontrarán otros ejemplos y usos de a.
    A (en relaciones de espacio, lugar)
    voy a México/a la fiesta I'm going to Mexico/to the party
    voy a casa I'm going home
    dobla a la derecha turn right
    se cayó al río she fell into the river
    estaban sentados a la mesa they were sitting at the table
    a orillas del Ebro on the banks of the Ebro
    se sentó al sol he sat in the sun
    se sentó a mi derecha he sat down to the right of me o on my right
    a la vuelta de la esquina around the corner
    queda al norte de Toledo it's (to the) north of Toledo
    3
    (indicando distancia): está a diez kilómetros de aquí it's ten kilometers from here, it's ten kilometers away
    está a unos 20 minutos de aquí it takes o it's about 20 minutes from here, it's a 20 minute drive ( o walk etc) from here
    1 (señalando hora, momento, fecha) at
    abren a las ocho they open at eight o'clock
    ¿a qué hora vengo? what time shall I come?
    a eso de las dos at around o about two o'clock
    a mediados de abril in mid-April
    hoy estamos a 20 it's the 20th today
    al día siguiente the next o following day
    empezó a hablar a los diez meses he started talking when he was ten months old o at ten months
    llegó a la mañana/noche ( RPl); he arrived in the morning/at night
    2 al + INF:
    se cayó al bajar del autobús she fell as she was getting off the bus
    al verlo me di cuenta de que ya no lo quería when I saw him o on seeing him, I realized that I no longer loved him
    al salir de la estación torcí a la izquierda I turned left out of the station
    3
    (indicando distancia en el tiempo): a escasos minutos de su llegada (después) just a few minutes after she arrived; (antes) just a few minutes before she arrived
    trabajan de lunes a viernes/de una a cinco they work (from) Monday to Friday/from one to five
    a los diez minutos del primer tiempo ten minutes into the first half o after ten minutes of the first half
    estaré en París de martes a jueves I'll be in Paris from Tuesday until Thursday, I'll be in Paris Tuesday through Thursday ( AmE)
    C
    (en relaciones de proporción, equivalencia): tres veces al día/a la semana three times a day/a week
    sale a 2.000 euros por cabeza it works out at 2,000 euros per person
    iban a 100 kilómetros por hora they were going (at) 100 kilometers per hour
    nos ganaron cinco a tres they beat us by five points to three, they beat us five three o ( AmE) five to three
    D
    (indicando modo, estilo): fuimos a pie/a caballo we walked/rode, we went on foot/on horseback
    pollo al horno/a la brasa roast/barbecued chicken
    un peinado a lo Rodolfo Valentino a Rudolph Valentino hairstyle
    a crédito on credit
    ilustraciones a todo color full-color illustrations
    una tela a rayas a piece of striped material
    1
    (introduciendo el complemento directo de persona): ¿viste a José? did you see José?
    la policía está buscando al asesino the police are looking for the murderer
    no he leído a Freud I haven't read (any) Freud
    busca una secretaria bilingüe he's looking for a bilingual secretary
    ]
    2
    (introduciendo el complemento indirecto): le escribió una carta a su padre he wrote a letter to his father, he wrote his father a letter
    dáselo/dáselos a ella give it/them to her
    les enseña inglés a mis hijos she teaches my children English
    suave al tacto soft to the touch
    agradable al oído pleasing to the ear
    3
    (indicando procedencia): se lo compré a una gitana I bought it from o ( colloq) off a gipsy
    F
    enséñale a nadar teach him to swim
    fue a preguntar he went to ask
    a que + SUBJ:
    los instó a que participaran he urged them to take part
    voy a ir a que me hagan un chequeo I'm going to go and have a checkup
    2 ( fam)
    (para): ¿a qué tanta ceremonia? what's all the fuss for?
    ¿a qué le fuiste a decir eso? what did you go and tell him that for?
    3
    a por ( Esp fam): bajo a por pan I'm going down to get some bread o for some bread ( colloq)
    ¿quién va a ir a por los niños? who's going to fetch o get the children?
    ¡a por ello! go for it!
    los puntos a tratar en la reunión de mañana the points to be discussed at tomorrow's meeting
    es una idea a tener en cuenta it's an idea to bear in mind o that should be borne in mind
    total a pagar total payable
    horario a convenir hours to be arranged
    H
    1
    (en órdenes): ¡a la cama, niños! off to bed, children!
    ¡a callar! shut up! ( colloq)
    vamos ¡a trabajar! come on, let's get some work done!
    a decir verdad to tell you the truth
    a juzgar por lo que tú dices judging from what you say
    3 ( fam)
    (en cuanto a): a tozudo no hay quien le gane when it comes to being stubborn there's nobody like him
    4
    (indicando causa): a petición del interesado ( frml); at the request of the interested party
    al + INF:
    al no saber idiomas está en desventaja as he doesn't speak any languages he is at a disadvantage, he's at a disadvantage not speaking any languages
    5
    (expresando desafío): ¿a que no sabes qué nota me puso? you'll never guess what mark she gave me!
    tú no te atreverías — ¿a que sí? you wouldn't dare — do you want to o a bet? ( colloq)
    ¡a que no puedes! bet you can't! ( colloq)
    * * *

