writtenadj.n.
/ˈrɪtn/, U.S. /ˈrɪtn/ A. adj.
1.
a. That is composed, recorded, preserved, or mentioned in writing; committed to paper or another medium; expressed in letters, words, etc. Also: that is in writing, esp. as opposed to being spoken or (less frequently) printed.
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society > communication > writing > state of having been written > [adjective]
writtenOE
pricked1463
penned1567
handwritten1583
paper1616
literal1621
inditeda1640
in manuscript1646
scribed1662
scriptory1704
scriptured1763
pen and ink1810
scriptitious1815
paper-and-pencil1927
OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) i. ii. 28 Æfter þisre gewritenan forespræce on endebyrdnysse þæs gerimes synt gemearcode þa concurrentes.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Royal) 320 Ha gað to chirche to..lustnin hali writen lare.
1485 in Hist. MSS Comm.: 10th Rep.: App. Pt. V: MSS Marquis of Ormonde &c. (1885) 385 in Parl. Papers (C. 4576-I) XLII. 1 The above wryttin Perse Lynche, Mayor.
?c1510 tr. Newe Landes & People founde by Kynge of Portyngale sig. C.iiv In the lande of Armeneten..there is whryttyn seruyce of the masses.
1565 T. Harding Answere to Iuelles Chalenge 30 b Thinges..either declared by written scriptures, or taught by the holy ghost.
1589 R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations Ep. Ded. sig. *2 Printed or written discoueries and voyages.
a1630 F. Moryson in Shakespeare's Europe (1903) i. viii. 139 The written Relations of this tyme testifye that..they mantayned..600th men at Armes.
1669 W. Holder Elem. Speech 9 Written Language..is permanent.
1738 Countess of Pomfret in Countess of Hartford & Countess of Pomfret Corr. (1805) I. 24 I make the tour of the world in Gemelli's written one.
1782 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music II. 567 Written Discant, which is..practised in Italy, by all writers for the Church.
1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) ii. 19 He will consent to accept a written apology.
1865 Patents (1869) 365 Letters and other written documents.
1889 W. Sutherland Art & Craft Sign-writing ii. 2/1 The consideration of what a written sign ought to be.
1899 J. Wardle Universal Typewriter Man. 6 The Bell gives the operator warning when the written line is about to be completed.
1902 C. R. Conder First Bible 62 To assign dates to the written monuments on stone.
2021 Times of India (Nexis) 7 Mar. In a written reply, the minister for women and child development said anganwadis were closed since March.
b. Of a law or body of law: reduced to or established by writing; formulated in a document, code, or printed work. Cf. unwritten adj. 1b.
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society > law > written law > [adjective]
writtena1400
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) l. 2179 Hyt ys seyde þurgh lawe wrete, Þat þyn hede shulde be of smete.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 14843 We sari men, quat mai wee sai, Ne knau we noght þe writen lai.
?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 72v Alle lawe posityf and alle lawe wreton condempne the vnto the deth.
1684 G. Mackenzie Instit. Law Scotl. (1694) 4 Our written Law comprehends, First, our Statutory Law [etc.].
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Writing We also say, written Law, Lex scripta, in opposition to common Law.
1853 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice III. ii. 97 All written or writable law respecting the arts is for the childish and ignorant.
1882 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 365 The question whether a written law comes relatively early or late in the history of a nation.
2019 National (Scotl.) (Nexis) 3 Nov. The actions taken by women in the name of peace were a more binding demand than any written law.
c. figurative. Esp. with the sense ‘fixed, permanent’.
Π
a1616 W. Shakespeare Macbeth (1623) v. iii. 44 Can'st thou not..Raze out the written troubles of the Braine? View more context for this quotation
a1658 R. Lovelace Poems (1904) 168 O sacred Peincture!.. Thou..art a written and a body'd mind.
