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Words that start with A

Angry anteaters arguing against albino antelopes.

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Ais forAlum

Alum could refer to either a specific mineral, or a general class of similar ones. ( /?æl?m/) is both a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The mineral usually referred to as alum is hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate.
Alum is an effective blood coagulant, and used to be sold in blocks as part of shaving kits. You use it to stop shaving cuts from bleeding.
Aluminium, also spelt aluminum, is the most common metal in the world, and the third most common element (after oxygen and silicon). It is durable and lightweight, and is a very important metal for making planes out of.
Aluminium is highly reactive and you cannot find pure aluminium in the same way you can find pure gold or copper, so it was once considered a rare precious metal. It is a very energy intensive process to refine aluminium.
Aluminium is used for building (particularly frames for doors and windows) and vehicle construction, household aluminium foil, masts on ships, walking sticks, and lots of household utensils and appliances.

Ais forAlyssum

Alyssum is a small, annual plant that grows to about 20cm high. It is sometimes known as sweet alyssum or sweet Alison. It flowers for most of the year, and makes a pretty ground cover. It has bundles of tiny flowers in shades of white, purple and pink. Alyssum copes well with heat, drought and frost and is a very hardy cottage garden plant.

Ais forAmaranth

Amaranths are a large group of plants that include some fast-growing weeds. Some varieties of amaranth, particularly the grain amaranth, grow a large crop of highly-nutritious seeds, and are sometimes referred to as the 'crop of the future'.
Some species of amaranth have edible leaves and can be cooked or eaten raw as a salad vegetable.

Ais forAmber

Amber is fossilised tree resin. It is a deep orange colour, and sometimes has insects trapped in it.
An ambulance is a type of van that is used to take sick or injured people to a hospital or doctor's surgery. Ambulances often have emergency equipment in them so ambulance officers can save people's lives when they arrive instead of just driving them to the hospital. Ambulances are also used to take people from one hospital to another.
The word 'ambulance' is written backwards on the front of an ambulance so people in cars can read the writing in their rear view mirrors.

Ais forAmethyst

Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz, with the purple colour coming from trace amounts of iron and aluminium. Amethyst is a popular stone for making jewelry from.
Ammunition relates to anything needed for firing a weapon, such as the supply of bullets and any other supplies like priming powder. Ammunition can also be used to describe spent parts of the ammunition after the weapon has been fired.
An ampersand is a symbol that represents the word and.
An amplifier is a device that increases the amplitude of a signal. For most people, this means it takes sound and makes it louder. Modern amplifiers also take incoming electrical signals and turn them into sound. When you plug headphones into your iPod, the amplifier in the headphones converts the signal from the iPod into sounds.

Ais forAmputee

An amputee is someone who has had one or more limbs removed. People are most likely to lose a limb through an accident of some kind.

Ais forAn

You use the word an instead of a in front of a word that starts with a vowel.

For example, "I saw an elephant".

Ais forAnal

Anal is anything to do with the anus. It is often used in slang to describe anyone who is very fussy or pedantic.

Ais forAnchor

An anchor is a device that is used to stop a ship or boat from drifting away. Anchors are made from heavy metal, and are hooked so they catch onto the seabed. They are attached to the ship by a long chain or rope, and are let down when the ship needs to be still, and lifted up when the ship needs to move again.

Ais forAnchovy

Anchovies are small, oily fish that are usually preserved in brine and matured. This process gives them a very strong flavour. Anchovies are used on pizza, on Caesar salad and as an ingredient in numerous other dishes. They are one of the main ingredients of Worcestershire Sauce.

Ais forAncient

Something is ancient if it is from the distant past, or is very old. Most things that are described as ancient are from civilizations that have since fallen.

Ais forAnd

And is a word that is used for connecting two other words together. For example:

"Anne and Mary went for a walk."

"3 and 5 is 8."

"I went to the shop to buy milk, bread and eggs."

You can also write and as an ampersand.

Ais forAnemone

Sea anemones are closely related to coral and jellyfish. They eat small sea creatures and small fish that drift past them into their tentacles. The tentacles have poison in them, and the anemone stings them to kill them before it eats them.
Sea anemones spend most of their lives stuck to the same rock or other surface, but can unstick themselves and swim to a new rock if conditions aren't good for them, such as if their rock dries out for too long or something is trying to eat or damage the anemone.
Sea anemones can reproduce in the usual way by releasing eggs and sperm, but they can also reproduce by budding off new anemones or by splitting themselves in half to form a new anemone.

Ais forAngel

An angel is a messenger from a divine being. They are usually drawn as a person with wings. The picture is an imagining of an angel on the way to work.