Writ"er (?), n. [AS. wrītere.]
1.
One who writes, or has written; a scribe; a clerk.
They [came] that handle the pen of the writer.
Judg. v. 14. My tongue is
the pen of a ready writer.
Ps. xlv. 1.
2. One who is engaged in literary composition as a profession; an author; as, a
writer of
novels.
This pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile.
Shak.
3. A clerk of a certain rank in the service of the late East
India Company, who, after serving a certain number of years, became a factor.
Writer of the
tallies (Eng. Law), an
officer of the exchequer of England, who acted as clerk to the auditor of the receipt, and wrote the accounts upon the tallies from the tellers' bills. The use of
tallies in the exchequer has been abolished. Wharton (Law.
Dict.) -- Writer's
cramp, palsy, or spasm (Med.), a painful spasmodic affection of the muscles of
the fingers, brought on by excessive use, as in writing, violin playing, telegraphing, etc. Called also scrivener's palsy. -- Writer to the
signet. See under Signet.
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