author

Etymology

From Middle English auctour, from Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augeō (“to increase, originate”). The h, also found in Middle French autheur, is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. The OED attributes the h to contamination by authentic.

noun

1. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition.
   The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.
   Have you read any Corinthian authors?
   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[…] 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
   The chief glory of every people arises from its authors. 1755, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, Preface
   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[…] 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond
2. Someone who writes books for a living.
3. (obsolete, criminal law) Principal; the primary participant in a crime.
   We hear […]of fratricidal murders, and stern reprisals on their authors. 1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 10, page 158
   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. 1894, Franco-Siamese Mixed Court, The Case of Kieng Chek (Kham Muon) before the Franco-Siamese Mixed Court, Bangkok: n.p., page 4
4. (obsolete) 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 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 […] 1699, Seven new Colloquies translated out of Erasmus

verb

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