author

noun

1. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a collaborative work.

   “The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.”

   “Have you read any Corinthian authors?”

   “This paper has three authors.”

   “Eternal King; thee, Author of all being.”

   “During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]”

2. (US)The initial owner of the copyright to a work, especially a work made for hire or a work of corporate authorship.

   “The author named on the copyright registration for the Android robot is Google Inc.”

3. Someone who writes books for a living.
4. (obsolete)Principal; the primary participant in a crime.

   “We hear […]of fratricidal murders, and stern reprisals on their authors.”

   “Accomplices of a crime or an offence shall incur the same punishment as the authors of such a crime or offence, except when the law will have disposed otherwise.”

5. (archaic)One's authority for something: an informant.

   “Let me inform you en passant, Ladies, that those Villains the Heathens, as my Authors tell me, (and I thought it wou'd^([sic]) not be amiss to communicate such a nice Observation to this House) used to call our Saviour Chrestus, and not Christus, by way of Contempt and Derision […]”

   “'Wanting the hat,' continues my author, Kirstie, whom I but haltingly follow, for she told this tale like one inspired, 'wanting guns, for there wasna twa grains o' pouder in the house, wi' nae mair weepons than their sticks into their hands, the fower o' them took the road.”

6. (figuratively)The creator or cause of anything.

   “The other, standing nearly head-on toward the hunters, had not proved so good a mark, and though every spear struck not one entered the great heart. For a moment the huge bull stood trumpeting in rage and pain, casting about with its little eyes for the author of its hurt.”

verb

1. (US, proscribed, sometimes)To create a work as its author.