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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Paternal \Pa*ter"nal\, adjective [L. paternus, fr. pater a father: cf. F. paternel. See {Father}.]
1. Of or pertaining to a father; fatherly; showing the disposition of a father; guiding or instructing as a father; as, paternal care. ''Under paternal rule.'' --Milton.
2. Received or derived from a father; hereditary; as, a paternal estate.
Their small paternal field of corn. --Dryden.
{Paternal government} (Polit. Science), the assumption by the governing power of a quasi-fatherly relation to the people, involving strict and intimate supervision of their business and social concerns, upon the theory that they are incapable of managing their own afffairs.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
paternal
adjective
1: belonging to or inherited from one's father; "spent his childhood on the paternal farm"; "paternal traits"
2: characteristic of a father [ant: {maternal}]
3: relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent; "parental guidance" [syn: {parental}, {maternal}] [ant: {filial}]
4: related on the father's side; "a paternal aunt" [syn: {agnate}, {agnatic}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
43 Moby Thesaurus words for "paternal": adoring, affectionate, ancestorial, ancestral, concerned, conjugal, demonstrative, devoted, faithful, fatherlike, fatherly, filial, fond, grandfatherly, grandmotherly, grandparental, husbandly, indulgent, kindly, languishing, lovelorn, lovesick, lovesome, loving, maternal, melting, mother, motherlike, motherly, parent, parental, patriarchal, patrilateral, patrilineal, patrilinear, patrimonial, romantic, sentimental, soft, solicitous, tender, uxorious, wifely
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