1822 P. B. Shelley Hellas 40 Thou would'st ask that giant spirit The written fortunes of thy house.
1855 E. Bulwer-Lytton Clytemnestra & Other Poems 220 You, who do profess to see In the face the written mind.
1990 G. Stewart Reading Voices 256 No less dismembering, except on the written face of it, is probably the most recognizable utterance from Ulysses, lexically discrete until read.
2010 Whanganui (New Zealand) Chron. (Nexis) 11 May a10 This ability is beyond the reach of us mere mortals who must accept that we are not the masters of our own written destiny.
2. Marked, covered, or inscribed with letters, symbols, words, etc.; carved, incised, embossed, etc., with characters or words. Also figurative.In quot. ?1440 with reference to a belief that if a sprouting peach kernel was marked with writing in cinnabar, the tree would grow bearing marks resembling the letters written on the kernel.
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society > communication > writing > state of having been written > [adjective] > covered with writing
written?1440
scribed1662
scriptured1856
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > sculpture or carving > incising or intaglio > [adjective]
written?1440
engraven1583
lapidary1724
intagliated1782
engraileda1806
incised1807
lapideous1807
graven1821
descript1863
lapidarian1864
pointillé1884
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xii. l. 114 Grekis sayn that pechis me may make Ywriton [L. scripta] growe.
1526 Grete Herball cxliiii. sig. I.iv/1 Brenne it [sc. the powder] and put in powdre of olde wryten parchement brent and powdre of mastyke.
1580 C. Hollyband Treasurie French Tong Cayer, a quier of any written paper, when a whole writing booke is deuided into equall partes.
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. vii. 64 A carrion death, within whose emptie eye there is a written scroule. View more context for this quotation
1669 J. Ogilby tr. M. Boim et al. Let. in tr. A. Kircher Antiq. China i. ii. 7 in tr. J. Nieuhof Embassy E.-India Company Both of them have only attained the sense of the written Stone [sc. ‘a Marble Stone of Chinesian writing Engraved about a thousand years since with Antient Syrian Characters’].
1692 Athenian Merc. 24 Dec. A flat bundle of written Papers.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XII. 433 Written Mountain, Mountain of Inscriptions,..a supposed mountain..in the wilderness of Sinai.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound ii. i. 67 Oh, lift Thine eyes, that I may read his written soul!
1861 C. Reade Cloister & Hearth lv Presently we did pass a narrow lane, and..espied a written stone.
1869 Patents 6 The written paper and the copying paper are laid on a board.
1961 H. Doolittle Helen in Egypt (1985) 31 The light grows dim, the riddle of the written stone suddenly weighs me down; why do I doubt, why wonder?
2010 J. Money in J. Cannon Chrons. I. p. cxxix Virtually its entire operating system..depended on the exact onward copying of written papers.
3. Of a letter, character, etc.: formed with the pen; (also) traced as if with a pen.
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society > communication > writing > state of having been written > [adjective] > of letters, etc.
written1440
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 479 Strekyn or cancellyn a thynge wrytyn, Cancello, obelo.
1541 M. Coverdale tr. H. Bullinger Christen State Matrimonye xxi. f. lxx They can reade both prynted and wrytten letters.
1582 R. Mulcaster 1st Pt. Elementarie xi. 54 Som writen figure or accent.
c1620 A. Hume Of Orthogr. Britan Tongue (1870) i. i. §2 The symbol, then, I cal the written letter.
1861 F. A. Paley Æschylus' Persians (ed. 2) 351 The vestiges of the written digamma.
1877 Notes & Queries 31 Mar. 246 Origin of written characters.
1881 Lancet 26 Nov. 904/2 As he wrote each letter he named one aloud, but the written and spoken letter never corresponded with one another.
2012 S. Cowley Road to Writing 1 She understands how to match spoken sounds with written letters.
4. Of something set down in writing, esp. a literary composition.
a. With a preceding adverb of quality. Composed or expressed in a specified style or manner.
