Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The writer of a book, article, or other text.
  • noun One who practices writing as a profession.
  • noun One who writes or constructs an electronic document or system, such as a website.
  • noun An originator or creator, as of a theory or plan.
  • noun God.
  • transitive verb Usage Problem To write or be the author of (a published text).
  • transitive verb To write or construct (an electronic document or system).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To occasion; effect; do.
  • To be authority for; vouch for.
  • noun The beginner, former, or first mover of anything; he to whom something owes its origin; originator; creator; efficient cause: as, God is the author of the universe.
  • noun Cause: applied to things.
  • noun The original composer of a book or writing of any kind, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist.
  • noun [Often used elliptically for the literary production itself: as, the statement occurs in Pliny and other ancient authors.]
  • noun An editor: as, the author of the Gentleman's Magazine.
  • noun A person who authorizes a statement; an authority; an informant.
  • noun In Scots law, one from whom a title to property is derived either by inheritance or otherwise; especially, one from whom title is derived by purchase or otherwise than by way of descent.
  • noun plural A game of cards played with a special pack bearing the names of authors and their works.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The beginner, former, or first mover of anything; hence, the efficient cause of a thing; a creator; an originator.
  • noun One who composes or writes a book; a composer, as distinguished from an editor, translator, or compiler.
  • noun obsolete The editor of a periodical.
  • noun Archaic An informant.
  • transitive verb obsolete To occasion; to originate.
  • transitive verb obsolete To tell; to say; to declare.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition.
  • noun Someone who writes books for a living; a bookwright.
  • noun I, me. used in academic articles as first-person pronoun.
  • verb To create a work as its author.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
  • verb be the author of
  • noun someone who originates or causes or initiates something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English auctour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, creator, from auctus, past participle of augēre, to create; see aug- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augeō ("to increase, originate"). The h is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. This may be from the Middle French spelling autheur.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word author.

Examples

  • The author and the minister did their parts in the ordinary pursuit of their vocations; but the _author_ did his part impersonally and indirectly, whilst the _minister_ did his part personally and face to face.

    A Handful of Stars Texts That Have Moved Great Minds Frank Boreham 1915

  • It occupied a gratifying amount of space, and was introduced by a flattering biographical sketch of the author -- the _author_!

    The Promised Land Mary Antin 1915

  • To return to our former example: _All authors are vain_ is the same as -- Vanity is predicated of all authors; _Cicero is an author_ is the same as -- Cicero is identified as an author; therefore _Cicero is vain_, or -- Vanity may be predicated of Cicero.

    Logic Deductive and Inductive Carveth Read 1889

  • One hates an author that's _all author_ -- fellows

    The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 4 George Gordon Byron Byron 1806

  • The most common ones are • @version States the application version • @author States the name of the author (you can have multiple @author paragraphs) • @param Documents a method parameter (you can have multiple @param paragraphs) • @return Documents the value returned by a method •

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • To me (a * real* author) this sentence is intimidating for someone wanting to find out about CZ -- it seems to be saying that, "Well, you don't have to be an expert, BUT you have to be an * author*"!

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] Thomas H. Larsen 2009

  • If you're going to be first author and you absolutely will not accept a co-first* author* scenario, make that clear, but also be aware of what kinds of expectation that sets up.

    YoungFemaleScientist 2008

  • If you're going to be first author and you absolutely will not accept a co-first* author* scenario, make that clear, but also be aware of what kinds of expectation that sets up.

    YoungFemaleScientist 2008

  • The if ($author = = "author-id1") part checks to see if the value we extracted from the current post's information matches the predefined value.

    Pinotblogger: the Capozzi Winery blog 2008

  • * % author% - The author of the post, if available.

    Digital Point Forums alex190 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "The nifty winger, after all, has authored 26 game-winners since the start of the 2003-04 season" - Vancouver Sun, 1-4-08

    January 11, 2008

  • WORD: author

    DEFINITION: According to Kurt Vonnegut, an author is a writer who in his books creates imaginary worlds dangerously unlike real life.

    NOTE: This notion of Vonnegut's is key to understanding the underlying theme of Breakfast of Champions. And the danger inherent in creating imaginary worlds, constructs, and abstractions (e.g., membership groups like Vonnegut's " granfalloon underlies the central meaning of his novel Cat's Cradle.

    EXAMPLE:

    ' I had become more and more enraged and mystified by the idiot decisions made by my countrymen. Then I had come suddenly to pity them, for I understood how innocent and natural it was for them to behave so abominably, and with such abominable results: They were doing their best to live like people invented in story books. This was the reason Americans shot each other so often: It was a convenient literary device for ending short stories and books.

    ' Why were so many Americans treated by their governments as though their lives were as disposable as paper facial tissues? Because that was the way authors customarily treated bit-part players in their made-up tales.

    ' Once I understood what was making America such a dangerous, unhappy nation of people who had nothing to do with real life, I resolved to shun storytelling. I would write about life. . . Nothing would be left out. Let others bring order to chaos. I would bring chaos to order, instead, which I think I have done.

    ' If all writers would do that, then perhaps citizens not in the literary trades will understand that there is no order in the world around us, that we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead.'

    -- From Kurt Vonnegut's 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions -- Chapter 19 (pages 209 - 210).

    CITATION:

    1973 KURT VONNEGUT, JR. Breakfast of Champions, or, Goodbye Blue Monday (c) 1973 by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Delacorte Press / Seymour Lawrence. Second Printing.

    Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data:

    Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast of champions. I. Title.

    PZ4.V948BR PS3572.05 813'.5'4 72-13086

    August 27, 2013