Write definition | Dictionary.com

write

[rahyt]

verb, wrote or (Archaic

) writ; writ⋅ten or (Archaic

) writ; writ⋅ing.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to trace or form (characters, letters, words, etc.) on the surface of some material, as with a pen, pencil, or other instrument or means; inscribe: Write your name on the board.

2.	to express or communicate in writing; give a written account of.

3.	to fill in the blank spaces of (a printed form) with writing: to write a check.

4.	to execute or produce by setting down words, figures, etc.: to write two copies of a letter.

5.	to compose and produce in words or characters duly set down: to write a letter to a friend.

6.	to produce as author or composer: to write a sonnet; to write a symphony.

7.	to trace significant characters on, or mark or cover with writing.

8.	to cause to be apparent or unmistakable: Honesty is written on his face.

9.	Computers. to transfer (information, data, programs, etc.) from storage to secondary storage or an output medium.

10.	Stock Exchange. to sell (options).

11.	to underwrite.

–verb (used without object)

12.	to trace or form characters, words, etc., with a pen, pencil, or other instrument or means, or as a pen or the like does: He writes with a pen.

13.	to write as a profession or occupation: She writes for the Daily Inquirer.

14.	to express ideas in writing.

15.	to write a letter or letters, or communicate by letter: Write if you get work.

16.	to compose or work as a writer or author.

17.	Computers. to write into a secondary storage device or output medium.

—Verb phrases

18.

write down,

a.	to set down in writing; record; note.

b.	to direct one's writing to a less intelligent reader or audience: He writes down to the public.

19.

write in,

a.	to vote for (a candidate not listed on the ballot) by writing his or her name on the ballot.

b.	to include in or add to a text by writing: Do not write in corrections on the galley.

c.	to request something by mail: If interested, please write in for details.

20.

write off,

a.	to cancel an entry in an account, as an unpaid and uncollectable debt.

b.	to regard as worthless, lost, obsolete, etc.; decide to forget: to write off their bad experience.

c.	to amortize: The new equipment was written off in three years.

21.

write out,

a.	to put into writing.

b.	to write in full form; state completely.

c.	to exhaust the capacity or resources of by excessive writing: He's just another author who has written himself out.

22.

write up,

a.	to put into writing, esp. in full detail: Write up a report.

b.	to present to public notice in a written description or account.

c.	Accounting. to make an excessive valuation of (an asset).

Origin:
bef. 900; ME writen, OE wrītan; c. OS wrītan to cut, write, G reissen to tear, draw, ON rīta to score, write

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Language Translation for : Write

Spanish:

escribir,

German:

schreiben,

Japanese:

書く

View 30 other languages »

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write   (rīt) Pronunciation Key
v.   wrote (rōt), writ·ten (rĭt'n) also writ (rĭt), writ·ing, writes

v.   tr.

1. To form (letters, words, or symbols) on a surface such as paper with an instrument such as a pen.
2. To spell: How do you write your name?
To form (letters or words) in cursive style.
To compose and set down, especially in literary or musical form: write a poem; write a prelude.
To draw up in legal form; draft: write a will.
To fill in or cover with writing: write a check; wrote five pages in an hour.
To express in writing; set down: write one's thoughts.
To communicate by correspondence: wrote that she was planning to visit.
To underwrite, as an insurance policy.
To indicate; mark: "Utter dejection was written on every face" (Winston S. Churchill).
To ordain or prophesy: It was written that the empire would fall.
Computer Science To transfer or copy (information) from memory to a storage device or output device.

v. intr.

To trace or form letters, words, or symbols on paper or another surface.
To produce written material, such as articles or books.
To compose a letter; communicate by mail.
To set down in writing.
To reduce in rank, value, or price.
To disparage in writing.
To write in a conspicuously simple or condescending style: felt he had to write down to his students.
To cast a vote by inserting (a name not listed on a ballot).
To insert in a text or document: wrote in an apology at the end of the note.
To communicate with an organization by mail: write in with a completed entry form.
To reduce to zero the book value of (an asset that has become worthless).
To cancel from accounts as a loss.
To consider as a loss or failure: wrote off the rainy first day of the vacation.
To express or compose in writing: write out a request.
To write in full or expanded form: All abbreviations are to be written out.
To write a report or description of, as for publication.
To bring (a journal, for example) up to date.
To overstate the value of (assets).
To report (someone) in writing, as for breaking the law. wrote him up for speeding.

Phrasal Verb(s):
write down

To set down in writing.
To reduce in rank, value, or price.
To disparage in writing.
To write in a conspicuously simple or condescending style: felt he had to write down to his students.

write in

To cast a vote by inserting (a name not listed on a ballot).
To insert in a text or document: wrote in an apology at the end of the note.
To communicate with an organization by mail: write in with a completed entry form.

write off

To reduce to zero the book value of (an asset that has become worthless).
To cancel from accounts as a loss.
To consider as a loss or failure: wrote off the rainy first day of the vacation.

write out

To express or compose in writing: write out a request.
To write in full or expanded form: All abbreviations are to be written out.

write up

To write a report or description of, as for publication.
To bring (a journal, for example) up to date.
To overstate the value of (assets).
To report (someone) in writing, as for breaking the law. wrote him up for speeding.

