 6 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
father
noun
1: a male parent (also used as a term of address to your
father); "his father was born in Atlanta" [syn: {male
parent}, {begetter}] [ant: {mother}, {mother}]
2: the founder of a family; "keep the faith of our forefathers"
[syn: {forefather}, {sire}]
3: 'Father' is a term of address for priests in some churches
(especially the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox
Catholic Church); 'Padre' is frequently used in the
military [syn: {Padre}]
4: (Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period
from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established
and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman
Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became
Doctor of the Church; the best known Lation Church Fathers
are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome;
those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil,
Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom [syn: {Church
Father}, {Father of the Church}]
5: a person who holds an important or distinguished position in
some organization; "the tennis fathers ruled in her
favor"; "the city fathers endorsed the proposal"
6: God when considered as the first person in the Trinity;
"hear our prayers, Heavenly Father" [syn: {Father-God}, {Fatherhood}]
7: a person who founds or establishes some institution; "George
Washington is the father of his country" [syn: {founder},
{beginner}, {founding father}]
8: the head of an organized crime family [syn: {don}]
verb: make children; "Abraham begot Isaac"; "Men often father
children but don't recognize them" [syn: {beget}, {get},
{engender}, {mother}, {sire}, {generate}, {bring forth}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Father \Fa"ther\ (f[aum]"[th][~e]r), noun [OE. fader, AS.
f[ae]der; akin to OS. fadar, D. vader, OHG. fatar, G. vater,
Icel. fa[eth]ir Sw. & Dan. fader, OIr. athir, L. pater, Gr.
path'r, Skr. pitr, perh. fr. Skr. p[=a] protect. [root]75,
247. Cf. {Papa}, {Paternal}, {Patriot}, {Potential},
{Pablum}.]
1. One who has begotten a child, whether son or daughter; a
generator; a male parent.
A wise son maketh a glad father. --Prov. x. 1.
2. A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor;
especially, a first ancestor; a founder of a race or
family; -- in the plural, fathers, ancestors.
David slept with his fathers. --1 Kings ii.
10.
Abraham, who is the father of us all. --Rom. iv. 16.
3. One who performs the offices of a parent by maintenance,
affetionate care, counsel, or protection.
I was a father to the poor. --Job xxix.
16.
He hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all
his house. --Gen. xiv. 8.
4. A respectful mode of address to an old man.
And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him
[Elisha], . . . and said, O my father, my father!
--2 Kings
xiii. 14.
5. A senator of ancient Rome.
6. A dignitary of the church, a superior of a convent, a
confessor (called also {father confessor}), or a priest;
also, the eldest member of a profession, or of a
legislative assembly, etc.
Bless you, good father friar ! --Shak.
7. One of the chief ecclesiastical authorities of the first
centuries after Christ; -- often spoken of collectively as
the Fathers; as, the Latin, Greek, or apostolic Fathers.
8. One who, or that which, gives origin; an originator; a
producer, author, or contriver; the first to practice any
art, profession, or occupation; a distinguished example or
teacher.
The father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
--Gen. iv. 21.
Might be the father, Harry, to that thought. --Shak.
The father of good news. --Shak.
9. The Supreme Being and Creator; God; in theology, the first
person in the Trinity.
Our Father, which art in heaven. --Matt. vi. 9.
Now had the almighty Father from above . . .
Bent down his eye. --Milton.
{Adoptive father}, one who adopts the child of another,
treating it as his own.
{Apostolic father}, {Conscript fathers, etc.} See under
{Apostolic}, {Conscript}, etc.
{Father in God}, a title given to bishops.
{Father of lies}, the Devil.
{Father of the bar}, the oldest practitioner at the bar.
{Fathers of the city}, the aldermen.
{Father of the Faithful}.
(a) Abraham. --Rom. iv. --Gal. iii. 6-9.
(b) Mohammed, or one of the sultans, his successors.
{Father of the house}, the member of a legislative body who
has had the longest continuous service.
{Most Reverend Father in God}, a title given to archbishops
and metropolitans, as to the archbishops of Canterbury and
York.
{Natural father}, the father of an illegitimate child.
{Putative father}, one who is presumed to be the father of an
illegitimate child; the supposed father.
{Spiritual father}.
(a) A religious teacher or guide, esp. one instrumental in
leading a soul to God.
(b) (R. C. Ch.) A priest who hears confession in the
sacrament of penance.
{The Holy Father} (R. C. Ch.), the pope.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Father \Fa"ther\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Fathered}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Fathering}.]
1. To make one's self the father of; to beget.
Cowards father cowards, and base things sire base.
--Shak.
2. To take as one's own child; to adopt; hence, to assume as
one's own work; to acknowledge one's self author of or
responsible for (a statement, policy, etc.).
