writ 
rogative writ. See the qualifying words.— Service Of a 
writ. See service.— Ship writ, in K»ff. hut, a writ issued 
in the name of the crown imposing the tax known as 
ship-immey (which see): notahly one of sucli writs issued 
under Charles I. which led to Uampden's opposition. They 
were declared illegal by 16 Car. L, c. 14(1040). — The Writ 
runs, (.a) The writ is expressed in terms of or including : 
as, the ivrit rung in the name of the people. (&) The writ 
is legally capable of enforcement : as, the writ of subpoena 
rung throughout the state, (c) The writ is practically ca- 
pable of enforcement: as, "When lawlessness has yielded 
to order; when the Queen's icrU runs; when the edicts of 
the civil courts are obeyed ; . . . and when sedition is 
trampled under foot — then, and then only, is there some 
chance for the development of remedial measures. " (Edin- 
burgh Hev., CLXV. 587.)— To Serve a writ. See to serve 
a process, under serve.— io serve a Writ Of attach- 
ment. See to serve an attachment, under served-. — 
Twelve-day writ, in Eng. law, a writ allowed by IS and 
19 \ ict,, c. 67, in actions on bills and notes if brought 
within six months after maturity, warning defendant to 
appear within twelve days, otherwise judgment would go 
against him.— Vlcontiel wrltst. See vicontiel.— W'At 
of account. See action of acroimt, under accoin^.— Writ 
Of assistance, besaylet, capias, certiorari, consulta- 
tion, dower, error, estrepement. See a>ixi8tance, etc. 
—Writ of execution. Si.-e execution. ;j (t;.— Writ of 
habeas corpus, inquiry, mandamus, possession, 
privilege, prohibition, protection, recaption, resti- 
tution, right, spoliation, subpoena, etc. see habeas 
crpus, inquiry, etc.— Writs Of extent. ?>eeextent, S{b). 
writ- (rit). An obsolete funn of the third per- 
son singular present indicative (for writeth), 
and an obsolete or archaic form of the past 
participle, of write. 
Writability (ri-ta-biri-ti), n. [< icritable + -itif 
(see -bilittf).'] Ability or disposition to write. 
[Nouoe-word.] 
You see by my writabilUy in my pressing my letters on 
you that my pen has still a colt's tooth left. 
Walpole, Letters, IV. 455. (Davies.) 
writable (ri'ta-bl), a. [< write + -ablc.l Ca- 
pable of being written; such as might be set 
down in writing. [Kare.] 
The talk was by no means writable, but very pleasant. 
Mme. D'Arblay, iJiary, II. 1(>H. (Dacies.) 
writati'Ve (rx'ta-tiv), a. [Irreg. (after talkativr) 
< wrif{e) + -atire.^ Dispo.seil or inclined to 
write; given to writing. [Nonce-word.] 
Increase of years makes men more talkative, but less 
itritative. Pope, To Swift, Aug. 17, 1736. 
write (i*it), c. ; pret. wrote (obs. or dial, wrate, ar- 
chaic writ), pp. written (obs. or archaic (rW/, for- 
merly erroneously wrotc)f ppr. writiinj. [< ME. 
writen (pret. irro^, wroot^ wrat, pi. writen, write, 
pp. writen, write — with short /), < AS. wrifait 
(pret. wrdty pi. writon, pp. writen), write, in- 
scribe, orig. score, engrave, = OS. wriffin, cut, 
injure, write, =OFries. writa = D. rijtcn, tour, 
split, =LU. ritett = 0110, ri::tin, cut, tear, split, 
draw, delineate, MHO. n-tH, (J. reissen, tear, = 
leel. rita, scratch, cut, write, = Sw. rita, draw, 
delineate. = Goth. *wreilan (in deriv, writs, a 
stroke or j>oint made with a pen), write. Hence 
irn^i.] I. trans. 1. To trace or form u|>on the 
surface of some material (a significant cliarac- 
acter or characters, especially characters con- 
stituting or representing words) ; set down, in a 
manner adapted for reading, with a pen, pencil, 
style, or anything with which marks can bo 
made; Inscribe: as, to write a word on paper; 
to write one's name with the finger in sand. 
