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 (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *writą (“fissure, writing”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *wrey-, *wrī- (“to scratch, carve, ingrave”). Cognate with Scots writ (“writ, writing, handwriting”), Icelandic rit (“writing, writ, literary work, publication”).
Pronunciation
Noun
writ (countable and uncountable, plural writs)
- (law) A written order, issued by a court, ordering someone to do (or stop doing) something.
- 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.
- (archaic) That which is written; writing.
- Spenser
- Then to his hands that writ he did betake, / Which he disclosing read, thus as the paper spake.
- Knolles
- Babylon, so much spoken of in Holy Writ
- Spenser
Synonyms
- claim form (English law)
Derived terms
Translations
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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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Verb
writ
- (archaic, nonstandard) Template:past tense of
- 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.
- c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II scene iv[2]:
- (archaic, nonstandard) 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.
- John Dryden
- Let Virtuosos in five years be writ; / Yet not one thought accuse thy toil of wit. (Mac Flecknoe)
- 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 […]
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- c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II scene iv[3]:
Usage notes
- The form writ survives in standard dialects only in the phrase writ large, though it remains common in some dialects (e.g. Scouse).
Derived terms
Anagrams
Gothic
Romanization
writ
- Romanization of 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐍄
Old English
Alternative forms
- ġewrit
- ƿrit — wynn spelling
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *writą, whence also Old High German riz, Old Norse rit.
Pronunciation
Noun
writ n (nominative plural writu)
Declension
Derived terms
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪt
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Law
- English terms with archaic senses
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms
- English nonstandard terms
- en:Directives
- Gothic non-lemma forms
- Gothic romanizations
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English nouns
- Old English neuter nouns
- Old English neuter a-stem nouns