O*rig"i*nal , n. [Cf. F. original.]
1. Origin; commencement; source.
It hath it original from much grief.
Shak. And spangled heavens,
a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
Addison.
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.
The Scriptures may be now read in their own
original.
Milton.
3. An original thinker or writer; an
originator. [R.]
Men who are bad at copying, yet are good
originals.
C. G. Leland. 4. A person of marked eccentricity. [Colloq.]
5. (Zoöl. & 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.
O*rig"i*nal (?), a. [F. original, L. originalis.]
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.
His form had
yet not lost
All her original brightness.
Milton.
2. Not copied, imitated, or translated; new; fresh; genuine; as, an original thought; an original process; the original text of Scripture.
3. Having the power to
suggest new thoughts or combinations of thought; inventive; as, an original genius.
4. Before unused or unknown; new; as, a book full of
original matter.
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.
Hear it pronounced