    Multiple Entries:
    A    
    a
    A,
    ◊ a sustantivo femenino (pl aes) (read as /a/) the letter A, a

    a preposición Nota:
    La preposición a suele emplearse precedida de ciertos verbos como empezar, ir, oler, sonar etc, en cuyo caso ver bajo el respectivo verbo.No se traduce cuando introduce el complemento directo de persona (ser humano, pronombres personales que lo representan, como quien, alguien, algún etc) o un nombre con un objeto o animal personalizado: amo a mi patria = I love my country, paseo a mi perro = I walk my dog.En los casos en que precede al artículo definido el para formar la contracción al, ver bajo la siguiente entrada, donde también se encontrarán otros ejemplos y usos de a.
    1

    ◊ voy a México/la tienda I'm going to Mexico/to the shop;

    voy a casa I'm going home;
    se cayó al río she fell into the river


    a orillas del Ebro on the banks of the Ebro;
    se sentó al sol he sat in the sun;
    se sentó a mi derecha he sat down on my right


    2
    a) (señalando hora, momento) at;


    a la hora de comer at lunch time;
    ¿a qué hora vengo? what time shall I come?;
    a mediados de abril in mid-April;
    al día siguiente the next o following day

    ◊ hoy estamos a lunes/a 20 today is Monday/it's the 20th today

    c) al + inf:


    al enterarse de la noticia when he learnt o on learning the news



    ( antes) a few minutes before she arrived;

    3 (en relaciones de proporción, equivalencia):

    sale a 100 euros cada uno it works out at 100 euros each;
    a 100 kilómetros por hora (at) 100 kilometers per hour;
    nos ganaron cinco a tres they beat us five three o (AmE) five to three
    4 (indicando modo, medio, estilo):
    ◊ a pie/a caballo on foot/on horseback;

    a crédito on credit;
    funciona a pilas it runs on batteries;
    a mano by hand;
    a rayas striped;
    vestirse a lo punk to wear punk clothes
    5

    ◊ ¿viste a José? did you see José?;

    no he leído a Freud I haven't read (any) Freud


    dáselo a ella give it to her;
    les enseña inglés a mis hijos she teaches my children English;
    le echó (la) llave a la puerta she locked the door

