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author

[aw-ther]
See more synonyms for author on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist.
  2. the literary production or productions of a writer: to find a passage in an author.
  3. the maker of anything; creator; originator: the author of a new tax plan.
  4. Computers. the writer of a software program, especially a hypertext or multimedia application.
verb (used with object)
  1. to write; be the author of: He authored a history of the Civil War.
  2. to originate; create a design for: She authored a new system for teaching chemistry.

Origin of author

1250–1300; earlier auct(h)or < Latin auctor writer, progenitor, equivalent to aug(ēre) to increase, augment + -tor -tor; replacing Middle English auto(u)r < Anglo-French, for Old French autor < Latin, as above
Related formsau·tho·ri·al [aw-thawr-ee-uh l, aw-thohr-] /ɔˈθɔr i əl, ɔˈθoʊr-/, adjectiveau·thor·less, adjectivemul·ti·au·thored, adjectivepro·au·thor, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for author

producer, creator, writer, columnist, journalist, composer, poet, reporter, biographer, ghost, originator, playwright, scribe, scribbler, wordsmith, essayist, scripter

Examples from the Web for author

Contemporary Examples of author

Historical Examples of author

British Dictionary definitions for author

author

noun
  1. a person who composes a book, article, or other written workRelated adjective: auctorial
  2. a person who writes books as a profession; writer
  3. the writings of such a personreviewing a postwar author
  4. an originator or creatorthe author of this plan
verb (tr)
  1. to write or originate
Derived Formsauthorial (ɔːˈθɔːrɪəl), adjective

Word Origin for author

C14: from Old French autor, from Latin auctor author, from augēre to increase
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for author
n.

c.1300, autor "father," from Old French auctor, acteor "author, originator, creator, instigator (12c., Modern French auteur), from Latin auctorem (nominative auctor) "enlarger, founder, master, leader," literally "one who causes to grow," agent noun from auctus, past participle of augere "to increase" (see augment). Meaning "one who sets forth written statements" is from late 14c. The -t- changed to -th- 16c. on mistaken assumption of Greek origin.

...[W]riting means revealing onesself to excess .... This is why one can never be alone enough when one writes, why even night is not night enough. ... I have often thought that the best mode of life for me would be to sit in the innermost room of a spacious locked cellar with my writing things and a lamp. Food would be brought and always put down far away from my room, outside the cellar's outermost door. The walk to my food, in my dressing gown, through the vaulted cellars, would be my only exercise. I would then return to my table, eat slowly and with deliberation, then start writing again at once. And how I would write! From what depths I would drag it up! [Franz Kafka]
v.

1590s, from author (n.). Revived 1940s, chiefly U.S. Related: Authored; authoring.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper