▪ I.†ad,n.1 Obs.1–3. Also 3 od.[OE.ád cogn. w. O. andMHG.eit,Goth.*aids;Gr.αῖθος fire, burning heat. Themod.repr.would be ode.]A fire, a blazing pile, a funeral pyre.a900Leiden Gl., Sweet O.E.T. 114, 95Rogus: beel vel aad.
c1000Poetry of Codex Vercellensis 1898 (1846) ii. 56And on fyrbæðe suslum beþrungen siððan wunodest ade onæled.
c1220Leg.Kath. 1364Bed bringen o brune a fur amidde þe burh[v.r. an ad].
c1225in WrightVocab.94/2,Rogus od.
▪ II.ad,n.2|æd|Colloq.abbrev.of advertisement and advertising. Also attrib.and Comb., as ad-man, admass.1841W. M. Thackeray inBritannia 1 May 284/1,I'll have my books properly reviewed; or else, I'll withdraw my ads.
1852Househ.Words V. 5/2We know that the really interesting ‘ads.’ are in the body of the paper.
1902HowellsLit.& Life 268Ad is a loathly little word, but we must come to it. It's as legitimate as lunch.
1909Collier's 22 May 15/2So in a sense, the ad-man is a public entertainer.
1919[see wantn.2].
1922JoyceUlysses 158Best paper by long chalks for a smallad.
1933Scrutiny I. 400Like all successful ad-men he has come to believe quite uncritically in what he sells.
1942M. McCarthyCompany she Keeps (1943) v. 132He was the Average ThinkingMan..that..ad-writers try to frighten.
1957Observer 10 Nov. 15/4That side of modern life..which bears the finger-smears of thead.man.
1958Ibid.28 Sept. 21/7The heroine..is straight out of thead.pages in the shiny feminine magazines.
1959Spectator 19 June 875/2,I cannot change my opinion..that ‘admags’ in their present form are contrary to the intentions of the framers of the TV Act.
▪ III.ad,n.3 Tennis colloq.|æd|[Abbrev.]=advantagen.2. Freq. attrib., in ad court, ad point.1928inFunk'sStand.Dict.
1979J. KramerGame (1981) viii. 134In the final set, when I was ahead only 4-3, I hit the chalk with a backhand volley to save an ad Frankie held against my serve.
1986New Yorker 13 Oct. 137/3Mecir, with Becker serving, fought off three ad points that Becker held. He then went to ad himself with a tremendous backhand return.
1990Tennis July 80/2His serve spins away in the ad court, forcing you to change the direction of the ball.
▪ IV.ad,n.4 slang. rare.|æd|Also add.[Abbrev.of addictn.]A drug addict.1938Amer.Speech XIII. 180/1Ad. or add., a narcotic addict, especially a needle-addict.
1951Evening Sun (Baltimore) 27 Mar. 4/1Depending on the type of ‘junk’ he was using and the place and method of administration, he was an ‘ad’.
1976Amer.Speech 1973 XLVIII. 208With the drug explosion, large hospitals have increasingly admitted more ads ‘addicts’ who have taken an OD ‘overdose’.
