A general term for books recording miscellaneous sayings, anecdotes, and gossip about a particular person or subject; the sayings and anecdotes themselves. See -ana.A word used in medical prescriptions in a distributive sense, as in Greek, to indicate an equal quantity of each: often written āā, earlier and more correctly āa, where the mark above the first a, according to general medieval practice, represented the omission of n. See tilde.n. See anna.n. A prefix of Greek origin, meaning up, upon, along, throughout, back, again, etc., as in anabasis.n. A suffix of Latin origin, in modern use with a euphonic variant, -i-ana, to form collective plurals, as Scaligerana, Johnsoniana, etc., applied to a collection of sayings of Scaliger, of Johnson, etc., or of anecdotes or gossip concerning them; also sometimes appended to common nouns, as boxiana (annals of pugilism); more recently extended to all the literature of a subject, as Americana, Shaksperiana, etc. Hence sometimes used as an independent word, ana. See ana.