original

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Preceding all others in time; first.
2. adj. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual: an original play, not an adaptation.
3. adj. Showing a marked departure from previous practice; new: a truly original approach. See Synonyms at new.
4. adj. Productive of new things or new ideas; inventive: an original mind.
5. adj. Being the source from which a copy, reproduction, or translation is made.
6. n. A first form from which other forms are made or developed: Later models of the car retained many features of the original.
7. n. An authentic work of art: bought an original, not a print.
8. n. Work that has been composed firsthand: kept the original but sent a photocopy to his publisher.
9. n. A person who is appealingly odd or curious; a character.
10. n. Archaic The source from which something arises; an originator.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Pertaining to the origin or beginning; initial; primal; first in order; preceding all others: as, the original state in which man was created; the original edition of a book.
2. Pertaining to or characteristic of the first or earliest stage or state of anything; first or earlier as opposed to later; primeval; primitive; pristine.
3. Having the power to initiate or suggest new thoughts or combinations of thought; creative, as author, artist, philosopher, etc.: as, an original genius.
4. Produced directly by an author, artist, or authority; not copied, imitated, translated, or transcribed: as, the original document; the original Greek text; the original painting.
5. Hence Fresh; novel; new; striking; never before thought of or used: as, an original idea or plan; an original invention.
6. Abbreviated orig.
7. Inventive, creative.
8. n. Origin; source; starting-point; first issue; beginning.
9. n. Hence Parentage; ancestry; pedigree; descent; derivation; extraction; birth.
10. n. That from which anything is derived; source of being or existence; cause; occasion.
11. n. A primary stock or type from which varieties have been developed: as, the dhole of India is supposed to have been the original of the dog.
12. n. Earliest condition; primal or primitive state; pristine condition, resources, etc.
13. n. First form; archetype; that which is copied, imitated, transcribed, or translated. Specifically — A person portrayed; a person as distinguished from his portrait, or from any work for which he serves as model or artistic motive.
14. n. A work of art as first produced, and contradistinguished from a replica or duplicate made by the artist himself, and from a copy, mechanical reproduction, or imitation.
15. n. A writing, document, or literary production, as distinguished from a transcription, paraphrase, modernization, or translation; also, the language in which a work was first composed.
16. n. A person who produces a novel and unique impression; a person of marked individuality of character; an eccentric person; an oddity.
17. In geology, noting those constituent minerals of an igneous rock which have crystallized from fusion during the period of consolidation: contrasted with secondary, which describes a mineral produced by alteration or decay.

Wiktionary

1. adj. First in a series or copies/versions
2. adj. Newly created
3. adj. Fresh, different
4. adj. Pioneering.
5. adj. Having as its origin
6. n. An object or other creation (e.g. narrative work) from which all later copies and variations are derived
7. n. A person with a unique and interesting personality and/or creative talent
8. n. An eccentric

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Pertaining to the origin or beginning; preceding all others; first in order; primitive; primary; pristine.
2. adj. Not copied, imitated, or translated; new; fresh; genuine.
3. adj. Having the power to suggest new thoughts or combinations of thought; inventive.
4. adj. Before unused or unknown; new.
5. n. Origin; commencement; source.
6. n. That which precedes all others of its class; archetype; first copy; hence, an original work of art, manuscript, text, and the like, as distinguished from a copy, translation, etc.
7. n. An original thinker or writer; an originator.
8. n. A person of marked eccentricity.
9. n. The natural or wild species from which a domesticated or cultivated variety has been derived.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. (of e.g. information) not secondhand or by way of something intermediary
2. n. an original creation (i.e., an audio recording) from which copies can be made
3. adj. being or productive of something fresh and unusual; or being as first made or thought of
4. n. something that serves as a model or a basis for making copies
5. adj. preceding all others in time or being as first made or performed
6. adj. not derived or copied or translated from something else