Idiom(s):
write (one's) own ticket
To set one's own terms or course of action entirely according to one's own needs or wishes: an open-ended and generous scholarship that lets recipients write their own ticket.

Idiom(s):
writ large
Signified, expressed, or embodied in a greater or more prominent magnitude or degree: "The man was no more than the boy writ large" (George Eliot).

[Middle English writen, from Old English wrītan.]

Word History: Every western Indo-European language except English derives its verb for "to write" from Latin scrībere: écrire in French, escribir in Spanish, scrivere in Italian, scribaim in Old Irish, ysgrifennu in Welsh, skriva in Breton, skrifa in Old Norse, skrive in Danish and Norwegian, skriva in Swedish, schreiben in German, schrijven in Dutch. The Old English verb "to write" is wrītan, from a Germanic root *writ- that derives from an Indo-European root *wreid- meaning "to cut, scratch, tear, sketch an outline." German still retains this meaning in its cognate verb reissen, "to tear." Only Old English employed wrītan to refer to writing, that is, scratching on parchment with a pen. English shows a similar contrariness in its verb read, being almost the only western European language not to derive its verb for that concept from Latin legere.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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write

O.E. writan "to score, outline, draw the figure of," later "to set down in writing" (class I strong verb; past tense wrat, pp. writen), from P.Gmc. *writanan "tear, scratch" (cf. O.Fris. writa "to write," O.S. writan "to tear, scratch, write," O.N. rita "write, scratch, outline," O.H.G. rizan "to write, scratch, tear," Ger. reißen "to tear, pull, tug, sketch, draw, design"), outside connections doubtful. Words for "write" in most I.E languages originally mean "carve, scratch, cut" (cf. L. scribere, Gk. grapho, Skt. rikh-); a few originally meant "paint" (cf. Goth. meljan, O.C.S. pisati, and most of the modern Slavic cognates).

"For men use to write an evill turne in marble stone, but a good turne in the dust." [More, 1513]

To write (something) off (1682) originally was from accounting; fig. sense is recorded from 1889. Write-in "unlisted candidate" is recorded from 1932.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

write
verb
1.	produce a literary work; "She composed a poem"; "He wrote four novels"
2.	communicate or express by writing; "Please write to me every week"
3.	have (one's written work) issued for publication; "How many books did Georges Simenon write?"; "She published 25 books during her long career" [syn: publish]
4.	communicate (with) in writing; "Write her soon, please!"
5.	communicate by letter; "He wrote that he would be coming soon"
6.	write music; "Beethoven composed nine symphonies" [syn: compose]
7.	mark or trace on a surface; "The artist wrote Chinese characters on a big piece of white paper"; "Russian is written with the Cyrillic alphabet"
8.	record data on a computer; "boot-up instructions are written on the hard disk"
9.	write or name the letters that comprise the conventionally accepted form of (a word or part of a word); "He spelled the word wrong in this letter" [syn: spell]
10.	create code, write a computer program; "She writes code faster than anybody else"

write

In addition to the idioms beginning with write, also see nothing to write home about. Also see under wrote.

write
1. Unix's simple talk command and protocol. write has been largely superseded by talk and then irc.
An enhancement, RWP, has been proposed.
2. A simple text editor for Windows.
(1998-04-28)

Write

Race\, n. [F. race; cf. Pr. & Sp. raza, It. razza; all from OHG. reiza line, akin to E. write. See Write.]

1. The descendants of a common ancestor; a family, tribe, people, or nation, believed or presumed to belong to the same stock; a lineage; a breed.

The whole race of mankind. --Shak.

Whence the long race of Alban fathers come. --Dryden.

Note: Naturalists and ehnographers divide mankind into several distinct varieties, or races. Cuvier refers them all to three, Pritchard enumerates seven, Agassiz eight, Pickering describes eleven. One of the common classifications is that of Blumenbach, who makes five races: the Caucasian, or white race, to which belong the greater part of the European nations and those of Western Asia; the Mongolian, or yellow race, occupying Tartary, China, Japan, etc.; the Ethiopian, or negro race, occupying most of Africa (except the north), Australia, Papua, and other Pacific Islands; the American, or red race, comprising the Indians of North and South America; and the Malayan, or brown race, which occupies the islands of the Indian Archipelago, etc. Many recent writers classify the Malay and American races as branches of the Mongolian. See Illustration in Appendix.

2. Company; herd; breed.

For do but note a wild and wanton herd, Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, Fetching mad bounds. --Shak.

3. (Bot.) A variety of such fixed character that it may be propagated by seed.

4. Peculiar flavor, taste, or strength, as of wine; that quality, or assemblage of qualities, which indicates origin or kind, as in wine; hence, characteristic flavor; smack. "A race of heaven." --Shak.

Is it [the wine] of the right race ? --Massinqer.

5. Hence, characteristic quality or disposition. [Obs.]

And now I give my sensual race the rein. --Shak.

Some . . . great race of fancy or judgment. --Sir W. Temple.

Syn: Lineage; line; family; house; breed; offspring; progeny; issue.

Write

Writ\, obs. 3d pers. sing. pres. of Write, for writeth. --Chaucer.