Aboven, in the Dust and in the I'owtler of tho Hilles, 
thei xeroot Lettres and Figures with hire Flngres. 
MandeciUe, Travels, p. 17. 
They . . . whose names are not written in the Inxik of 
life. Kev. xvii. s. 
The Greek metropolitan has a very line manuscript of 
the Pentateuch, supjwsed Ui have been wrote about the 
year eight hundred. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. ;i8. 
There is a Bo<jk 
By seraphs writ with beams of Heavenly light. 
Coicper, Sonnet to Mre. Unwin. 
2. To cover with writing; trace readable char- 
acters over the surface of. 
And it [the roll) was written within and without. 
Kzek. ii. 10. 
There will she sit in her smock till she have ^trit a sheet 
of paper. Shale., Much A<io, ii. 3. 13s. 
3. To express or communicate in writing; give 
a written account of; make a record of, as 
something known, thought, or believed: as, to 
write one's observations; he wrote down all he 
could remember. .Sometimes, in this and the next 
sense, the verb is followed by a dative without its sign : 
aa, terite me all the news. 
ITianne sit he down and writ in his dotage 
That wommen kan nat kepe hir niariage. 
Chaucer, lYol. to Wife of llatb's I'ale, 1. 7iK>. 
Is it not urrUten, My house shall be called of :dl nations 
the house of prayer? Mark xi. 17. 
All your better deeds 
Shall be ill water writ, but this in marble. 
beau, and Ft., Philaster, v. :i. 
6993 
I chose to write the Thing I durst not speak. 
Prior, Solomon, ii. 
4. To set forth as an author, or produce in writ- 
ing, either by one's own or another's hand ; com- 
pose and produce as an author. 
Write me a sonnet. Shak., Much Ado, v. 2. 4. 
When you writ your Epigrams, and the Magnetic Lady, 
you were not so mad. Howell, Letters, I. v. 10. 
5. To designate by writing; style or entitle 
in writing; record: with an objective word or 
phrase. 
that he were here to write nie down an ass ! 
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 2. 78. 
They belonged to the armigerous part of the popula- 
lation, and were entitled "to n>rite themselves Esquire." 
De Quincey, Bentley, i. 
6. To record; set down legibly; engrave. 
There is written in your brow . . . honesty and con- 
stancy. Shak., M. for M., iv. 2. 162. 
The histoi-y of New England is vrritten iraperishably on 
the face of a continent. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 228. 
To write down, (a) To set down in writing; make a 
record or memorandum of. 
Having our fair order written down. 
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 4. 
It was the manner of that glorious captain [Ctesar] to 
mite dmcn what scenes he passed through. 
Steele, Spectator, No. ;i74. 
(6) To write in depreciation of ; injure by writing against: 
as, to write down a play or a financial undertaking ; to 
imte down an actor or a candidate. 
Without some infusion of spite it seems as if history 
could itot be written ; that no man's zeal is roused to 
write unless it is moved by the desire to urite down. 
Stubbs, Medieval and Moslem Hist., p. lUi, 
To write oflF, to cancel by an entry on the opposite side of 
the account or bill : as, to write o/" discounts; to write off 
bad debts. — To write out. («) To make a copy or tran- 
scription of; especially, to make a perfect copy of, after a 
rough draft ; record in full : as, when the document is writ- 
ten out you may send it off. {b) To exhaust the capacity - 
or resources of by excessive writing : used reftexively : as, 
that author has wiitten himself out. — To write Up. (a) 
To bring up to date or to the latest fact or transaction in 
writing ; write out in full or in detail : as, to ivrite vp an 
account or an account-book ; to write uj> a lire (»r a cele- 
bration for a newspaper, (b) To attempt to elevate in 
estimation or credit by favorable writing; c(unmend to 
the public; pulf : as, to write up a new play or a candi- 
date. -Written law. See laiv^. 
