Noun

(en-noun)

A hired soldier; an assassin; a desperado.

* {{quote-book, year=1753, author=Theophilus Cibber, title=The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753), chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=As for Rochester, he had not genius enough to enter the lists with Dryden, so he fell upon another method of revenge; and meanly hired bravoes to assault him.}}

* , title=Red Eve, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage="Why should I fight the King of England's bravoes ?" inquired Acour in a languid voice of those who stood about him, a question at which they laughed.}}

* 1953 , (Raymond Chandler), The Long Goodbye , Penguin 2010, page 104:

Because the headache will always be there, a weapon that never wears out and is as deadly as the bravo ’s rapier or Lucrezia's poison vial.

A shout of "!"

* {{quote-book, year=1907, author=Kate Dickinson Sweetser, title=Boys and girls from Thackeray, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=There was a roar of bravoes rang through the house; Pen bellowing with the loudest.}}

The letter B in the ICAO spelling alphabet.

Noun

The name of the first letter of the Greek alphabet ('''), followed by beta. In the Latin alphabet it is the predecessor to ' A .

Latin alpha

(science) The name of the symbols ?' and ' ? used in science and mathematics, often interchangeable with the symbols when used as a prefix.

:: I will attempt to make an alpha particle ("?-particle") with the large hadron collider.

(finance) The return of a given asset or portfolio adjusted for systematic risk.

An alpha male.

* 2008 , Faye Flam, The Score: How the Quest for Sex Has Shaped the Modern Man , Avery (2008), ISBN 9781436225786, unnumbered page:

Being a beta male in a species with alphas doesn't mean you have to sit out the mating game.

* 2008 , The New Black Lace Book of Women's Sexual Fantasies (ed. Mitzi Szereto), Black Lace (2008), ISBN 9780352341723, page 38:

I'm still turned on by alpha males. I think there are only a couple of other men that turn me on . . . ones that are clearly not alphas .

* 2009 , Martin G. Groder & Pat Webster, Winning at Love: The Alpha Male's Guide to Relationship Success , Bascom Hill Books (2009), ISBN 9781935456049, page ix:

This book is primarily for alpha males, or “top dogs.” We'll talk more about that later; but let's just say that if you are a man and successful in the world of trade, business, or profession, most likely you are an alpha', or you have been trained to ''act like'' an ' alpha .

(informal, abbreviation) Alphabet.

(computer graphics) The level of translucency of a color, as determined by the alpha channel.