Men of wit
Often fathered what he writ. --Swift.
3. To provide with a father. [R.]
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so fathered and so husbanded ? --Shak.
{To father on} or {To father upon}, to ascribe to, or charge
upon, as one's offspring or work; to put or lay upon as
being responsible. ''Nothing can be so uncouth or
extravagant, which may not be fathered on some fetch of
wit, or some caprice of humor.'' --Barrow.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
40 Moby Thesaurus words for "Father":
Ambrose of Milan, Athanasius, Barnabas, Basil, Brother,
Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Rome, Cyprian of Carthage,
Cyril of Jerusalem, Dom, Gregory of Nyssa, Hermas, His Grace,
His Holiness, His Reverence, Holiness, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Jerome,
John, John Chrysostom, Justin Martyr, Lactantius Firmianus, Luke,
Mark, Monsignor, Mother, Origen, Papias, Paul, Peter, Polycarp,
Rabbi, Sister, Tertullian, ante-Nicene Fathers, apostle, disciple,
evangelist, saint
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
260 Moby Thesaurus words for "father":
Establishment, VIP, abba, abbe, affiliate to, agent, ancestor,
ancestors, apprentice, architect, artificer, artist, aunt, auntie,
author, baron, bear, beget, begetter, beginner, big gun, big man,
big name, bigwig, birth, blood brother, brass, brass hat, breed,
breed true, brethren, bring about, bring forth, bring to birth,
bring to effect, bring to pass, brother, bub, bubba, bud, buddy,
builder, cassock, catalyst, cause, causer, celebrity, chaplain,
clergyman, conceive, conceiver, confessor, constructor, copulate,
country cousin, cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed,
craftsman, create, creator, crossbreed, cure, dad, daddy, daughter,
dean, derive from, designer, deviser, dignitary, dignity,
discoverer, do, doyen, doyenne, effect, effector, effectuate,
elder, eldest, encourager, engender, engenderer, engineer,
establish, executor, executrix, father confessor, father in Christ,
figure, filiate to, first cousin, first-born, firstling, forebear,
forefather, foster brother, foster father, found, founder, frame,
framer, frater, gallach, generate, generator, genitor, gestate,
get, give birth to, give occasion to, give origin to, give rise to,
governor, grandnephew, grandniece, granduncle, great man,
great-aunt, great-uncle, grower, half brother, hatch,
important person, inaugurate, inaugurator, inbreed, industrialist,
initiate, initiator, inspirer, instigator, institute, institutor,
interests, introducer, invent, inventor, journeyman, kid brother,
lion, lords of creation, magnate, make, make love, maker,
man of mark, manufacturer, master, master craftsman, minister,
mogul, mother, motor, mover, multiply, nabob, name, nephew, niece,
notability, notable, nuncle, nunks, nunky, occasion, old boy,
old man, older, oldest, organizer, originate, originator, outbreed,
pa, padre, panjandrum, pap, papa, pappy, parent, parish priest,
parson, past master, pastor, pater, paterfamilias, patriarch,
penitentiary, person of renown, personage, personality,
pillar of society, planner, pop, pops, power, power elite,
precursor, presbyter, priest, prime mover, primogenitor,
primum mobile, procreate, produce, producer, progenerate,
progenitor, proliferate, promoter, propagate, raiser, realize,
realizer, reproduce in kind, ruling circle, sachem, second cousin,
senior, set afloat, set on foot, set up, shaper, shepherd, sire,
sis, sissy, sister, sister-german, sistern, sky pilot, smith, soil,
somebody, something, son, spawn, spiritual director,
spiritual father, stepbrother, stepfather, stepsister, supporter,
the great, the old man, the top, top brass, top people, trace to,
tycoon, unc, uncle, uncs, uterine brother, very important person,
work, worthy, wright
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Father
a name applied (1) to any ancestor (Deut. 1:11; 1 Kings 15:11;
Matt. 3:9; 23:30, etc.); and (2) as a title of respect to a
chief, ruler, or elder, etc. (Judg. 17:10; 18:19; 1 Sam. 10:12;
2 Kings 2:12; Matt. 23:9, etc.). (3) The author or beginner of
anything is also so called; e.g., Jabal and Jubal (Gen. 4:20,
21; comp. Job 38:28).
Applied to God (Ex. 4:22; Deut. 32:6; 2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 89:27,
28, etc.). (1.) As denoting his covenant relation to the Jews
(Jer. 31:9; Isa. 63:16; 64:8; John 8:41, etc.).
(2.) Believers are called God's "sons" (John 1:12; Rom. 8:16;
Matt. 6:4, 8, 15, 18; 10:20, 29). They also call him "Father"
(Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:4)
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