Write

Write , transitive verb

[Old English writen, Anglo-Saxon wrītan; originally, to scratch, to score; akin to Old Saxon wrītan to write, to tear, to wound, Dutch rijten to tear, to rend, German reissen, Old High German rīzan, Icelandic rīta to write, Gothic writs a stroke, dash, letter. Compare Race tribe, lineage.]

To set down, as legible characters; to form the conveyance of meaning; to inscribe on any material by a suitable instrument; as, to write the characters called letters; to write figures.

To set down for reading; to express in legible or intelligible characters; to inscribe; as, to write a deed; to write a bill of divorcement; hence, specifically, to set down in an epistle; to communicate by letter.

Last night she enjoined me to write some lines to one she loves. — Shakespeare

I chose to write the thing I durst not speak To her I loved. — Prior

Hence, to compose or produce, as an author.

I purpose to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time within the memory of men still living. — Macaulay

To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave; as, truth written on the heart.

To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own written testimony; -- often used reflexively.

He who writes himself by his own inscription is like an ill painter, who, by writing on a shapeless picture which he hath drawn, is fain to tell passengers what shape it is, which else no man could imagine. — Milton

Collocations (2)

To write to , to communicate by a written document to.

Written laws , laws deriving their force from express legislative enactment, as contradistinguished from unwritten, or common, law. See the Note under Law, and Common law, under Common, a.

Write , intransitive verb

To form characters, letters, or figures, as representative of sounds or ideas; to express words and sentences by written signs. — Chaucer

So it stead you, I will write, Please you command. — Shakespeare

To be regularly employed or occupied in writing, copying, or accounting; to act as clerk or amanuensis; as, he writes in one of the public offices.

To frame or combine ideas, and express them in written words; to play the author; to recite or relate in books; to compose.

They can write up to the dignity and character of the authors. — Felton

To compose or send letters.

He wrote for all the Jews that went out of his realm up into Jewry concerning their freedom. — 1 Esdras iv. 49