Definition of "write"

write

/ɹaɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present writes, present participle writing, simple past wrote or (archaic) writ, past participle written or (archaic) writ or (obsolete) ywriten
1. (transitive, intransitive) To form letters, words or symbols on a surface in order to communicate.
2. (transitive) To be the author of (a book, article, poem, etc.).
  Quotations
  Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language […]; his clerks, however, understood him very well. If he had written a love letter, or a farce, or a ballade, or a story, no one, either clerks, or friends, or compositors, would have understood anything but a word here and a word there.
  1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […]
  Since I had started to break down all my writing and get rid of all facility and try to make instead of describe, writing had been wonderful to do. But it was very difficult, and I did not know how I would ever write anything as long as a novel. It often took me a full morning of work to write a paragraph.
  1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 151
3. (transitive) To send written information to.
4. (transitive) To show (information, etc) in written form.
  Quotations
  Ghana's motto, writ large on the gleaming white Independence Arch that overlooks the Atlantic in Accra, is "Freedom and Justice."
  1957 September 30, “Ghana: White Eminence”, in Time‎, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., archived from the original on 19 October 2011
  The route passes over low-lying land, the only item of note being the Cerebos salt works at Greatham, where one may catch a glimpse of the smart black diesel locomotive emblazoned with the firm's name writ large.
  1959 August, K. Hoole, “The Middlesbrough–Newcastle Route of the N.E.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, page 359
5. (ditransitive with relative clause) To convey a fact to someone via writing.
  Quotations
  Do you know, one man actually wrote me he thought he could almost shave with the back of the blade, the lather "mellowed" his beard so.
  1916 March 11, “[advertisement] Jim Henry, Optimist”, in Saturday Evening Post‎
6. (intransitive) To be an author.
  Quotations
  I said that I did not believe anyone could write any way except the very best he could write without destroying his talent.
  1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, page 151
7. (computing, intransitive, with to) To record data mechanically or electronically.
8. (transitive, South Africa, Canada, of an exam, a document, etc.) To fill in, to complete using words.
9. To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave.
  Quotations
  14 For when the Gentiles which haue not the Law, doe by nature the things contained in the Law: these hauing not the Law, are a Law vnto themselues,15 Which shew the worke of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witnesse, and their thoughts the meane while accusing, or else excusing one another:
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Romans 2:14–15
10. To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own written testimony; often used reflexively.
  Quotations
  Thoſe walled garriſons will I ſubdue,And write my ſelfe great Lord of Affrica:So from the Eaſt vnto the furtheſt Weſt,Shall Tamburlaine extend his puiſant arme.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act III, scene iii
  He who writes himself Martyr 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.
  1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […]
11. (finance) To sell (an option or other derivative).
12. (chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) To paint a religious icon.
noun
plural writes
1. The act or style of writing.
  Quotations
  The pen also gives a better write than the ordinary counter pen. The ink stand cannot be stolen, for it is fastened to the counter or desk.
  1938, The Bankers Monthly, volume 55, page 591
2. (computing) The operation of storing data, as in memory or onto disk.
  Quotations
  In other words, the system can do 1200 reads per second with no writes, the average write is twice as slow as the average read, and the relationship is linear.
  2006, MySQL administrator's guide and language reference, page 393

Definition of "write"

write

verb

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noun

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