Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or process of producing and recording words in a form that can be read and understood.
  • noun The occupation or style of someone who writes, especially for publication.
  • noun Written form.
  • noun Handwriting; penmanship.
  • noun Something written, especially.
  • noun Meaningful letters or characters that constitute readable matter.
  • noun A written work, especially a literary composition.
  • noun Bible The third of the three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures, composed of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The recording of words or sounds in significant characters; in the most general sense, any use of or method of using letters or other conventional symbols of uttered sounds for the visible preservation or transmission of ideas; specifically, as distinguished from printing, stamping, incision, etc., the act or art of tracing graphic signs by hand on paper, parchment, or any other material, with a pen and ink, style, pencil, or any other instrument; also, the written characters or words; handwriting; chirography.
  • noun The state of being written; recorded form or expression: as, to put a proposition in writing; to commit one's thoughts to writing.
  • noun That which is written, or in a written state; a record made by hand in any way; a paper or instrument wholly or partly in manuscript; an inscription.
  • noun A production of the pen in general; a literary or other composition; any expression of thought in visible words; a scripture.
  • noun The expression of thought by written words; the use of the pen in conveying ideas; literary production.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act or art of forming letters and characters on paper, wood, stone, or other material, for the purpose of recording the ideas which characters and words express, or of communicating them to others by visible signs.
  • noun Anything written or printed; anything expressed in characters or letters.
  • noun Any legal instrument, as a deed, a receipt, a bond, an agreement, or the like.
  • noun Any written composition; a pamphlet; a work; a literary production; a book.
  • noun An inscription.
  • noun Handwriting; chirography.
  • noun a book for practice in penmanship.
  • noun a desk with a sloping top for writing upon; also, a case containing writing materials, and used in a similar manner.
  • noun (Zoöl.), [Prov. Eng.] the European yellow-hammer; -- so called from the curious irregular lines on its eggs.
  • noun Same as Typewriter.
  • noun one who teaches the art of penmanship.
  • noun (Law) a bond.
  • noun paper intended for writing upon with ink, usually finished with a smooth surface, and sized.
  • noun a school for instruction in penmanship.
  • noun a table fitted or used for writing upon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of write.
  • noun uncountable Graphism of symbols such as letters that express some meaning.
  • noun uncountable Something written, such as a document, article or book.
  • noun uncountable The process of representing a language with symbols or letters.
  • noun countable A work of an author.
  • noun countable The style of writing of a person.
  • noun as a modifier Intended for or used in writing.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of creating written works
  • noun (usually plural) the collected work of an author
  • noun letters or symbols that are written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language
  • noun the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect)
  • noun the activity of putting something in written form

Etymologies

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  • While lying down in a large cardboard box, one chap thought, "Most writing and common poverty have nothing in common...except having nothing." He then fell asleep and dreamed of a place where wood chips could speak for themselves and words existed before ink began calling the tunes. --Jan Cox

    April 6, 2007

  • "I leave out the parts that people skip."

    – Elmore Leonard (b. 1925)

    August 28, 2007

  • “I write to discover what I think. After all, the bars aren't open that early.�?

    – Daniel J. Boorstin, Librarian of Congress, historian (1914-2004) On why he wrote at home from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m., Wall Street Journal, 12/31/1985

    August 28, 2007

  • 'Writing is easy. Just place a piece of paper in the typewriter and start bleeding.' -Thomas Wolfe

    February 18, 2008

  • Anydelirium, I've heard this quote, attributed to Red Smith: "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." (It's one of my favorites.) Is that the one you mean?

    February 19, 2008

  • One of my favorite writing quotes can be found here.

    September 1, 2009