"a-building" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "a",
        "3": "building",
        "gloss1": "in, on",
        "gloss2": "the act or process of building"
      },
      "expansion": "a- (“in, on”) + building (“the act or process of building”)",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "a- (“in, on”) + building (“the act or process of building”)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "a-building (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms prefixed with a-",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1890, William Morris, chapter XXVI, in News from Nowhere",
          "text": "This talk brought us up to the house that was a-building, not a large one, which stood at the end of a beautiful orchard surrounded by an old stone wall.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922, Eric Rücker Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, page 141",
          "text": "\"Of these nineteen ships a-building no more than two can take the water before a month be past, and but seven more ere six months' time, push we never so mightily the work.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Being built or under construction, as a structure or a vessel."
      ],
      "id": "en-a-building-en-adv-3Ezl7Y7F",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "abuilding"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "a-building"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "a",
        "3": "building",
        "gloss1": "in, on",
        "gloss2": "the act or process of building"
      },
      "expansion": "a- (“in, on”) + building (“the act or process of building”)",
      "name": "prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "a- (“in, on”) + building (“the act or process of building”)",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "a-building (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adverbs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms prefixed with a-",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncomparable adverbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1890, William Morris, chapter XXVI, in News from Nowhere",
          "text": "This talk brought us up to the house that was a-building, not a large one, which stood at the end of a beautiful orchard surrounded by an old stone wall.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1922, Eric Rücker Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros, page 141",
          "text": "\"Of these nineteen ships a-building no more than two can take the water before a month be past, and but seven more ere six months' time, push we never so mightily the work.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Being built or under construction, as a structure or a vessel."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "abuilding"
    }
  ],
  "word": "a-building"
}