writ

n. [ AS. writ, gewrit. See Write. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. That which is written; writing; scripture; -- applied especially to the Scriptures, or the books of the Old and New testaments; as, sacred writ. “Though in Holy Writ not named.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then to his hands that writ he did betake,
Which he disclosing read, thus as the paper spake. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Babylon, so much spoken of in Holy Writ. Knolles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) An instrument in writing, under seal, in an epistolary form, issued from the proper authority, commanding the performance or nonperformance of some act by the person to whom it is directed; as, a writ of entry, of error, of execution, of injunction, of mandamus, of return, of summons, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Writs are usually witnessed, or tested, in the name of the chief justice or principal judge of the court out of which they are issued; and those directed to a sheriff, or other ministerial officer, require him to return them on a day specified. In former English law and practice, writs in civil cases were either original or judicial; the former were issued out of the Court of Chancery, under the great seal, for the summoning of a defendant to appear, and were granted before the suit began and in order to begin the same; the latter were issued out of the court where the original was returned, after the suit was begun and during the pendency of it. Tomlins. Brande. Encyc. Brit. The term writ is supposed by Mr. Reeves to have been derived from the fact of these formulae having always been expressed in writing, being, in this respect, distinguished from the other proceedings in the ancient action, which were conducted orally. [ 1913 Webster ]

Writ of account,
Writ of capias, etc. See under Account, Capias, etc. --
Service of a writ. See under Service. [ 1913 Webster ]

obs. 3d pers. sing. pres. of Write, for writeth. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Ability or capacity to write. [ R. ] Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of, or suitable for, being written down. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Inclined to much writing; -- correlative to talkative. [ R. ] Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To form characters, letters, or figures, as representative of sounds or ideas; to express words and sentences by written signs. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

So it stead you, I will write,
Please you command. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To frame or combine ideas, and express them in written words; to play the author; to recite or relate in books; to compose. [ 1913 Webster ]

They can write up to the dignity and character of the authors. Felton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To compose or send letters. [ 1913 Webster ]

He wrote for all the Jews that went out of his realm up into Jewry concerning their freedom. 1 Esdras iv. 49. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Last night she enjoined me to write some lines to one she loves. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

I chose to write the thing I durst not speak
To her I loved. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, to compose or produce, as an author. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave; as, truth written on the heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own written testimony; -- often used reflexively. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. wrītere. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One who writes, or has written; a scribe; a clerk. [ 1913 Webster ]

They [ came ] that handle the pen of the writer. Judg. v. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Ps. xlv. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who is engaged in literary composition as a profession; an author; as, a writer of novels. [ 1913 Webster ]

This pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A clerk of a certain rank in the service of the late East India Company, who, after serving a certain number of years, became a factor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Writer of the tallies (Eng. Law), an officer of the exchequer of England, who acted as clerk to the auditor of the receipt, and wrote the accounts upon the tallies from the tellers' bills. The use of tallies in the exchequer has been abolished. Wharton (Law. Dict.) --
Writer's cramp,
Writer's palsy or
Writer's spasm (Med.), a painful spasmodic affection of the muscles of the fingers, brought on by excessive use, as in writing, violin playing, telegraphing, etc. Called also scrivener's palsy. --
Writer to the signet. See under Signet. [ 1913 Webster ]