Π
1592 T. Kyd Spanish Trag. iv. sig. K But to present a Kingly troupe withall, Giue me a stately written Tragedie.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature (1834) II. 475 Hymns, meditations, and sweetly-written books.
1824 La Belle Assemblée Oct. 168/2 In a very quaintly-written, self-repeating ‘Introduction’, Mr. Irvine prides himself on the ‘sound moral’ which each of his pieces ‘contains’.
1833 Freeman’s Jrnl. (Dublin) 14 Aug. Some very just but rather prosily written observations on the alterations that have been recently introduced into the University.
1858 Sat. Rev. 5 536/1 The volume is closed by two carefully-written excursus.
1905 Daily Chron. 28 Dec. 8/3 A modernly-written play.
1914 R. Brooke Let. 15–17 Aug. (1968) 609 This is a badly-written, dumb, letter.
2008 Independent 7 Nov. (Arts & Bks. Review section) 37/6 He uses a device in which he has almost cornered the market—the elegantly-written medical case study.
b. Expressed in an appropriate or recognized literary form or style; composed or revised with care or attention to stylistic convention or effect.Often in contexts in which a writer's work is being criticized as stylistically artificial or excessively formal, elaborate, etc.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > [adjective]
literalc1450
literate1558
bookish1567
paper1592
literary1605
literatory1652
belletristical1799
belletristic1821
belletrist1889
lit.1895
written1909
1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 183/2 Not enough written (Authors', 1870), not sufficiently corrected for style.
1922 F. M. Ford Let. 14 Aug. (1965) 141 Felicity Chimney is a much more ambitious matter. The only thing that is wrong with it is that it is too written.
1963 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Mar. 154/1 The writing is slipshod and frequently repetitive; in fact, as Henry James would say, it is not ‘written’ at all.
2009 D. Caselli Improper Modernism iv. 156 Nightwood, too, is too written, too emotional, too obscure, too abstract, too stylized.
B. n.
With the. That which has been set down or recorded in writing, esp. (in later use) as contrasted with speech, oral tradition, etc. Cf. the written word at Phrases b.The noun is rare before the later 20th cent., and is now found chiefly in academic, esp. theological or philosophical, contexts.
Π
1747 S. Richardson Clarissa I. xxxi. 204 I command thee to be pleased: If not for the writer's, or written's sake, for thy word's sake.
1853 Mass. Teacher 6 49 A word exists as truly for the eye as for the ear, and in a highly advanced state of society, where reading is almost as universal as speaking, words exist as much perhaps for the first as the last. That in the written, is the permanence and continuity of language and learning.
1978 Ethnomusicology 22 277 The authority of the written has a tendency to fix things.
2019 Y.-J. Lin in B. H. Dunning Oxf. Handbk. New Test., Gender, & Sexuality viii. 146 What Western thought usually deems limp and lifeless—the written—is here eternally dynamic, whereas the Oral Torah, which could be characterized as growing and ‘living,’ is predetermined and foreknown.
Phrases
the written word.
a. The text of the Bible, regarded as having been divinely inspired. Cf. word n. 10b. Frequently with capital initial in Word.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > [noun]
Holy Writc900
writeOE
God's bookOE
writOE
bookOE
Biblea1300
holy lettrurec1330
scripturec1330
the (sacred or holy) writings1340
gospel1393
worda1425
escripture1489
Holy Write1508
theologya1513
the written word1533
Book of God1548
oracle1548
hand biblea1680
good book1740
sacred book1782
the sacred volume1850
bibliotheca1879
Kitab1885
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > text > [noun]
text1393
the written word1533
1533 W. Tyndale Souper of Lorde f. 7v Our faith..will bothe reche it, receyue it, & holde it faste..because the wryten worde of our faith sayth it.
1577 H. Bull tr. M. Luther Comm. 15 Psalmes (new ed.) 236 Let vs not yeld so much to our owne sense and feeling, as to the written word and to the holy Ghost, which pronounceth that with the Lord there is mercie.
