writer definition

English writer definition

Etymology

From Middle English writer, writere, from Old English wrītere (“draughtsman; painter; writer; scribe; copyist”) and ġewritere (“writer; composer”), equivalent to write +‎ -er and writ +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.tə/, [ˈɹ̠aɪtə]

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.təɹ/, [ˈɹ̠ăɪɾɚ]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.təɹ/, [ˈɹ̠ʌɪɾɚ]
• Rhymes: -aɪtə(ɹ)
• Homophone: rider (in some accents)

Noun

writer (plural writers)

1. A person who writes, or produces literary work.

   Has your girlfriend written you another letter already? She’s quite a writer!

   I met some of my favourite authors at the writers' convention.

   • 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed [by Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, OCLC 932915040, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection iv, page 298:

     Beautie alone is a ſoveraigne remedy againſt feare,griefe,and all melancholy fits; a charm,as Peter de la Seine and many other writers affirme,a banquet it ſelfe;he gives inſtance in diſcontented Menelaus that was ſo often freed by Helenas faire face: and ^hTully, 3 Tusc. cites Epicurus as a chiefe patron of this Tenent.

2. Anything that writes or produces output.
   • 2001, Cay S. Horstmann, Gary Cornell, Core Java 2: Fundamentals (page 715)

     If the writer is set to autoflush mode, then all characters in the buffer are sent to their destination whenever println is called.

3. (finance) The seller of an option.
4. (historical) A clerk of a certain rank in the service of the East India Company, who, after serving a certain number of years, became a factor.
5. (Scotland) An ordinary legal practitioner in Scottish country towns.
6. (US) A petty officer in the United States navy who keeps the watch-muster and other books of the ship.

   Synonyms: ship writer, ship's writer

Synonyms

• author
• See also Thesaurus:writer

Derived terms

Related terms

• write
• writing

Translations

Anagrams

• rewrit, werrit

Middle English writer definition

Alternative forms

• wryter, writere, wrytter, wrytere, wrijtere

Etymology

From Old English wrītere; can be synchronically analysed as writen +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwriːtər(ə)/

Noun

writer (plural writers)

1. A draughtsman, or copyist; one who notes down the words of another.
2. A record-keeper or annalist; one who records significant events.
3. A writer or author; one who writes.
4. (rare) One who produces a translation.

Related terms

• writen

Descendants

• English: writer
• Scots: writer

References

• “wrīter(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-30.