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.
a person who copies documents, esp a person who made handwritten copies before the invention of printing
a clerk or public copyist
Old Testament a recognized scholar and teacher of the Jewish Law
Judaism a man qualified to write certain documents in accordance with religious requirements
an author or journalist: used humorously
another name for scriber
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin scrība clerk, derivative of scrībere to write
First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps aphetic form of inscribe
A scribe is a term for someone employed to make written copies of documents. Before printing was invented, the busy scribes in a village would write copies of all the legal documents. As a noun, scribe has several meanings. It's used as an informal term to refer to journalists. Scribe also refers to a sharply pointed tool used for marking wood or metal to be cut. As a verb, it means "to score a line on something with a pointed instrument." The master craftsmen instructed you to scribe a line on the piece of wood where he pointed, to mark the spot where he wanted it cut.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The fragments, written in ancient Greek by what was thought to be an Egyptian scribe and his teacher, are the oldest existing version of the poem arranged into a book.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Wherever the sleuth goes, the scribe is sure to follow—if about five steps behind.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
“Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which he directed, was his final project as a scribe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
Or as one scribe put it, the school didn’t want to be dwarfed by “a gigantic breakfast side dish.”
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 12, 2025
The scribe panicked and tried to scrabble sideways out of the bed, but Bast took hold of his shoulder and held him fast.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Back in California, Scribe is another tech firm that allows companies to automatically create AI user guides.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2024
Then we’ll stop by Lady & Larder for a Scribe rosé pinot noir, colorful candles and crackers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2024
Call it "Get to the Hed," "Bet Your Hed" or "The Hed-less Scribe."
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2023
The Scribe will be available at the end of November and start at $339.99.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 28, 2022
Mr. Grundy pins his faith to Scribe, whom he looks upon with reason as a marvellous stage-carpenter, and he cannot see the need for a divorce between ingenious scenic contrivance and sincerity of dramatic emotion.
From The English Stage Being an Account of the Victorian Drama by Filon, Augustin
Bill Plaschke’s eloquent elegy about Kobe may be the best column he’s ever scribed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2021
The "apotropaic" marks were scribed into the cave surface as they were thought to keep evil spirits coming from the underworld.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2019
Not long ago, I spent a day following Lynden Lee as he scribed at a Massachusetts General Hospital primary-care practice.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018
Exquisitely inked manuscript records of these marks still exist: lines and crosses scribed across diagrammatic beaks.
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2017
She rolled over and grabbed my keyboard and scribed on the touchpad with her fingertip.
From Little Brother by Doctorow, Cory
Who is taking care of the patients all those scribing doctors aren’t seeing?
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 5, 2018
I would get John Bradley to start scribing out the entire books that George R.R.
From New York Times ● Aug. 30, 2017
Two decades after that first visit, Magdalen’s 15th-century cloisters, decorated with coats of arms and gargoyles, looked every bit as inspiring as I remembered, though deserted, the scholars no doubt scribing upstairs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2016
The important thing is that the Supreme Court has now closed the circle it was scribing with Bilski and Mayo vs.
From Forbes ● Jun. 19, 2014
I said incredulously, thinking of the pale, quiet students who worked in the Archives, sorting, scribing, and fetching books.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
