A

A1 excellent; first-rate.

☞ The full form of this expression is A1 at Lloyd's. In Lloyd's Register of Shipping, the phrase was used of ships in first-class condition as to the hull (A) and stores (1). The US equivalent is A No. 1; both have been in figurative use since the mid 19th century.

from A to B from your starting point to your destination; from one place to another.

2013Daily Telegraph Tourists aren't interested in getting from A to B at maximum speed. They are interested in cost.

from A to Z over the entire range; in every particular.

☞ Dorothy Parker (allegedly) subverted the phrase with her comment on a performance of Katherine Hepburn's: She ran the whole gamut of the emotions from A to B.

2008Guardian Mohammed admitted last year to plotting 'from A to Z' the hijacking of four passenger planes that crashed into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.