Dictionary
o•rig•i•nal
Pronunciation: (u-rij'u-nl), [key]—
adj.
1. belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something, or to a thing at its beginning:
The book still has its original binding.
2. new; fresh; inventive; novel:
an original way of advertising.
3. arising or proceeding independently of anything else:
an original view of history.
4. capable of or given to thinking or acting in an independent, creative, or individual manner:
an original thinker.
5. created, undertaken, or presented for the first time:
to give the original performance of a string quartet.
6. being something from which a copy, a translation, or the like is made:
The original document is in Washington.
—
n.
1. a primary form or type from which varieties are derived.
2. an original work, writing, or the like, as opposed to any copy or imitation:
The original of this is in the British Museum.
3. the person or thing represented by a picture, description, etc.:
The original is said to have been the painter's own house.
4. a person whose ways of thinking or acting are original:
In a field of brilliant technicians he is a true original.
5. Archaic.an eccentric person.
6. Archaic.a source of being; an author or originator.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
