write
v.v. to make letters, words, or numbers on a surface like paper or a screen. You do this to share information or keep a record of your thoughts.
v. to mark letters, words, or symbols on a surface with a pen, pencil, or keyboard. Transitive when taking a direct object; intransitive when referring to the general activity.
Please write your name at the top of the page.
I need to write a quick email to my boss before we leave for lunch.
The author spent several years traveling across Europe to gather enough research to write her first historical novel.
From Middle English writen, from Old English wrītan, from Proto-West Germanic wrītan, from Proto-Germanic wrītaną (“to carve, write”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrey- (“to rip, tear”). Cognate with West Frisian write (“to wear by rubbing, rip, tear”), Dutch wrijten (“to argue, quarrel”), Middle Low German wrîten (“to scratch, draw, write”) (> Low German wrieten, rieten (“to tear, split”)), German reißen (“to tear, rip”), Norwegian rita (“to rough-sketch, carve, write”), Swedish rita (“to draw, design, delineate, model”), Icelandic rita (“to cut, scratch, write”), German ritzen (“to carve, scratch”), Proto-Slavic *ryti (“to carve, engrave, dig”), Polish ryć (“to engrave, dig”), Czech rýt (“to engrave, dig”). See also rit and rat.
The verb is often used with 'to' when indicating the recipient of a message.
I wrote to him a letter.I wrote him a letter.When using two objects, the indirect object (him) comes before the direct object (a letter) without 'to'.
- 01
write checks one can't cash
To make promises one cannot keep, or to make boasts that are not true.
- 02
write for the drawer
To write a work for posterity or for friends that one cannot publish except as samizdat.
- 03
write one's own ticket
To be empowered to choose whichever job, financial arrangement, or course of action one desires.