writ

English

Etymology

From Middle English writ, iwrit, ȝewrit, from Old English writ (“letter, book, treatise; scripture, writing; writ, charter, document, deed”) and ġewrit (“writing, something written, written language; written character, bookstave; inscription; orthography; written statement, passage from a book; official or formal document, document; law, jurisprudence; regulation; list, catalog; letter; text of an agreement; writ, charter, deed; literary writing, book, treatise; books dealing with a subject under notice; a book of the Bible; scripture, canonical book, the Scriptures; stylus”), from Proto-Germanic *writą (“fissure, writing”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrey-, *wrī- (“to scratch, carve, ingrave”). Cognate with Scots writ (“writ, writing, handwriting”), Icelandic rit (“writing, writ, literary work, publication”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪt

Noun

writ (countable and uncountable, plural writs)

1. (law) A written order, issued by a court, ordering someone to do (or stop doing) something.
2. Authority, power to enforce compliance.
   • 2009, Stephen Gale et al., The War on Terrorism: 21st-Century Perspectives‎^[1], Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 30:

     We can't let them take advantage of the fact that there are so many areas of the world where no one's writ runs.

   • 1913, Elizabeth Kimball Kendall, A Wayfarer in China

     Within Lololand, of course, no Chinese writ runs, no Chinese magistrate holds sway, and the people, more or less divided among themselves, are under the government of their tribal chiefs.

3. (archaic) That which is written; writing.
   • (Can we date this quote by Spenser and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Then to his hands that writ he did betake, / Which he disclosing read, thus as the paper spake.

   • (Can we date this quote by Knolles and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Babylon, so much spoken of in Holy Writ

Synonyms

• claim form (English law)

Derived terms

• drop the writ
• handwrit
• Holy Writ
• writ of habeas corpus

Translations

a written order

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 令狀 (zh), 令状 (zh) (lìngzhuàng)

• Czech: písemný příkaz m
• Dutch: bevelschrift (nl), gerechterlijke opdracht, dwangbevel (nl)
• Finnish: oikeuden määräys
• French: ordonnance (fr) f
• German: Erlaß (de) m, Gerichtsurkunde f, Verfügung (de) f, Zwangsbefehl m
• Hungarian: végzés (hu), bírósági végzés, bírói végzés, hivatalos okirat
• Italian: ordinanza (it) f, intimazione (it) f, mandato (it) m, ingiunzione (it) f

• Japanese: 令状 (ja) (れいじょう, reijō)
• Korean: 영장 (ko) (yeongjang)
• Maori: tāmana
• Polish: nakaz sądowy m
• Portuguese: mandado (pt) m
• Russian: прика́з (ru) m (prikáz), распоряже́ние суда́ n (rasporjažénije sudá)
• Spanish: decreto judicial m, recurso (es) m, auto (es) m
• Swedish: skrivelse (sv) c

authority, power to enforce compliance

• Czech: pověření n, mandát m

that which is written

• Czech: písemnost f
• Finnish: kirjoitus (fi)
• French: écrit (fr) m
• Italian: scritto (it) m

• Polish: pismo (pl) n
• Portuguese: escrito (pt) m
• Spanish: escrito (es) m

References

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for writ in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Verb

writ

1. (archaic) past tense of write
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II scene iv^[2]:

     I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand;

     And whiter than the paper it writ on

     Is the fair hand that writ.

2. (archaic) past participle of write
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II scene iv^[3]:

     I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand;

     And whiter than the paper it writ on

     Is the fair hand that writ.

   • 1682, John Dryden, Mac Klecknoe

     Let Virtuosos in five years be writ; / Yet not one thought accuse thy toil of wit. (Mac Flecknoe)

   • (Can we date this quote by unknown translator and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?), Omar Khayyam (in translation)

     The moving finger writes, and having writ, not all your piety or wit can lure it back to cancel half a line […]

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter I, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar […], OCLC 928184292, book IV:

     For as this is the liquor of modern historians, nay, perhaps their muse, if we may believe the opinion of Butler, who attributes inspiration to ale, it ought likewise to be the potation of their readers, since every book ought to be read with the same spirit and in the same manner as it is writ.

   • 1821, John Keats

     Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water.

Usage notes

• The form writ survives in standard dialects in the phrase writ large as well as in works aiming for an intentionally poetic or archaic style. It remains common in some dialects (e.g. Scouse).

Derived terms

• writ large
• writ small

Anagrams

• ITRW, Wirt

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Gothic

Romanization

writ

1. Romanization of 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐍄

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Old English

Alternative forms

• ġewrit
• ƿrit – wynn spelling

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *writą, whence also Old High German riz, Old Norse rit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /writ/

Noun

writ n (nominative plural writu)

1. writ

Declension

Declension of writ (strong-a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	writ	writu
accusative	writ	writu
genitive	writes	writa
dative	write	writum

Derived terms

• ġewrit