author

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: au=thor

CIDE DICTIONARY

author, n. [OE. authour, autour, OF. autor, F. auteur, fr. L. auctor, sometimes, but erroneously, written autor or author, fr. augere to increase, to produce. See Auction, n.].

•  The beginner, former, or first mover of anything; hence, the efficient cause of a thing; a creator; an originator.  [1913 Webster]

  "Eternal King; thee, Author of all being."  [1913 Webster]
•  One who composes or writes a book; a composer, as distinguished from an editor, translator, or compiler.  [1913 Webster]

  "The chief glory of every people arises from its authors."  [1913 Webster]
•  The editor of a periodical.  [1913 Webster]
•  An informant.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

author, v. t. 

•  To occasion; to originate.  [1913 Webster]

  "Such an overthrow . . . I have authored."  [1913 Webster]
•  To tell; to say; to declare.  [1913 Webster]

  "More of him I dare not author."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

author, n. & v.
--n. (fem. authoress)
1 a writer, esp. of books.
2 the originator of an event, a condition, etc. (the author of all my woes).
--v.tr. disp. be the author of (a book, the universe, a child, etc.).

Derivative

authorial adj.

Etymology

ME f. AF autour, OF autor f. L auctor f. augere auct- increase, originate, promote

THESAURUS

author

actor, advertising writer, agent, ancestor, ancestors, annalist, apprentice, architect, art critic, artificer, artist, authoress, bear, beget, begetter, beginner, belletrist, bibliographer, breed, bring about, bring forth, bring to effect, bring to pass, builder, catalyst, cause, causer, coauthor, collaborate, collaborator, columnist, compiler, compose, composer, conceive, conceiver, constructor, copywriter, craftsman, create, creative writer, creator, critic, dance critic, dash off, descanter, designer, deviser, diarist, discourser, discoverer, disquisitor, do, doer, drama critic, dramatist, editorialize, effect, effector, effectuate, encyclopedist, engender, engenderer, engineer, essayist, establish, executant, executor, executrix, expositor, fabricator, father, formulate, found, founder, framer, free lance, free-lance, free-lance writer, generate, generator, gestate, ghost, ghostwrite, ghostwriter, give birth to, give occasion to, give origin to, give rise to, grower, humorist, inaugurate, inaugurator, indite, inditer, industrialist, initiator, inspirer, instigator, institute, institutor, introducer, inventor, journeyman, knock off, knock out, literary artist, literary craftsman, literary critic, literary man, litterateur, logographer, magazine writer, make, maker, man of letters, manufacturer, master, master craftsman, medium, monographer, monographist, mother, mover, music critic, newspaperman, novelettist, novelist, novelize, occasion, operant, operative, operator, organizer, origin, originate, originator, pamphleteer, parent, past master, patriarch, penwoman, performer, perpetrator, planner, poet, practitioner, precursor, prepare, prime mover, primum mobile, procreator, produce, producer, prose writer, raiser, realize, realizer, reviewer, scenario writer, scenarist, scenarize, scribe, scriptwriter, set afloat, set on foot, set up, shaper, short-story writer, sire, smith, source, storyteller, subject, technical writer, throw on paper, tractation, word painter, wordsmith, work, worker, wright, write, writer

ROGET THESAURUS

author

Book

N booklet, writing, work, volume, tome, opuscule, tract, tractate, livret, brochure, libretto, handbook, codex, manual, pamphlet, enchiridion, circular, publication, chap book, part, issue, number livraison, album, portfolio, periodical, serial, magazine, ephemeris, annual, journal, paper, bill, sheet, broadsheet, leaf, leaflet, fly leaf, page, quire, ream, chapter, section, head, article, paragraph, passage, clause, endpapers, frontispiece, cover, binding, folio, quarto, octavo, duodecimo, sextodecimo, octodecimo, encyclopedia, encompilation, library, bibliotheca, press, definitive work, treatise, comprehensive treatise (dissertation), writer, author, litterateur, essayist, journalism, pen, scribbler, the scribbling race, literary hack, Grub-street writer, writer for the press, gentleman of the press, representative of the press, adjective jerker, diaskeaust, ghost, hack writer, ink slinger, publicist, reporter, penny a liner, editor, subeditor, playwright, poet, bookseller, publisher, bibliopole, bibliopolist, librarian, bookstore, bookshop, bookseller's shop, knowledge of books, bibliography, book learning, among the giant fossils of my past, craignez tout d'un auteur en courroux, for authors nobler palms remain, I lived to write and wrote to live, look in thy heart and write, there is no Past so long as Books shall live, the public mind is the creation of the Master-Writ, volumes that I prize above my dukedom.

Cause

N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

Producer

N producer, originator, inventor, author, founder, generator, mover, architect, creator, prime mover, maker, prime mover.