original definition

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, the first sin of Adam, as related to its consequences to his descendants of the human race; called also total depravity. See Calvinism.

Origin: F. Original, L. Originalis.

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. "Men who are bad at copying, yet are good originals." (C. G. Leland)

4. A person of marked eccentricity.

5. <zoology> 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.

Origin: Cf. F. Original.