Write (?), v. t. [imp. Wrote (?); p. p. Written (?); Archaic imp. & p. p. Writ (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Writing.] [OE. writen, AS. wrītan; originally, to scratch, to score; akin to OS. wrītan to write, to tear, to wound, D. rijten to tear, to rend, G. reissen, OHG. rīzan, Icel. rīta to write, Goth. writs a stroke, dash, letter. Cf. Race tribe, lineage.]
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1. 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.
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2. 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.
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Last night she enjoined me to write some lines to one she loves. Shak.
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I chose to write the thing I durst not speak
To her I loved. Prior.
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3. Hence, to compose or produce, as an author.
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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.
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4. To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave; as, truth written on the heart.
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5. To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own written testimony; -- often used reflexively.
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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.
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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.
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