O‐rig″i‐nal, n. [Cf. F. original.]
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. (Zoöl. & Bot.) 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.