II. in trans. 1. To bo acquainted with or 
practise the art of writing; engage in the for- 
mation of written words or characters, either 
occasionally or as an occupation: as, to write 
in school; to write as a lawyer's clerk. 
He can write and read and cast accoinpt. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 2. 02. 
2. To express ideas in writing; practise written 
composition; work as an author, or engage in 
authorship. 
When I icrate of these deuices, I smiled with my selfe, 
thinking that the readers would do so to. 
Puttenham, .•Xrte of Eng. I'oesie, p. S4. 
Like Egyptian t'hioniolers, 
Who write of twenty thousand Years. 
Couieij, Pindaric (Jdes, xii. 2. 
Herodotus, though he urote in a dramatic form, had 
little of dramatic genius. Macanlay, History. 
3. To conduct epistolary correspondence; com- 
municate by means of letter-writing: convey 
information by letter or the like: as, to writcio 
a distant friend ; write as soon as you arrive. 
1 go. Write to me very shortly. 
Shak., Rich. III., iv. 4. 428. 
write (ritj, ?*- [< write, v.'\ Writing: chiefly in 
the phrase hand of write. [Colloq. or vulgar.] 
We trust you will call back yourself from errors and 
heresies advisedly which you have maintained rashly, and 
set forth by word and urrite busily. 
Ilardiu'j to Jewell, in Bp. Jewell's Works (Parker Soc. cd.), 
[II. 8<)4. 
It was a short, but a well-written letter, in a fair hand 
of icrite. Gait, Annals ofthe Parish, i. {Dadeg.) 
writee (rl-teM, ». [< write + -r/l.] A person 
to or for whom something is written; a reader 
as contrasted with a writer. [Occasional.] 
And, indeed, where a man is understood, there is ever 
a proportion betwixt the writer's wit and the writee's. 
Chajnnan. Iliad, xiv.. Com. (ed. Hooper). 
write-of-hand (nt'ov-hamr), //. Handwriting: 
the art of writing. [Vulgar.] 
'A could wish as a'd learned icrite-o/kand,' said she, 
"for a've that for to tell Christopher as might set his 
mind at ease." 
Mrt. GaffkeU, Sylvia's Lovers, xliii. (Davieii.) 
writer (ri'ter), )i. [< MP], writere, < AS. writere 
(= Icel. ritari): as write + -er'^.^ 1. A per- 
son who understands or practises the art of 
writing; one who is able to write; a penman. 
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Ps. xlv. 1. 
2. One who does writing as a business; a pro- 
fessional scribe, scrivener, or amanuensis: 
writhe 
used specifically'' in England of clerks to the 
former East India Company, and of temporary 
copying clerks in government offices; in Scot- 
land, loosely, of law agents, solicitors, attor- 
neys, etc., and sometimes of their principal 
clerks. — 3, A person who writes what he com- 
poses in his mind; the author of a written paper 
or of writings; an author in general; a literary 
producer of auykind: as, the tvritero£ a letter; 
a writer of history or of fiction. 
Tell prose writers stories are so stale 
That penny ballads make a better sale. Breto7i. 
"I love," said Mr. Sentry, "a critic who mixes the rules 
of life with annotations uixui writers." 
Steele, Spectator, No. 350. 
[For other uses of the word, see letter-writer, 2, 
and type-writer.] 
Ship's writer. See ship.— The writer, the author of this 
writing; the writer hereof: used elliptically by a writer 
with reference to himself, to avoid saying /.— Writer of 
the tallies. Seetallyi, 1.— Writers' cramp, an occupa- 
tion-neurosis occurring in those who write much, espe- 
cially in a contracted hand. It affects at first usually only 
those muscles which are directly concerned in the produc- 
tion of writing movements, but, if the act is persisted in, 
the neighboring muscles may also share in the disturbance. 
