O*rig"i*nal (?), a. [F.
original, L. originalis.]
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 (Theol.), the first sin
of Adam, as related to its consequences to his descendants of the
human race; -- called also total depravity. See
Calvinism.
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. [R.]
Men who are bad at copying, yet are good
originals.
C. G. Leland.
4. A person of marked eccentricity.
[Colloq.]
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.