1607 S. Hieron Dignitie of Script. in Wks. (1620) I. 79 To make the written word (as it were) the standard or the kings beame, by which to try all doctrine.
1677 R. Gilpin Dæmonol. Sacra iii. xvii. 140 Lay all to the Line and Plummet of the written Word.
1745 J. Wesley Let. 30 Dec. (1931) II. 55 We believe that the threefold order of ministers..is not only authorized by its apostolical institution, but also by the written Word.
1890 Deseret Weekly (Salt Lake City, Utah Territory) 17 May 673/1 The Romanites..give to genuine tradition the same authority as to the written word.
1990 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 17 Feb. (Everyday Mag.) 6 d What they see as a lack of doctrinal unity and a ‘watering down of the written Word’.
b. Written texts or material, considered collectively; written (as opposed to spoken) language. Cf. the spoken word at spoken adj.1 2d. rare before the 20th cent.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [noun]
i-writeOE
bookOE
writOE
workOE
pagine?c1225
lettrurec1330
dite1340
inditing1340
writing1340
scripta1350
dittya1387
stylea1400
scriptiona1425
framec1475
invention1484
piece1533
ditement1556
paperwork1577
composition1603
confection1605
composure?1606
page?1606
the written word1619
performance1665
literature1852
1619 Helpe to Discourse 153 Scripta diu viuunt non ita verba diu. Englished...The written word shall last and be, When th'spoken word is fled.
1897 J. Conrad Art Fiction 630 My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel—it is, before all, to make you see.
1929 Radio Times 29 Nov. 432 Poetry..has its roots in the spoken word: the written word is only a means of saving poetry from the oblivion of time.
1991 K. Waterhouse English our English p. xv Then why, if nobody minds one way or the other whether we can punctuate or spell or construct a sentence, should we impose more stringent standards when it comes to the written word?
Compounds
C1. With prepositions, forming adjectives (and occasionally nouns) as written-about, written-of, written-on, written-to.
ΘΠ
society > communication > correspondence > sending items > [noun] > addressing letter > addressee
superscription1464
written-to1747
addressee1794
1747 S. Richardson Clarissa II. xix. 117 [The letter] was written..On one knee, kneeling with the other. Not from reverence to the written-to, however.
1832 New Monthly Mag. 34 277 Medical opinion as to the essence of this much thought of, and much talked of, and much written about malady [sc. cholera], is threefold.
1886 Amer. Lancet Apr. 121/2 The excuse and justification..for this paper upon a much written-of subject, is that it is a compilation of recorded facts.
1933 New Yorker 28 Oct. 25/3 Roosevelt, the most written-to of all Presidents, gets an average of 3,800 letters a day.
1955 E. Bowen World of Love iv. 77 The written-on blue envelope.
2006 Weekly Standard 6 Mar. Writing to Woolf (the most written-to friend in this collection), he imagines..Duncan Grant, then his lover, running off with his brother.
2010 @pawsitivlycorky 22 Feb. in twitter.com (accessed 23 Mar. 2021) Oh my God. Was it necessary to tear all the written-on pages out of my notebooks?
C2. With adverbs, forming adjectives corresponding to phrasal verbs at write v. Phrasal verbs, as written-down, written-off, written out, written-up.
a. In various senses in general contexts.
ΘΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [adjective] > having exhausted capacity for writing
written out1848
society > communication > journalism > journal > matter of or for journals > [adjective] > reviewed
written1890
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > [adjective] > commended or praised > in writing
written1890
society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > [adjective] > of financial losses
written1961
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > motor car > [adjective] > wrecked
written1961
1754 S. Richardson Corr. (1804) II. 198 Your capital men..with their short written-down speeches.
1848 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 518/2 It is the written-out, illuminated creed of a solitary, independent, daring, yet devout man, which all ages have agreed to admire in Milton's poem [i.e. Paradise Lost].
