scribe
[skɹaɪ̯b] noun, verb
Forms scribes scribing scribed
- noun Someone who writes; a draughtsperson; a writer for another; especially, an official or public writer; an amanuensis, secretary, notary, or copyist.
- noun A person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession.
- noun (informal) A journalist.
- noun (archaic) A writer and doctor of the law; one skilled in the law and traditions; one who read and explained the law to the people.
- noun A very sharp, steel drawing implement used in engraving and etching, a scriber.
- verb To write.
- verb To write, engrave, or mark upon; to inscribe.
- verb To record, as a scribe.
- verb To write or draw with a scribe.
- verb (carpentry) To cut (something) in order to fit it closely to an irregular surface, as a baseboard to a floor which is out of level, a board to the curves of a moulding, etc.
- verb To score or mark with compasses or a scribing iron.
Synonyms
amanuensis scrivener tabellion Augustin Eugene Scribe scribbler penman copyist scriber scratch awl
Etymology
From Middle English scribe, from Old French scribe (“scribe”), from Late Latin usage of scrība (“secretary”) (used in the Vulgate Bible translation to render Ancient Greek γραμματεύς (grammateús, “scribe, secretary”), which had been used in its turn to render the Hebrew סופר (“writer, scholar”)) from scrībere (“to write, draw, draw up, draft (a paper), enlist, enroll, levy; orig. to scratch”), probably akin to scrobs (“a ditch, trench, grave”).
From Middle English scryben (“to write”), from Latin scrībō (“to write”). Doublet of shrive.
The carpentry sense comes from the way a workman uses a compass to mark a line before cutting.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who writes; a draughtsman; a writer for another; especially, an offical or public writer; an amanuensis or secretary; a notary; a copyist.
- noun A writer and doctor of the law; one skilled in the law and traditions; one who read and explained the law to the people.
- verb To write, engrave, or mark upon; to inscribe. Spenser.
- verb To cut (anything) in such a way as to fit closely to a somewhat irregular surface, as a baseboard to a floor which is out of level, a board to the curves of a molding, or the like; --so called because the workman marks, or scribe, with the compasses the line that he afterwards cuts.
Etymology [L. scriba, fr. scribere to write; cf. Gr. scarify. Cf. Ascribe, Describe, Script, Scrivener, Scrutoire.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “scribe”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details