-
Contents
author definition
Overview
This page has 7 definitions of author in English, Latin, and Middle English. Author is a noun and verb. Examples of how to use author in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .
English author definition
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English auctour, from Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augeō (“to increase, originate”). The h, also found in Middle French autheur, is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. The OED attributes the h to contamination by authentic.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɔː.θə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɔ.θɚ/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /ˈɑ.θɚ/
- (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈɒː.təɹ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɔːθə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: au‧thor
Noun
author (plural authors)
- The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition.
- The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- Eternal King; thee, Author of all being.
- 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
- During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]
- 1755, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language Preface
- The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.
- Have you read any Corinthian authors?
- 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
- During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]
- Someone who writes books for a living.
- (obsolete, criminal law) Principal.
- (obsolete) One's authority for something: an informant.
- 1699, Seven new Colloquies translated out of Erasmus
- Let me inform you en passant, Ladies, that those Villains the Heathens, as my Authors tell me, (and I thought it wou'd[sic] not be amiss to communicate such a nice Observation to this House) used to call our Saviour Chrestus, and not Christus, by way of Contempt and Derision […]
- 1699, Seven new Colloquies translated out of Erasmus
Synonyms
- (creator of a work): bookwright, creator, artist, subcreator, fabulator, writer
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
originator or creator of a work
|
|
writer — see writer
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Dictionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb
author (third-person singular simple present authors, present participle authoring, simple past and past participle authored)
- (chiefly US, sometimes proscribed) To create a work as its author.
Derived terms
Translations
to create a work as its author
Anagrams
Latin author definition
Pronunciation
Noun
author m (genitive authōris); third declension
- (proscribed) Alternative form of auctor
Declension
Third-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ||
| Genitive | ||
| Dative | ||
| Accusative | ||
| Ablative | ||
| Vocative |
References
- “author”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“auctor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press - auctor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 184f.
Middle English author definition
Noun
author
- Alternative form of auctour