    ◊ se lo compré a una gitana I bought it from o (colloq) off a gipsy

    A, a f (letra) A
    'A' also found in these entries:
    Spanish:
    a. C.
    - a.m.
    - abajeña
    - abajeño
    - abanderada
    - abanderado
    - abandonar
    - abandonada
    - abandonado
    - abanico
    - abarquillada
    - abarquillado
    - abarrotada
    - abarrotado
    - abasto
    - abatida
    - abatido
    - abatirse
    - abdicar
    - aberración
    - abertura
    - abierta
    - abierto
    - abigarrada
    - abigarrado
    - abigarrar
    - ablandar
    - ablusada
    - ablusado
    - abnegada
    - abnegado
    - abobada
    - abobado
    - abocada
    - abocado
    - abogacía
    - abogada
    - abogado
    - abombada
    - abombado
    - abonar
    - abonada
    - abonado
    - abonarse
    - abono
    - abordar
    - abordaje
    - aborregar
    - abortar
    - abortiva
    English:
    A
    - A-level
    - a.m.
    - abandon
    - abandoned
    - abide by
    - ability
    - abject
    - abnormal
    - aboard
    - aborigine
    - abortion
    - abortive
    - about
    - above
    - above-board
    - above-mentioned
    - abrasive
    - abreast
    - abridged
    - abrupt
    - absent
    - absent-minded
    - absolute
    - absolutely
    - absorbed
    - abstemious
    - abstract
    - absurd
    - abundant
    - abuse
    - abusive
    - abysmal
    - academic
    - academy
    - accede
    - accent
    - acceptable
    - access
    - accident-prone
    - accidental
    - accidentally
    - acclimatized
    - accommodate
    - accommodation
    - accomplish
    - accomplished
    - account
    - account for
    - accountable
    * * *
    A
    1. (abrev de autopista) Br M, US freeway
    2. (abrev de alfil) [en notación de ajedrez] B
    A, a [a] nf
    [letra] A, a;
    si por a o por be… if for any reason…
    * * *
    a
    prp
    al este de to the east of;
    a casa home;
    ir a la cama/al cine go to bed/to the movies;
    ¡a trabajar! get to work!;
    vamos a Buenos Aires we’re going to Buenos Aires;
    voy a casa de Marta I’m going to Marta’s (house)
    a la mesa at the table;
    al lado de next to;
    a la derecha on the right;
    al sol in the sun;
    a treinta kilómetros de Cuzco thirty kilometers from Cuzco;
    está a cinco kilómetros it’s five kilometers away
    :
    ¿a qué hora llegas? what time do you arrive?;
    a las tres at three o’clock;
    de once a doce from eleven (o’clock) to twelve;
    estamos a quince de febrero it’s February fifteenth;
    a los treinta años at the age of thirty;
    a la llegada del tren when the train arrives
    :
    a la española the Spanish way;
    a mano by hand;
    a pie on foot;
    a 50 kilómetros por hora at fifty kilometers an hour
    :
    ¿a cómo o
    cuánto está? how much is it?;
    están a dos pesos el kilo they are two pesos a kilo
    :
    dáselo a tu hermano give it to your brother
    :
    vi a mi padre I saw my father
    :
    empezar a begin to;
    jugar a las cartas play cards;
    decidirse a hacer algo decide to do sth;
    voy a comprarlo I’m going to buy it;
    a decir verdad to tell the truth
    :
    ¿a que no lo sabes? I bet you don’t know;
    a ver OK, right;
    a ver lo que pasa ahora let’s see what happens now
    abr (= alias) aka (= also known as)
    * * *
    a nf
    : first letter of the Spanish alphabet
    a prep
    1) : to
    nos vamos a México: we're going to Mexico
    ¿llamaste a tu papá?: did you call your dad?
    como a usted le guste: as you wish
    3) : in the manner of
    papas a la francesa: french fries
    4) : on, by means of
    a pie: on foot
    5) : per, each
    tres pastillas al día: three pills per day
    enséñales a leer: teach them to read
    problemas a resolver: problems to be solved
    * * *
    a prep
    3. (distancia) away
    está a un kilómetro de aquí it's one kilometre from here / it's one kilometre away
    4. (tiempo) at
    5. (distribución, cantidad, medida, precio) a / at
    tocamos a 1.000 cada uno it works out at 1,000 each
    fui a pie I walked / I went on foot
    hecho a mano handmade / made by hand
    ¿has visto a Iván? have you seen Iván?
    9. (para) for
    10. (de) from

