author — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a collaborative work.

   Examples

   The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.

   Have you read any Corinthian authors?

   More examples (6)

   This paper has three authors.

   Eternal King; thee, Author of all being.

   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[…]

   The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.

   [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.

   "The cranium is clearly plesiomorphic in overall form, presenting primitive traits shared by earlier hominins," the authors wrote.

2. The initial owner of the copyright to a work, especially a work made for hire or a work of corporate authorship.

   Usage

   • US usage

   Examples

   The author named on the copyright registration for the Android robot is Google Inc.

3. Someone who writes books for a living.

4. Principal; the primary participant in a crime.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   We hear […]of fratricidal murders, and stern reprisals on their authors.

   More examples (1)

   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. One's authority for something: an informant.

   Usage

   • Archaic

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   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 […]

   '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.

6. The creator or cause of anything.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

Verb

1. To create a work as its author.

   Usage

   • US usage
   • proscribed
   • sometimes

Noun

1. writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)

   Synonyms

   writer

   Broader terms

   communicator

2. someone who originates or causes or initiates something

   Synonyms

   generatorsource

   Broader terms

   makershaper

   Examples

   he was the generator of several complaints

Verb

1. be the author of

   Broader terms

   writecomposepenindite

   Examples

   She authored this play