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author

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Author

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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. Doublet of auteur.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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author (plural authors)

  1. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a collaborative work.
    The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.
    Have you read any Corinthian authors?
    This paper has three authors.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      Eternal King; thee, Author of all being.
    • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond‎[1]:
      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 April 15, Samuel Johnson, “Preface”, in A Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume I (A–K), London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton;  […], →OCLC:
      The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.
    • 2025 September 6, Catherine Pearson, “She Started the Debate About Kids and Phones. Now She Wants to End It.”, in The New York Times‎[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 September 2025:
      [Jean] Twenge […] isn’t necessarily a household name like her sometimes collaborator Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and the author of the megahit “The Anxious Generation,” which has spent 75 weeks hovering near the top of the New York Times best-seller list.
    • 2025 September 27, Julia Jacobo, “Million-year-old skull could rewrite timeline of human origin, researchers say”, in ABC News‎[3], archived from the original on 14 February 2026:
      "The cranium is clearly plesiomorphic in overall form, presenting primitive traits shared by earlier hominins," the authors wrote.
  2. (US copyright law) The initial owner of the copyright to a work, especially a work made for hire or a work of corporate authorship.
    The author named on the copyright registration for the Android robot is Google Inc.
  3. Someone who writes books for a living.
  4. (obsolete, criminal law) Principal; the primary participant in a crime.
    • 1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 10, page 158:
      We hear […] of fratricidal murders, and stern reprisals on their authors.
    • 1894, Franco-Siamese Mixed Court, The Case of Kieng Chek (Kham Muon) before the Franco-Siamese Mixed Court‎[4], Bangkok: n.p., page 4:
      Accomplices of a crime or an offence shall incur the same punishment as the authors of such a crime or offence, except when the law will have disposed otherwise.
  5. (archaic) 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 […]
    • a. 1895 (date written), Robert Louis Stevenson, “Winter on the Moors: 3. A Border Family.”, in S[idney] C[olvin], editor, Weir of Hermiston: An Unfinished Romance, London: Chatto and Windus […], published 1896, →OCLC, page 122:
      'Wanting the hat,' continues my author, Kirstie, whom I but haltingly follow, for she told this tale like one inspired, 'wanting guns, for there wasna twa grains o' pouder in the house, wi' nae mair weepons than their sticks into their hands, the fower o' them took the road.
      [T]here wasn't two grains of powder in the house, with no more weapons than their sticks into their hands, the four of them took the road.
  6. (figurative) The creator or cause of anything.
    • 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg, published March 1915, →OCLC, page 132:
      The other, standing nearly head-on toward the hunters, had not proved so good a mark, and though every spear struck not one entered the great heart. For a moment the huge bull stood trumpeting in rage and pain, casting about with its little eyes for the author of its hurt.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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author (third-person singular simple present authors, present participle authoring, simple past and past participle authored)

  1. (chiefly US, sometimes proscribed) To create a work as its author.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Etymology

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Late variant of auctor and autor under influence of descendants such as English author.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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author m (genitive authōris); third declension

  1. (New Latin, proscribed) alternative form of auctor: source, creator, vendor, author, artist

Declension

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Third-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative author authōrēs
genitive authōris authōrum
dative authōrī authōribus
accusative authōrem authōrēs
ablative authōre authōribus
vocative author authōrēs

References

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  • “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

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Noun

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author

  1. alternative form of auctour
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