1885 Puck (N.Y.) 25 Mar. 59/1 When he is written out he can still dispose of any drivel he may write.
1890 G. B. Shaw in Star 7 Mar. 2/3 The imagination of the public has undoubtedly been strongly seized by the spectacle of the much-written-up Tosca at the height of its prosperity.
1897 ‘P. Warung’ Tales Old Regime 149 Negligently-written-up records.
a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. xv. 355 He's had several failures in the past year... They say he's written out.
1961 Sunday Express 12 Feb. 9/2 He accuses them of..selling ‘written off’ car wrecks.
1977 Punch 31 Aug. 330/1 (cartoon) [Text on a wall plaque:] Coronation Street Memorial. Written out characters.
2002 F. Spufford Child that Bks. Built (2003) ii. 49 The tale..doesn't need pictures, it doesn't need to exist as a written-down text.
b. In financial contexts.
(a) With back, down, off, and up, designating a debt, asset, provision, etc., that has been subjected to the accountancy action, process, or adjustment expressed by the underlying phrasal verb.See to write back 2 at write v. Phrasal verbs, to write down 5 at write v. Phrasal verbs, to write off 1b at write v. Phrasal verbs, to write up 7 at write v. Phrasal verbs.
ΚΠ
1857 Trial Royal Brit. Bank Directors 40 All written off debts go into the assets.
1904 Economist 10 Dec. 1999/2 The written-down assets of the company, exclusive of the patents and goodwill,..are to-day £1,725,742.
1966 Financial Times of Canada 17 Oct. 23/2 If written-up assets..are eliminated..the book equity shrinks to $45 million.
1976 Times 23 June 21/1 Without written-back provisions to enable a repeat of 1975's £2.4m profit.., that division turned in £1.6m.
2011 A. Freytag & G. Pehnelt in A. Freytag et al. Securing Global Econ. vi. 89 Since the written-off debt has not been serviced, debt relief does not free resources.
(b)
written-down value n. Accounting the nominal value of an asset, after taking into account reductions resulting from factors such as a fall in price, depreciation, obsolescence, a previous overvaluation, etc. (abbreviated WDV).
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society > trade and finance > monetary value > [noun] > values in specific terms
book value1838
carrying value1864
written-down value1893
cash-value1898
asset value1902
resale value1913
points value1936
point value1939
shareholder value1965
1893 Age (Melbourne) 25 Aug. 6/3 You have assumed the value when the commissioners took charge was the accurate written down value, and then you say that the stock ought to have been taken as new, and written down afterwards?
1986 R. Proctor Finance for Perplexed Executive ii. 32 The annual depreciation charge..is calculated by dividing the historical cost by the useful life. This produces an annual depreciation charge of £2k. So, one year after acquisition, the machine [acquired for £10k] will have a ‘written-down value’ (WDV) in the firm's accounting records of £8k.
2011 Lincs. Echo (Nexis) 27 July 14 If you donate used assets that have qualified for plant or machinery allowances to a qualifying charity.., you may be able to claim plant and machinery allowances on any left over written-down value.
C3.
written matter n. Originally and chiefly: letters, notes, postcards, etc., that are handwritten. Later also: any written or printed document, work, etc. Cf. printed matter n. at printed adj. Compounds 1.
Π
1764 in Dublin Mag. May 275/1 Those franks which were used in inclosing printed publications to the country, seldom, or never, contained, any written matter in them.
1860 J. Edgar New Brunswick 34 No better plan could be devised of spreading information.., than by getting their friends..to send it to them in the shape of pamphlets, or any other printed or written matter.
1922 L. V. Rule Pioneering in Masonry xx. 238 Great amounts of written matter..went up in the flames.
2021 Hexham Courant (Nexis) 19 June I spent half a century working on newspapers and still can't break the habit of looking for mistakes in any piece of written matter that comes my way.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.OE