Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Original?

\O*rig"i*nal\, a. [F. original, L. originalis.] 1. Pertaining to the origin or beginning; preceding all others; first in order; primitive; primary; pristine; as, the original state of man; the original laws of a country; the original inventor of a process. His form had yet not lost All her original brightness. --Milton. 2. Not copied, imitated, or translated; new; fresh; genuine; as, an original thought; an original process; the original text of Scripture. 3. Having the power to suggest new thoughts or combinations of thought; inventive; as, an original genius. 4. Before unused or unknown; new; as, a book full of original matter. {Original sin} (Theol.), the first sin of Adam, as related to its consequences to his descendants of the human race; -- called also {total depravity}. See {Calvinism}.
\O*rig"i*nal\, n. [Cf. F. original.] 1. Origin; commencement; source. It hath it original from much grief. --Shak. And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim. --Addison. 2. 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. The Scriptures may be now read in their own original. --Milton. 3. An original thinker or writer; an originator. [R.] Men who are bad at copying, yet are good originals. --C. G. Leland. 4. A person of marked eccentricity. [Colloq.] 5. (Zo["o]l. & Bot.) The natural or wild species from which a domesticated or cultivated variety has been derived; as, the wolf is thought by some to be the original of the dog, the blackthorn the original of the plum.