The alf ection may manifest itself under one of four forms 
or a combination of them —numely, paralytic, in which 
weakness in the fingers or even absolute inability to hold 
the pen is experienced ; spastic, in which the attempt to 
write excites clonic or tonic contractions of the fingers; 
tremxdous, in which the hand shakes so while writing that 
the letters formed arc indistinguishable; and sensory, in 
which the effort to write causes severe pain, tingling, or 
other abnormal sensations in the hand and at times in the 
forearm also. The symptoms vary greatly in different in- 
dividuals, usually, however, increasing in severity as long 
as the attempt to use a pen is persisted in. The use of 
steel pens and metal penholders is supposed to increase 
the liability to the affection. Also called scriveners' cramp 
or palxy, writer/ pahy or paralysis, and graphospasm.— 
Writers to the signet. See signet, i. 
writeress (ri'ter-es), n, [< writer 4- -ess.] A 
female writer or author. [Humorous.] 
Remember it henceforth, ye leriteresses, there is no such 
word as authoress. Thackeray, Misc., ii. 470. (Davies.) 
writerling (ri'ter-ling), ;/. [< writer + -Uu</^.] 
A petty or sorry writer or author. [Rare.] 
Every writer and writerling of name [in France] has a 
salary from the government. 
W. Taylor, 1802 (Robberds's Memoir, I. 420). (Davies.) 
writership (rl'ter-ship), n. \_<. writer + -s/tij).] 
The ofhee or employment of a writer in some 
official capacity, 
writhe (riTU), v.; pret. and. pp. writhed, ppr. 
writhiiif/. [< ME. writhen, wrtjihen (pret. wroth, 
wrtntth. wra'th, jd. writhen, jip. writhen (with 
short i), wrethen), < AS, writhan (pret, wrath, 
pp. writhen), twist, wind about, = OHG. rldan, 
MHG. rlden, Q. dial, wrideln, twist together, = 
Icel. rltha = Sw. rrid<f = Dan. rride. wring, 
twist, turn, wrest. Hence ult, wreath, wrest, 
wrist.] I, trans. 1. To turn and twist about; 
twist out of shape or position; wrench; con- 
tort. 
The stortes [grape-stalks] softe in handes wol thai take 
And writhe Iiem, and so icrithen wol thai lete 
Hem honge and drie awhile in sonnes hete. 
Palladius, Ilusbondrie (E. E. T. 3.), p. 20*;. 
Sa suld we wryth all syn away. 
That in our breistis l>red. 
Tfie niudy Serk (Child's Ballads, VIII. 151). 
The desolate little shanty was plainly to be seen among 
the naked and writhen boughs of the oichard. 
The Atlantic, LVIII. 389. 
2. To wrest perversely; wrest; pervert. 
The reason which he yielileth showeth the least part of 
his meaning to be that whereunto his words are icrithed. 
Hooker. 
3. To wrench; wring; <'xtort. [Obsolete or 
archaic] 
The nobility hesitated not to follow the example of 
their sovereign in writhing money from them l>y ever>' 
species of oi)pres8ion. Scott, Ivaidioe, vi. (Imp. Diet.) 
II. itttrans. To move or stir in a twisting or 
torttious manner; twist about, as from pain, 
distress, or stimulation. 
The poplar writhen and twists and whistles in the blast. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 1S.5. 
Supposing a case of tyranny, the Tuscans will wriggle 
under it rather than writhe; and if even they should 
wiithe, yet they will never stand erect. Landvr. 
She writhed under the dcmoTistrable truth of the char- 
acter he had given her conduct. 
George Eliot, Mill »in the Floss, v. 5. 
'Y\\c writhing Wiynw . . . failed to allure the scaly brood. 
Geikie, (ieol. Sketches, i. 
writhe (riTii), «. [< writhe, v.] 1. A contor- 
tion of form or features, as fr<mi pain or other 
emotion; an act of writhing. [Rare.] 
Perhaps pleasure is the emotion evidenced by the silent 
urrithe with which Jim receives this piece of information. 
Ji. i^nrnghton, Alas, xvi. 
2. The band of a fagot, ffalliwrll. [Prov.Eng.] 
