▪ I. autograph, n. (and a.)
(ˈɔːtəgraf)
[ad. L. autographum, Gr. αὐτόγραϕον, neut. (used subst.) of adj. αὐτόγραϕος written with one's own hand, f. αὐτο- by oneself + -γραϕος writing, written. In 17–18th c. often in L. or Gr. form. Cf. F. autographe adj. in Cotgr.]
A. n.
1. a. That which is written in a person's own handwriting; the author's own manuscript.
| 1640–4 Sir S. D'Ewes in Rushworth Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 311 Particulars..drawn out of the Autographs themselves. 1659 Bp. Walton Consid. Considered 61 The autographa of the sacred Penmen. a 1733 North Exam. Pref. 14 Memoirs..of which he hath the Autographon. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II. 238 The Autograph, or original manuscript of the law. 1839 Hallam Hist. Lit. iii. iii. §27 The letter is imperfect, some sheets of the autograph having been lost. 1892 W. W. Skeat 12 Facs. O.E. MSS. 10 The MS. of Piers Plowman is corrected with minute care, and seems to be an autograph of the author. |
b. abstr. A person's own handwriting.
| 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 139 Poems of Tasso in his own autograph. 1868 Digby's Voy. Medit. Pref. 37 Entirely in the autograph of Sir Kenelm. |
2. A person's own signature. Hence attrib. An autograph-book (or autograph-album) freq. contains occasional verses, etc., as well as a person's signature.
| 1791–1817 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (Rtlg.) 439 The French editor..has given the autograph of her name. 1808 Monthly Pantheon I. 665/1 Another learned collector purchases a work..because some learned man's name or autograph, according to the modern fashionable literary nomenclature, is written on the title page. 1838 Dickens Lett. (1880) I. 13 Left our autographs and read those of other people. 1841 F. A. Kemble Let. 26 Dec. in Records of Later Life (1882) II. 148, I am not an autograph collector. 1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat i. 6 One of the lady-boarders..sent me her autograph-book. 1858 Queen Victoria Let. 15 Feb. in Dearest Child (1964) 45 Never mind about my sheet of the autograph album. 1861 Sala Tw. round Clock 117 The register becomes an autograph-book of..illustrious signatures. 1870 ‘F. Fern’ Ginger-Snaps 203 If there is an intolerable nuisance, it is your persistent autograph-hunter. 1879 B. F. Taylor Summer-Savory xxvi. 209 The writer hopes the reader's name is not found in many autograph albums. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. of Schoolchildren vii. 117 American children's film-star rhymes..seem to be slicker, more of the autograph-album variety. 1966 Guardian 12 Aug. 6/6 Will it only be television that will bring the autograph-hunters to the stage door? |
3. A copy produced by autography.
| 1868 People's Mag. Jan. 62 (title) Vegetable Autographs. |
B. adj. Written in the author's own handwriting. Also used of a painting done by the painter himself, not by an imitator.
| 1832 Coleridge Table T. 164 Autograph copies of some of the apostles' writings. 1878 Seeley Stein III. 503, I must at least greet you with an autograph letter. 1958 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Sept. 490/1 Some of the Madonnas..must be wholly or in large part autograph. |
▪ II. ˈautograph, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. a. To write with one's own hand. b. To copy or reproduce by autography. Hence ˈautographed ppl. a.
| 1818 Gentl. Mag. LXXXVIII. i. 160/2 The sixth plate is written music, or, as the Lithographers denote it, autographed music. 1882 Athenæum 18 Mar. 341/2 Both [books] were autographed and intended for practical purposes only. |
2. To write one's autograph on or in; to sign.
| 1837 Blackw. Mag. XLI. 281 Don Carlos might long ere now have autographed his decrees, Yo el Rey, from..the Escurial. 1883 Graphic 3 Nov. 452 He autographs the Admiral's book. |