    Spanish-English dictionary > a

  • 4 near cash

    !
    гос. фин. The resource budget contains a separate control total for “near cash” expenditure, that is expenditure such as pay and current grants which impacts directly on the measure of the golden rule.
    This paper provides background information on the framework for the planning and control of public expenditure in the UK which has been operated since the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). It sets out the different classifications of spending for budgeting purposes and why these distinctions have been adopted. It discusses how the public expenditure framework is designed to ensure both sound public finances and an outcome-focused approach to public expenditure.
    The UK's public spending framework is based on several key principles:
    "
    consistency with a long-term, prudent and transparent regime for managing the public finances as a whole;
    " "
    the judgement of success by policy outcomes rather than resource inputs;
    " "
    strong incentives for departments and their partners in service delivery to plan over several years and plan together where appropriate so as to deliver better public services with greater cost effectiveness; and
    "
    the proper costing and management of capital assets to provide the right incentives for public investment.
    The Government sets policy to meet two firm fiscal rules:
    "
    the Golden Rule states that over the economic cycle, the Government will borrow only to invest and not to fund current spending; and
    "
    the Sustainable Investment Rule states that net public debt as a proportion of GDP will be held over the economic cycle at a stable and prudent level. Other things being equal, net debt will be maintained below 40 per cent of GDP over the economic cycle.
    Achievement of the fiscal rules is assessed by reference to the national accounts, which are produced by the Office for National Statistics, acting as an independent agency. The Government sets its spending envelope to comply with these fiscal rules.
    Departmental Expenditure Limits ( DEL) and Annually Managed Expenditure (AME)
    "
    Departmental Expenditure Limit ( DEL) spending, which is planned and controlled on a three year basis in Spending Reviews; and
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    Annually Managed Expenditure ( AME), which is expenditure which cannot reasonably be subject to firm, multi-year limits in the same way as DEL. AME includes social security benefits, local authority self-financed expenditure, debt interest, and payments to EU institutions.
    More information about DEL and AME is set out below.
    In Spending Reviews, firm DEL plans are set for departments for three years. To ensure consistency with the Government's fiscal rules departments are set separate resource (current) and capital budgets. The resource budget contains a separate control total for “near cash” expenditure, that is expenditure such as pay and current grants which impacts directly on the measure of the golden rule.
    To encourage departments to plan over the medium term departments may carry forward unspent DEL provision from one year into the next and, subject to the normal tests for tautness and realism of plans, may be drawn down in future years. This end-year flexibility also removes any incentive for departments to use up their provision as the year end approaches with less regard to value for money. For the full benefits of this flexibility and of three year plans to feed through into improved public service delivery, end-year flexibility and three year budgets should be cascaded from departments to executive agencies and other budget holders.
    Three year budgets and end-year flexibility give those managing public services the stability to plan their operations on a sensible time scale. Further, the system means that departments cannot seek to bid up funds each year (before 1997, three year plans were set and reviewed in annual Public Expenditure Surveys). So the credibility of medium-term plans has been enhanced at both central and departmental level.
    Departments have certainty over the budgetary allocation over the medium term and these multi-year DEL plans are strictly enforced. Departments are expected to prioritise competing pressures and fund these within their overall annual limits, as set in Spending Reviews. So the DEL system provides a strong incentive to control costs and maximise value for money.
    There is a small centrally held DEL Reserve. Support from the Reserve is available only for genuinely unforeseeable contingencies which departments cannot be expected to manage within their DEL.
    AME typically consists of programmes which are large, volatile and demand-led, and which therefore cannot reasonably be subject to firm multi-year limits. The biggest single element is social security spending. Other items include tax credits, Local Authority Self Financed Expenditure, Scottish Executive spending financed by non-domestic rates, and spending financed from the proceeds of the National Lottery.
    AME is reviewed twice a year as part of the Budget and Pre-Budget Report process reflecting the close integration of the tax and benefit system, which was enhanced by the introduction of tax credits.
    AME is not subject to the same three year expenditure limits as DEL, but is still part of the overall envelope for public expenditure. Affordability is taken into account when policy decisions affecting AME are made. The Government has committed itself not to take policy measures which are likely to have the effect of increasing social security or other elements of AME without taking steps to ensure that the effects of those decisions can be accommodated prudently within the Government's fiscal rules.
    Given an overall envelope for public spending, forecasts of AME affect the level of resources available for DEL spending. Cautious estimates and the AME margin are built in to these AME forecasts and reduce the risk of overspending on AME.
    Together, DEL plus AME sum to Total Managed Expenditure (TME). TME is a measure drawn from national accounts. It represents the current and capital spending of the public sector. The public sector is made up of central government, local government and public corporations.
