different between command vs writ

English

Etymology

From Middle English commanden, commaunden, comaunden, comanden, from Old French comander (modern French commander), from Vulgar Latin *commandare, from Latin commendare, from com- + mandare, from mand? (“I order, command”). Compare commend (a doublet), and mandate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??m??nd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /k??mænd/
• Hyphenation: com?mand

Noun

command (countable and uncountable, plural commands)

1. An order to do something.

   I was given a command to cease shooting.

2. The right or authority to order, control or dispose of; the right to be obeyed or to compel obedience.

   to have command of an army
3. power of control, direction or disposal; mastery.

   he had command of the situation

   England has long held command of the sea

   a good command of language
4. A position of chief authority; a position involving the right or power to order or control.

   General Smith was placed in command.

5. The act of commanding; exercise or authority of influence.
   • 1851, Herbert Spencer, Social Statics, p. 180

     Command cannot be otherwise than savage, for it implies an appeal to force, should force be needful.

6. (military) A body or troops, or any naval or military force, under the control of a particular officer; by extension, any object or body in someone's charge.
7. Dominating situation; range or control or oversight; extent of view or outlook.
8. (computing) A directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task.
9. (baseball) The degree of control a pitcher has over his pitches.

   He's got good command tonight.

10. A command performance.
    • 1809, Dorothy Jordan, letter, cited in Claire Tomalin, Mrs Jordan's Profession, Penguin 2012, p. 220:

      Atkinson […] had hinted to me that the Duke of Richmond was so delighted with my acting that he should not be surprised if there was a second command.

Translations

See also

• imperative mood

References

• Command on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

command (third-person singular simple present commands, present participle commanding, simple past and past participle commanded)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To order, give orders; to compel or direct with authority.

   The soldier was commanded to cease firing.

   The king commanded his servant to bring him dinner.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Revenge

     We are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To have or exercise supreme power, control or authority over, especially military; to have under direction or control.

   to command an army or a ship
3. (transitive) To require with authority; to demand, order, enjoin.

   he commanded silence

   • 2013, Louise Taylor, English talent gets left behind as Premier League keeps importing (in The Guardian, 20 August 2013)[1]

     The reasons for this growing disconnect are myriad and complex but the situation is exacerbated by the reality that those English players who do smash through our game's "glass ceiling" command radically inflated transfer fees.

4. (transitive) to dominate through ability, resources, position etc.; to overlook.

   Bridges commanded by a fortified house. (Motley.)

5. (transitive) To exact, compel or secure by influence; to deserve, claim.

   A good magistrate commands the respect and affections of the people.

   Justice commands the respect and affections of the people.

   The best goods command the best price.

   This job commands a salary of £30,000.

6. (transitive) To hold, to control the use of.

   The fort commanded the bay.

   • Two wooden bridges led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house

   • December 1699, Joseph Addison, letter to William Congreve

     One [side] commands a view of the finest garden.

   • 1834, The Hobart Town Magazine (volume 2, page 323)

     […] they made considerable progress in the art of embalming the wild fruits of their native land, so that they might command cranberries and hindberries at all times and seasons.

7. (intransitive, archaic) To have a view, as from a superior position.
8. (obsolete) To direct to come; to bestow.

Synonyms

• (give an order): decree, order

Translations

Derived terms

References

• command in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “command”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000

English

Etymology

From Middle English writ, iwrit, ?ewrit, from Old English writ (“letter, book, treatise; scripture, writing; writ, charter, document, deed”) and ?ewrit (“writing, something written, written language; written character, bookstave; inscription; orthography; written statement, passage from a book; official or formal document, document; law, jurisprudence; regulation; list, catalog; letter; text of an agreement; writ, charter, deed; literary writing, book, treatise; books dealing with a subject under notice; a book of the Bible; scripture, canonical book, the Scriptures; stylus”), from Proto-Germanic *writ? (“fissure, writing”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrey-, *wr?- (“to scratch, carve, ingrave”). Cognate with Scots writ (“writ, writing, handwriting”), Icelandic rit (“writing, writ, literary work, publication”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

writ (countable and uncountable, plural writs)

1. (law) A written order, issued by a court, ordering someone to do (or stop doing) something.
2. Authority, power to enforce compliance.

   • We can't let them take advantage of the fact that there are so many areas of the world where no one's writ runs.

   • 1913, Elizabeth Kimball Kendall, A Wayfarer in China

     Within Lololand, of course, no Chinese writ runs, no Chinese magistrate holds sway, and the people, more or less divided among themselves, are under the government of their tribal chiefs.

3. (archaic) That which is written; writing.
   • Babylon, so much spoken of in Holy Writ

Synonyms

• claim form (English law)

Derived terms

• drop the writ
• handwrit
• Holy Writ
• writ of habeas corpus

Translations

References

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

Verb

writ

1. (archaic) past tense of write
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II scene iv^[2]:

     I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand;

     And whiter than the paper it writ on

     Is the fair hand that writ.

2. (archaic) past participle of write
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II scene iv^[3]:

     I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand;

     And whiter than the paper it writ on

     Is the fair hand that writ.

   • 1682, John Dryden, Mac Klecknoe

     Let Virtuosos in five years be writ; / Yet not one thought accuse thy toil of wit. (Mac Flecknoe)

   • 1859, Omar Khayyam, Edward Fitzgerlad (translattor), Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

     The moving finger writes, and having writ, not all your piety or wit can lure it back to cancel half a line […]

   • 1821, John Keats

     Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water.

Usage notes

• The form writ survives in standard dialects in the phrase writ large as well as in works aiming for an intentionally poetic or archaic style. It remains common in some dialects (e.g. Scouse).

Derived terms

• writ large
• writ small

Anagrams

• ITRW, Wirt

Gothic

Romanization

writ

1. Romanization of ????????????????

Old English

Alternative forms

• ?ewrit

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *writ?, whence also Old High German riz, Old Norse rit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /writ/

Noun

writ n (nominative plural writu)

1. writ

Declension

Derived terms

• ?ewrit