Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages). Noah Webster
a genuine original or authority, in opposition to that which is false, fictitious, counterfeit, or apocryphal; being what it purports to be; genuine; not of doubtful origin; real; as, an authentic paper or register. To be avenged On him who had stole Jove's authentic fire. Milton. 2. Authoritative. [Obs.] Milton. 3. Of approved authority; true; trustworthy; credible; as, an authentic writer; an authentic portrait; authentic information. 4. (Law) Vested with all due formalities, and legally attested. 5. (Mus.) Having as immediate relation to the tonic, in distinction from plagal, which has a correspondent relation to the dominant in the octave below the tonic. Syn. - Authentic, Genuine,. These words, as here compared, have reference to historical documents. We call a document genuine when it can be traced back ultimately to the author or authors from whom it professes to emanate. Hence, the word has the meaning,½not changed from the original, uncorrupted, unadulterated:¸ as, a genuine text. We call a document authentic when, on the ground of its being thus traced back, it may be relied on as true and authoritative (from the primary sense of ½having an author, vouched for¸); hence its extended signification, in general literature, of trustworthy, as resting on unquestionable authority or evidence; as, an authentic history; an authentic report of facts. A genuine book is that which was written by the person whose name it bears, as the author of it. An authentic book is that which relates matters of fact as they ?eally happened. A book may be genuine without being, authentic, and a book may be authentic without being genuine. Bp. Watson. It may be said, however, that some writers use authentic (as, an authentic document) in the sense of ½produced by its professed author, not counterfeit.¸ AuÏthen¶tic, n. An original (book or document). [Obs.] ½Authentics and transcripts.¸ Fuller. AuÏthen¶ticÏal (?), a. Authentic. [Archaic] AuÏthen¶ticÏalÏly, adv. In an authentic manner; with the requisite or genuine authority. AuÏthenÏticÏalÏness, n. The quality of being authentic; authenticity. [R.] Barrow. AuÏthen¶tiÏcate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Authenticated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Authenticating (?).] [Cf. LL. authenticare.] 1. To render authentic; to give authority to, by the proof, attestation, or formalities required by law, or sufficient to entitle to credit. The king serves only as a notary to authenticate the choice of judges. Burke. 2. To prove authentic; to determine as real and true; as, to authenticate a portrait. Walpole. Au·thenÏtic¶iÏty (?), n. [Cf. F. authenticit‚.] 1. The quality of being authentic or of established authority for truth and correctness. 2. Genuineness; the quality of being genuine or not corrupted from the original. µ In later writers, especially those on the evidences of Christianity, authenticity is often restricted in its use to the first of the above meanings, and distinguished from qenuineness. AuÏthen¶ticÏly (?), adv. Authentically. AuÏthen¶ticÏness, n The quality of being authentic; authenticity. [R.] Hammond. AuÏthen¶tics (?), n. (Ciwil Law) A collection of the Novels or New Constitutions of Justinian, by an anonymous author; Ð so called on account of its authencity. Bouvier. Au¶thor (?), n. [OE. authour, autour, OF. autor, F. auteur, fr. L. auctor, sometimes, but erroneously, written autor or author, fr. augere to increase, to produce. See Auction, n.] 1. The beginner, former, or first ???er of anything; hence, the efficient cause of a thing; a creator; an originator.
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Eternal King; thee, Author of all being. Milton. 2. One who composes or writers a book; a composer, as distinguished from an editor, translator, or compiler. The chief glory every people arises from its authors. Johnson. 3. The editor of a periodical. [Obs.] 4. An informant. [Archaic] Chaucer. Au¶thor (?), v. t. 1. To occasion; to originate. [Obs.] Such an overthrow … I have authored. Chapman. 2. To tell; to say; to declare. [Obs.] More of him I dare not author. Massinger. Au¶thorÏess, n. A female author. Glover. µ The word is not very much used, author being commonly applied to a female writer as well as to a male. AuÏtho¶riÏal (?), a. Of or pertaining to an author. ½The authorial ?we.'¸ Hare. Au¶thorÏism (?), n. Authoriship. [R.] AuÏthor¶iÏtaÏtive (?), a. 1. Having, or proceeding from, due authority; entitled to obedience, credit, or acceptance; determinate; commanding. The sacred functions of authoritative teaching. Barrow. 