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scribe

1
[ skrahyb ]
/ skraɪb /
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noun
a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of printing.
a public clerk or writer, usually one having official status.
Also called sopher, sofer. Judaism. one of the group of Palestinian scholars and teachers of Jewish law and tradition, active from the 5th century b.c. to the 1st century a.d., who transcribed, edited, and interpreted the Bible.
a writer or author, especially a journalist.
verb (used without object), scribed, scrib·ing.
to act as a scribe; write.
verb (used with object), scribed, scrib·ing.
to write down.
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Origin of scribe

1
1350–1400; Middle English <Latin scrība clerk, derivative of scrībere to write

OTHER WORDS FROM scribe

scribal, adjectiveun·scrib·al, adjective

Other definitions for scribe (2 of 3)

scribe2
[ skrahyb ]
/ skraɪb /

verb (used with object), scribed, scrib·ing.
to mark or score (wood or the like) with a pointed instrument as a guide to cutting or assembling.
noun

Origin of scribe

2
First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps aphetic form of inscribe

Other definitions for scribe (3 of 3)

Scribe
[ skreeb ]
/ skrib /

noun
Au·gus·tin Eu·gène [oh-gys-tanœ-zhen], /oʊ güsˈtɛ̃ œˈʒɛn/, 1791–1861, French dramatist.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use scribe in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for scribe (1 of 2)

scribe
/ (skraɪb) /

noun
verb
to score a line on (a surface) with a pointed instrument, as in metalworking

Derived forms of scribe

scribal, adjective

Word Origin for scribe

(in the senses: writer, etc) C14: from Latin scrība clerk, from scrībere to write; C17 (vb): perhaps from inscribe

British Dictionary definitions for scribe (2 of 2)

Scribe
/ (French skrib) /

noun
Augustin Eugène (oɡystɛ̃ øʒɛn). 1791–1861, French author or coauthor of over 350 vaudevilles, comedies, and libretti for light opera
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
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