    Resource and Capital Budgets are set in terms of accruals information. Accruals information measures resources as they are consumed rather than when the cash is paid. So for example the Resource Budget includes a charge for depreciation, a measure of the consumption or wearing out of capital assets.
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    Non cash charges in budgets do not impact directly on the fiscal framework. That may be because the national accounts use a different way of measuring the same thing, for example in the case of the depreciation of departmental assets. Or it may be that the national accounts measure something different: for example, resource budgets include a cost of capital charge reflecting the opportunity cost of holding capital; the national accounts include debt interest.
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    Within the Resource Budget DEL, departments have separate controls on:
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    Near cash spending, the sub set of Resource Budgets which impacts directly on the Golden Rule; and
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    The amount of their Resource Budget DEL that departments may spend on running themselves (e.g. paying most civil servants’ salaries) is limited by Administration Budgets, which are set in Spending Reviews. Administration Budgets are used to ensure that as much money as practicable is available for front line services and programmes. These budgets also help to drive efficiency improvements in departments’ own activities. Administration Budgets exclude the costs of frontline services delivered directly by departments.
    The Budget preceding a Spending Review sets an overall envelope for public spending that is consistent with the fiscal rules for the period covered by the Spending Review. In the Spending Review, the Budget AME forecast for year one of the Spending Review period is updated, and AME forecasts are made for the later years of the Spending Review period.
    The 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review ( CSR), which was published in July 1998, was a comprehensive review of departmental aims and objectives alongside a zero-based analysis of each spending programme to determine the best way of delivering the Government's objectives. The 1998 CSR allocated substantial additional resources to the Government's key priorities, particularly education and health, for the three year period from 1999-2000 to 2001-02.
    Delivering better public services does not just depend on how much money the Government spends, but also on how well it spends it. Therefore the 1998 CSR introduced Public Service Agreements (PSAs). Each major government department was given its own PSA setting out clear targets for achievements in terms of public service improvements.
    The 1998 CSR also introduced the DEL/ AME framework for the control of public spending, and made other framework changes. Building on the investment and reforms delivered by the 1998 CSR, successive spending reviews in 2000, 2002 and 2004 have:
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    provided significant increase in resources for the Government’s priorities, in particular health and education, and cross-cutting themes such as raising productivity; extending opportunity; and building strong and secure communities;
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    enabled the Government significantly to increase investment in public assets and address the legacy of under investment from past decades. Departmental Investment Strategies were introduced in SR2000. As a result there has been a steady increase in public sector net investment from less than ¾ of a per cent of GDP in 1997-98 to 2¼ per cent of GDP in 2005-06, providing better infrastructure across public services;
    " "
    introduced further refinements to the performance management framework. PSA targets have been reduced in number over successive spending reviews from around 300 to 110 to give greater focus to the Government’s highest priorities. The targets have become increasingly outcome-focused to deliver further improvements in key areas of public service delivery across Government. They have also been refined in line with the conclusions of the Devolving Decision Making Review to provide a framework which encourages greater devolution and local flexibility. Technical Notes were introduced in SR2000 explaining how performance against each PSA target will be measured; and
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    not only allocated near cash spending to departments, but also – since SR2002 - set Resource DEL plans for non cash spending.
    To identify what further investments and reforms are needed to equip the UK for the global challenges of the decade ahead, on 19 July 2005 the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced that the Government intends to launch a second Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) reporting in 2007.
    A decade on from the first CSR, the 2007 CSR will represent a long-term and fundamental review of government expenditure. It will cover departmental allocations for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010 11. Allocations for 2007-08 will be held to the agreed figures already announced by the 2004 Spending Review. To provide a rigorous analytical framework for these departmental allocations, the Government will be taking forward a programme of preparatory work over 2006 involving:
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    an assessment of what the sustained increases in spending and reforms to public service delivery have achieved since the first CSR. The assessment will inform the setting of new objectives for the decade ahead;
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    an examination of the key long-term trends and challenges that will shape the next decade – including demographic and socio-economic change, globalisation, climate and environmental change, global insecurity and technological change – together with an assessment of how public services will need to respond;
