write
    v 1: produce a literary work; "She composed a poem"; "He wrote
         four novels" [syn: write, compose, pen, indite]
    2: communicate or express by writing; "Please write to me every
       week"
    3: have (one's written work) issued for publication; "How many
       books did Georges Simenon write?"; "She published 25 books
       during her long career" [syn: publish, write]
    4: communicate (with) in writing; "Write her soon, please!"
       [syn: write, drop a line]
    5: communicate by letter; "He wrote that he would be coming
       soon"
    6: write music; "Beethoven composed nine symphonies" [syn:
       compose, write]
    7: mark or trace on a surface; "The artist wrote Chinese
       characters on a big piece of white paper"; "Russian is
       written with the Cyrillic alphabet"
    8: record data on a computer; "boot-up instructions are written
       on the hard disk" [syn: write, save]
    9: write or name the letters that comprise the conventionally
       accepted form of (a word or part of a word); "He spelled the
       word wrong in this letter" [syn: spell, write]
    10: create code, write a computer program; "She writes code
        faster than anybody else"

Write \Write\, v. t. [imp. Wrote; p. p. Written; Archaic
   imp. & p. p. Writ; p. pr. & vb. n. Writing.] [OE. writen,
   AS. wr[imac]tan; originally, to scratch, to score; akin to
   OS. wr[imac]tan to write, to tear, to wound, D. rijten to
   tear, to rend, G. reissen, OHG. r[imac]zan, Icel. r[imac]ta
   to write, Goth. writs a stroke, dash, letter. Cf. Race
   tribe, lineage.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To set down, as legible characters; to form the conveyance
      of meaning; to inscribe on any material by a suitable
      instrument; as, to write the characters called letters; to
      write figures.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To set down for reading; to express in legible or
      intelligible characters; to inscribe; as, to write a deed;
      to write a bill of divorcement; hence, specifically, to
      set down in an epistle; to communicate by letter.
      [1913 Webster]

            Last night she enjoined me to write some lines to
            one she loves.                        --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            I chose to write the thing I durst not speak
            To her I loved.                       --Prior.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Hence, to compose or produce, as an author.
      [1913 Webster]

            I purpose to write the history of England from the
            accession of King James the Second down to a time
            within the memory of men still living. --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To impress durably; to imprint; to engrave; as, truth
      written on the heart.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. To make known by writing; to record; to prove by one's own
      written testimony; -- often used reflexively.
      [1913 Webster]

            He who writes himself by his own inscription is like
            an ill painter, who, by writing on a shapeless
            picture which he hath drawn, is fain to tell
            passengers what shape it is, which else no man could
            imagine.                              --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   To write to, to communicate by a written document to.

   Written laws, laws deriving their force from express
      legislative enactment, as contradistinguished from
      unwritten, or common, law. See the Note under Law, and
      Common law, under Common, a.
      [1913 Webster]

Write \Write\, v. i.
   1. To form characters, letters, or figures, as representative
      of sounds or ideas; to express words and sentences by
      written signs. --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            So it stead you, I will write,
            Please you command.                   --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To be regularly employed or occupied in writing, copying,
      or accounting; to act as clerk or amanuensis; as, he
      writes in one of the public offices.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To frame or combine ideas, and express them in written
      words; to play the author; to recite or relate in books;
      to compose.
      [1913 Webster]

            They can write up to the dignity and character of
            the authors.                          --Felton.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To compose or send letters.
      [1913 Webster]

            He wrote for all the Jews that went out of his realm
            up into Jewry concerning their freedom. --1 Esdras
                                                  iv. 49.
      [1913 Webster]

write

   1.  Unix's simple talk command and protocol.
   write has been largely superseded by talk and then irc.

   An enhancement, RWP, has been proposed.

   2.  A simple text editor for Windows.

   (1998-04-28)