KJV Dictionary Definition: author

author

AU'THOR, n. L. auctor. The Latin word is from the root of augeo, to increase, or cause to enlarge. The primary sense is one who brings or causes to come forth.

1. One who produces, creates, or brings into being; as, God is the author of the Universe.

2. The beginner, former, or first mover of any thing; hence, the efficient cause of a thing. It is appropriately applied to one who composes or writes a book, or original work, and in a more general sense, to one whose occupation is to compose and write books; opposed to compiler or translator.

AU'THOR, v.t. To occasion; to effect. Not used.

authority

AUTHOR'ITY, n. L. auctoritas.

1. Legal power, or a right to command or to act; as the authority of a prince over subjects, and of parents over children. Power; rule; sway.

2. The power derived from opinion, respect or esteem; influence of character or office; credit; as the authority of age or example, which is submitted to or respected, in some measure, as a law, or rule of action. That which is claimed in justification or support of opinions and measures.

3. Testimony; witness; or the person who testifies; as, the Gospels or the evangelists are our authorities for the miracles of Christ.

4. Weight of testimony; credibility; as a historian of no authority.

5. Weight of character; respectability; dignity; as a magistrate of great authority in the city.

6. Warrant; order; permission.

By what authority dost thou these things. Mat. 21. Acts 9.

7. Precedents, decisions of a court, official declarations, respectable opinions and says, also the books that contain them, are call authorities, as they influence the opinions of others; and in law, the decisions of supreme courts have a binding force upon inferior courts, and are called authorities.

8. Government; the persons or the body exercising power or command; as the local authorities of the states.

In Connecticut, the justices of the peace are denominated the civil authority.

authorization

AUTHORIZA'TION, n. The act of giving authority, or legal power; establishment by authority.

authorize

AU'THORIZE, v.t.

1. To give authority, warrant or legal power to; to give a right to act; to empower; as, to authorize commissioners to settle the boundary of the state.

2. To make legal; as, to authorize a marriage.

3. To establish by authority, as by usage, or public opinion; as an authorized idiom of language.

4. To give authority, credit or reputation to; as to authorize a report, or opinion.

5. To justify; to support as right. Suppress desires which reason does not authorize.

authorized

AU'THORIZED, pp. Warranted by right; supported by authority; derived from legal or proper authority; having power or authority.

authorizing

AU'THORIZING, ppr. Giving authority to, or legal power, credit, or permission.

Definitions from Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
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