O-rĭg'i-nal1, n.
n. [Fr., Pr., Sp., & Pg. original, It. originale; O. Fr. original.]
Sense 1. Origin; commencement; source.
It hath its original from much grief. Shak.
Sense 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; as, to go back to the original.
Sense 3. The precise language employed by a writer; an untranslated tongue.
Ere this time the Hebrew tongue might have been gained, that the Scriptures may now be read in their own original. Milton.
Sense 4. A person of marked peculiarity or eccentricity. [Colloq.]
Sense 5. (Nat. Hist.) The stock of a series of living forms, in which a variety is considered to have originated; as, the wolf is thought by some to be the original of the dog.
Sense 6. One who has new and striking ideas; an original thinker, speaker, or writer.