Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb Being built or under construction, as a structure or a vessel.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

a- (“in, on”) +‎ building (“the act or process of building”)

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Examples

  • Miller's other magazine pix (including endearing set-ups featuring his daughter) conjure Norman Rockwell avant la lettre and his conventional shots (nudes, portraits) are more than competent, but it is his black-and-white documentaries, one of the Weston family at their zenith and one of the Hollywood Freeway a-building, that earn Miller a place not just in the LA Historical Society, but in LACMA.

    Blague d'art: Newstalgia 2010

  • The foundation stone was laid in 1675, and after 33 years a-building, Wren's architect son (also named Christopher) placed the last stone on the topmost spire above the lantern above the dome in 1708.

    Feb. 25, 1723: He Built His City With Rock and Rule 2008

  • The straws had a habit of accumulating into stacks and became magical for the making of bricks with which, even now, we would go a-building.

    G.K.C. - Distributist 2008

  • Telecom Act in the works, there's unbundling in Europe, fast fiber in Asia, wireless across Africa and networks a-building in cities and villages around the world.

    Boing Boing: January 16, 2005 - January 22, 2005 Archives 2005

  • And yet, that wish had nothing to do with a plan that must have been a-building for tens of tens of years.

    Aerie Lackey, Mercedes 2006

  • Even if the Magi of Alta were not in league with their Heyksin cousins, it still must have been a-building for that long.

    Aerie Lackey, Mercedes 2006

  • So the General's men will come down through the Cape Fear valley--he made a graceful swooping gesture with his hand-'meet the Governor and his troops-and pincer the rebel militias that are a-building.

    A Breath of Snow and Ashes Gabaldon, Diana 2005

  • They tell us this church was forty years a-building, and cost an immense sum of money; but it must be acknowledged that the inside of the work is not answerable in the decoration of things to the workmanship without.

    From London to Land's End 2003

  • They tell us this church was forty years a-building, and cost an immense sum of money; but it must be acknowledged that the inside of the work is not answerable in the decoration of things to the workmanship without.

    From London to Land's End 2003

  • They tell us this church was forty years a-building, and cost an immense sum of money; but it must be acknowledged that the inside of the work is not answerable in the decoration of things to the workmanship without.

    From London to Land's End 2003

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