From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
original
adj 1: preceding all others in time or being as first made or
performed; "the original inhabitants of the Americas";
"the book still has its original binding"; "restored
the house to its original condition"; "the original
performance of the opera"; "the original cast";
"retracted his original statement"
2: (of e.g. information) not secondhand or by way of something
intermediary; "his work is based on only original, not
secondary, sources"
3: being or productive of something fresh and unusual; or being
as first made or thought of; "a truly original approach";
"with original music"; "an original mind" [ant:
unoriginal]
4: not derived or copied or translated from something else;
"the play is original; not an adaptation"; "he kept the
original copy and gave her only a xerox"; "the translation
misses much of the subtlety of the original French"
n 1: an original creation (i.e., an audio recording) from which
copies can be made [syn: master, master copy]
2: an original model on which something is patterned [syn:
archetype, pilot]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Original \O*rig"i*nal\, a. [F. original, L. originalis.]
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1. Pertaining to the origin or beginning; preceding all
others; first in order; primitive; primary; pristine; as,
the original state of man; the original laws of a country;
the original inventor of a process.
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His form had yet not lost
All her original brightness. --Milton.
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2. Not copied, imitated, or translated; new; fresh; genuine;
as, an original thought; an original process; the original
text of Scripture.
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3. Having the power to suggest new thoughts or combinations
of thought; inventive; as, an original genius.
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4. Before unused or unknown; new; as, a book full of original
matter.
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Original sin (Theol.), the first sin of Adam, as related to
its consequences to his descendants of the human race; --
called also total depravity. See Calvinism.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Original \O*rig"i*nal\, n. [Cf. F. original.]
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1. Origin; commencement; source.
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It hath it original from much grief. --Shak.
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And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim. --Addison.
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2. That which precedes all others of its class; archetype;
first copy; hence, an original work of art, manuscript,
text, and the like, as distinguished from a copy,
translation, etc.
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The Scriptures may be now read in their own
original. --Milton.
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3. An original thinker or writer; an originator. [R.]
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Men who are bad at copying, yet are good originals.
--C. G.
Leland.
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4. A person of marked eccentricity. [Colloq.]
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5. (Zool. & Bot.) The natural or wild species from which a
domesticated or cultivated variety has been derived; as,
the wolf is thought by some to be the original of the dog,
the blackthorn the original of the plum.
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