2. Having an air of authority; positive; dictatorial; peremptory; as, an authoritative tone. The mock authoritative manner of the one, and the insipid mirth of the other. Swift. Ð AuÏthor¶iÏtaÏtiveÏly, adv. Ð AuÏthor¶iÏtaÏtiveÏness, n. AuÏthor¶iÏty (?), n.; pl. Authorities (?). [OE. autorite, auctorite, F. autorit‚, fr. L. auctoritas, fr. auctor. See Author, n.] 1. Legal or rightful power; a right to command or to act; power exercised buy a person in virtue of his office or trust; dominion; jurisdiction; authorization; as, the authority of a prince over subjects, and of parents over children; the authority of a court. Thus can the demigod, Authority, Make us pay down for our offense. Shak. By what authority doest thou these things ? Matt. xxi. 23. 2. Government; the persons or the body exercising power or command; as, the local authorities of the States; the military authorities. [Chiefly in the plural.] 3. The power derived from opinion, respect, or esteem; influence of character, office, or station, or mental or moral superiority, and the like; claim to be believed or obeyed; as, an historian of no authority; a magistrate of great authority. 4. That which, or one who, is claimed or appealed to in support of opinions, actions, measures, etc. Hence: (a) Testimony; witness. ½And on that high authority had believed.¸ Milton. (b) A precedent; a decision of a court, an official declaration, or an opinion, saying, or statement worthy to be taken as a precedent. (c) A book containing such a statement or opinion, or the author of the book. (d) Justification; warrant. Wilt thou be glass wherein it shall discern Authority for sin, warrant for blame. Shak. Au¶thorÏi·zaÏble (?), a. [LL. authorisabilis.] Capable of being authorized. Hammond. Au·thorÏiÏza¶tion (?), n. [Cf. F. autorisation.] The act of giving authority or legal power; establishment by authority; sanction or warrant. The authorization of laws. Motley. A special authorization from the chief. Merivale. Au¶thorÏize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Authorized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Authorizing.] [OE. autorize, F. autoriser, fr. LL. auctorizare, authorisare. See Author.] 1. To clothe with authority, warrant, or legal power; to give a right to act; to empower; as, to authorize commissioners to settle a boundary. 2. To make legal; to give legal sanction to; to legalize; as, to authorize a marriage. 3. To establish by authority, as by usage or public opinion; to sanction; as, idioms authorized by usage. 4. To sanction or confirm by the authority of some one; to warrant; as, to authorize a report. A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shak. 5. To justify; to furnish a ground for. Locke. To ~ one's self, to rely for authority. [Obs.] Authorizing himself, for the most part, upon other histories. Sir P. Sidney. Au¶thorÏized (?), a. 1. Possessed of or endowed with authority; as, an authorized agent. 2. Sanctioned by authority. The Authorized Version of the Bible is the English translation of the Bible published in 1611 under sanction of King James I. It was ½appointed to be read in churches,¸ and has been the accepted English Bible. The Revised Version was published in a complete form in 1855. Au¶thorÏi·zer (?), n. One who authorizes. Au¶thorÏless, a. Without an author; without authority; anonymous. Au¶thorÏly, a. Authorial. [R.] Cowper. Au¶thorÏship, n. 1. The quality or state of being an author; function or dignity of an author. 2. Source; origin; origination; as, the authorship of a book or review, or of an act, or state of affairs. Au¶thoÏtype (?), n. A type or block containing a facsimile of an autograph. Knight. Au¶toÐ (?). [Gr. ? self.] A combining form, with the meaning of self, one's self, one's own, itself, its own. Au·toÏbiÏog¶raÏpher (?), n. [AutoÏ + biographer.] One who writers his own life or biography. Au·toÏbi·oÏgraph¶ic (?), Au·toÏbi·oÏgraph¶icÏal (?), } a. Pertaining to, or containing, autobiography; as, an autobiographical sketch. ½Such traits of the autobiographic sort.¸ Carlyle. Ð Au·toÏbi·oÏgraph¶icÏalÏly, adv. Au·toÏbiÏog¶raÏphist (?), n. One who writes his own life; an autobiographer. [R.] Au·toÏbiÏog¶raÏphy (?), n. pl. Autobiographies (?). [AutoÏ + biography.] A biography written by the subject of it; memoirs of one's life written by one's self. Au·toÏcar¶pous (?), Au·toÏcar¶piÏan (?), } a. [AutoÏ + Gr. ? fruit.] (Bot.) Consisting of the pericarp of the ripened pericarp with no other parts adnate to it, as a peach, a poppy capsule, or a grape. Au·toÏceph¶aÏlous (?), a. [Gr. ? independent; ? self + ? head.] (Eccl. Hist.) Having its own head; independent of episcopal or patriarchal jurisdiction, as certain Greek churches. Au·toÏchron¶oÏgraph (?), n. [AutoÏ + chronograph.] An instrument for the instantaneous selfÐrecording or printing of time. Knight. AuÏtoch¶thon (?), n.; pl. E. Authochthons (?), L. Autochthones (?). [L., fr. Gr. ?, pl. ?, from the land itself; ? self + ? earth, land.] 1. One who is supposed to rise or spring from the ground or the soil he inhabits; one