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    to release the resources needed to address these challenges, and to continue to secure maximum value for money from public spending over the CSR period, a set of zero-based reviews of departments’ baseline expenditure to assess its effectiveness in delivering the Government’s long-term objectives; together with
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    further development of the efficiency programme, building on the cross cutting areas identified in the Gershon Review, to embed and extend ongoing efficiency savings into departmental expenditure planning.
    The 2007 CSR also offers the opportunity to continue to refine the PSA framework so that it drives effective delivery and the attainment of ambitious national standards.
    Public Service Agreements (PSAs) were introduced in the 1998 CSR. They set out agreed targets detailing the outputs and outcomes departments are expected to deliver with the resources allocated to them. The new spending regime places a strong emphasis on outcome targets, for example in providing for better health and higher educational standards or service standards. The introduction in SR2004 of PSA ‘standards’ will ensure that high standards in priority areas are maintained.
    The Government monitors progress against PSA targets, and departments report in detail twice a year in their annual Departmental Reports (published in spring) and in their autumn performance reports. These reports provide Parliament and the public with regular updates on departments’ performance against their targets.
    Technical Notes explain how performance against each PSA target will be measured.
    To make the most of both new investment and existing assets, there needs to be a coherent long term strategy against which investment decisions are taken. Departmental Investment Strategies (DIS) set out each department's plans to deliver the scale and quality of capital stock needed to underpin its objectives. The DIS includes information about the department's existing capital stock and future plans for that stock, as well as plans for new investment. It also sets out the systems that the department has in place to ensure that it delivers its capital programmes effectively.
    This document was updated on 19 December 2005.
    Near-cash resource expenditure that has a related cash implication, even though the timing of the cash payment may be slightly different. For example, expenditure on gas or electricity supply is incurred as the fuel is used, though the cash payment might be made in arrears on aquarterly basis. Other examples of near-cash expenditure are: pay, rental.Net cash requirement the upper limit agreed by Parliament on the cash which a department may draw from theConsolidated Fund to finance the expenditure within the ambit of its Request forResources. It is equal to the agreed amount of net resources and net capital less non-cashitems and working capital.Non-cash cost costs where there is no cash transaction but which are included in a body’s accounts (or taken into account in charging for a service) to establish the true cost of all the resourcesused.Non-departmental a body which has a role in the processes of government, but is not a government public body, NDPBdepartment or part of one. NDPBs accordingly operate at arm’s length from governmentMinisters.Notional cost of a cost which is taken into account in setting fees and charges to improve comparability with insuranceprivate sector service providers.The charge takes account of the fact that public bodies donot generally pay an insurance premium to a commercial insurer.the independent body responsible for collecting and publishing official statistics about theUK’s society and economy. (At the time of going to print legislation was progressing tochange this body to the Statistics Board).Office of Government an office of the Treasury, with a status similar to that of an agency, which aims to maximise Commerce, OGCthe government’s purchasing power for routine items and combine professional expertiseto bear on capital projects.Office of the the government department responsible for discharging the Paymaster General’s statutoryPaymaster General,responsibilities to hold accounts and make payments for government departments and OPGother public bodies.Orange bookthe informal title for Management of Risks: Principles and Concepts, which is published by theTreasury for the guidance of public sector bodies.Office for NationalStatistics, ONS60Managing Public Money
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    GLOSSARYOverdraftan account with a negative balance.Parliament’s formal agreement to authorise an activity or expenditure.Prerogative powerspowers exercisable under the Royal Prerogative, ie powers which are unique to the Crown,as contrasted with common-law powers which may be available to the Crown on the samebasis as to natural persons.Primary legislationActs which have been passed by the Westminster Parliament and, where they haveappropriate powers, the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Begin asBills until they have received Royal Assent.arrangements under which a public sector organisation contracts with a private sectorentity to construct a facility and provide associated services of a specified quality over asustained period. See annex 7.5.Proprietythe principle that patterns of resource consumption should respect Parliament’s intentions,conventions and control procedures, including any laid down by the PAC. See box 2.4.Public Accountssee Committee of Public Accounts.CommitteePublic corporationa trading body controlled by central government, local authority or other publiccorporation that has substantial day to day operating independence. See section 7.8.Public Dividend finance provided by government to public sector bodies as an equity stake; an alternative to Capital, PDCloan finance.Public Service sets out what the public can expect the government to deliver with its resources. EveryAgreement, PSAlarge government department has PSA(s) which specify deliverables as targets or aimsrelated to objectives.a structured arrangement between a public sector and a private sector organisation tosecure an outcome delivering good value for money for the public sector. It is classified tothe public or private sector according to which has more control.Rate of returnthe financial remuneration delivered by a particular project or