authors

US: (ô′thərz)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

au•thors  (ô′thərz), n. (used with a sing. v.)

1. Games a card game for two or more persons that is played with a 52-card pack, the object being to take the largest number of tricks consisting of four cards of the same denomination.

• plural of author 1865–70, American.

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

au•thor /ˈɔθɚ/   n. 

[countable]
1. Literature someone who creates a book, article, etc.;
   writer.
2. Computing the writer of a software program.
3. the maker of anything;
   creator:
   the author of the new tax plan.

v. [~ + object]

4. Literature to be the author of:
   to author a novel.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

au•thor  (ô′thər), n. 

1. Literature a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist.
2. Literature the literary production or productions of a writer:
   to find a passage in an author.
3. the maker of anything;
   creator;
   originator:
   the author of a new tax plan.
4. Computing the writer of a software program, esp. a hypertext or multimedia application.

v.t. 

5. Literature to write;
   be the author of:
   He authored a history of the Civil War.
6. to originate;
   create a design for:
   She authored a new system for teaching chemistry.

• Latin, as above
• Anglo-French, for Old French autor
• Latin auctor writer, progenitor, equivalent. to aug(ēre) to increase, augment + -tor -tor; replacing Middle English auto(u)r
• earlier auct(h)or 1250–1300

au•tho•ri•al  (ô thôr′ē əl, ô thōr′-), adj.  au′thor•less, adj. 

author, +n. 

1. Computing the writer of a software program, esp. a hypertext or multimedia application.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

author / ˈɔːθə/ noun

1. a person who composes a book, article, or other written work
   Related adjective(s): auctorial
2. a person who writes books as a profession; writer
3. an originator or creator: the author of this plan

verb (transitive)

1. to write or originate

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French autor, from Latin auctor author, from augēre to increase

authorial / ɔːˈθɔːrɪəl/ adjective