enterprise, expressed as apercentage of the net assets employed.Regularitythe principle that resource consumption should accord with the relevant legislation, therelevant delegated authority and this document. See box 2.4.Request for the functional level into which departmental Estimates may be split. RfRs contain a number Resources, RfRof functions being carried out by the department in pursuit of one or more of thatdepartment’s objectives.Resource accountan accruals account produced in line with the Financial Reporting Manual (FReM).Resource accountingthe system under which budgets, Estimates and accounts are constructed in a similar wayto commercial audited accounts, so that both plans and records of expenditure allow in fullfor the goods and services which are to be, or have been, consumed – ie not just the cashexpended.Resource budgetthe means by which the government plans and controls the expenditure of resources tomeet its objectives.Restitutiona legal concept which allows money and property to be returned to its rightful owner. Ittypically operates where another person can be said to have been unjustly enriched byreceiving such monies.Return on capital the ratio of profit to capital employed of an accounting entity during an identified period.employed, ROCEVarious measures of profit and of capital employed may be used in calculating the ratio.Public Privatepartnership, PPPPrivate Finance Initiative, PFIParliamentaryauthority61Managing Public Money
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    GLOSSARYRoyal charterthe document setting out the powers and constitution of a corporation established underprerogative power of the monarch acting on Privy Council advice.Second readingthe second formal time that a House of Parliament may debate a bill, although in practicethe first substantive debate on its content. If successful, it is deemed to denoteParliamentary approval of the principle of the proposed legislation.Secondary legislationlaws, including orders and regulations, which are made using powers in primary legislation.Normally used to set out technical and administrative provision in greater detail thanprimary legislation, they are subject to a less intense level of scrutiny in Parliament.European legislation is,however,often implemented in secondary legislation using powers inthe European Communities Act 1972.Service-level agreement between parties, setting out in detail the level of service to be performed.agreementWhere agreements are between central government bodies, they are not legally a contractbut have a similar function.Shareholder Executive a body created to improve the government’s performance as a shareholder in businesses.Spending reviewsets out the key improvements in public services that the public can expect over a givenperiod. It includes a thorough review of departmental aims and objectives to find the bestway of delivering the government’s objectives, and sets out the spending plans for the givenperiod.State aidstate support for a domestic body or company which could distort EU competition and sois not usually allowed. See annex 4.9.Statement of Excessa formal statement detailing departments’ overspends prepared by the Comptroller andAuditor General as a result of undertaking annual audits.Statement on Internal an annual statement that Accounting Officers are required to make as part of the accounts Control, SICon a range of risk and control issues.Subheadindividual elements of departmental expenditure identifiable in Estimates as single cells, forexample cell A1 being administration costs within a particular line of departmental spending.Supplyresources voted by Parliament in response to Estimates, for expenditure by governmentdepartments.Supply Estimatesa statement of the resources the government needs in the coming financial year, and forwhat purpose(s), by which Parliamentary authority is sought for the planned level ofexpenditure and income.Target rate of returnthe rate of return required of a project or enterprise over a given period, usually at least a year.Third sectorprivate sector bodies which do not act commercially,including charities,social and voluntaryorganisations and other not-for-profit collectives. See annex 7.7.Total Managed a Treasury budgeting term which covers all current and capital spending carried out by the Expenditure,TMEpublic sector (ie not just by central departments).Trading fundan organisation (either within a government department or forming one) which is largely orwholly financed from commercial revenue generated by its activities. Its Estimate shows itsnet impact, allowing its income from receipts to be devoted entirely to its business.Treasury Minutea formal administrative document drawn up by the Treasury, which may serve a wide varietyof purposes including seeking Parliamentary approval for the use of receipts asappropriations in aid, a remission of some or all of the principal of voted loans, andresponding on behalf of the government to reports by the Public Accounts Committee(PAC).62Managing Public Money
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    GLOSSARY63Managing Public MoneyValue for moneythe process under which organisation’s procurement, projects and processes aresystematically evaluated and assessed to provide confidence about suitability, effectiveness,prudence,quality,value and avoidance of error and other waste,judged for the public sectoras a whole.Virementthe process through which funds are moved between subheads such that additionalexpenditure on one is met by savings on one or more others.Votethe process by which Parliament approves funds in response to supply Estimates.Voted expenditureprovision for expenditure that has been authorised by Parliament. Parliament ‘votes’authority for public expenditure through the Supply Estimates process. Most expenditureby central government departments is authorised in this way.Wider market activity activities undertaken by central government organisations outside their statutory duties,using spare capacity and aimed at generating a commercial profit. See annex 7.6.Windfallmonies received by a department which were not anticipated in the spending review.
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    Англо-русский экономический словарь > near cash

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