father
See also: Father
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English fader, from Old English fæder, from Proto-West Germanic *fader, from Proto-Germanic *fadēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr.
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fä'thə(r), IPA(key): /ˈfɑː.ðə(ɹ)/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɑːðə(r)
- (General Australian) enPR: fä'thə, IPA(key): /ˈfaː.ðə/
- (General American) enPR: fä'thər, IPA(key): /ˈfɑ.ðɚ/
- (obsolete) enPR: fă'thər, IPA(key): /ˈfæ.ðəɹ/
Audio (US) (file) - Homophone: farther (in non-rhotic accents)
- Hyphenation: fa‧ther
NounEdit
father (plural fathers)
- A (generally human) male who begets a child.
- My father was a strong influence on me.
- My friend Tony just became a father.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Proverbs 10:1:
- The Pꝛouerbes of Solomon: A wiſe ſonne maketh a glad father : but a fooliſh sonne is the heauineſſe of his mother.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
- When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.
- 2010 April 7, Cécile Corbel (lyrics), Cécile Corbel and Simon Caby (music), “My First Borrowing”, in 借りぐらし Kari-gurashi [The Borrowers] (CD), Yamaha Music Communications, performed by Cécile Corbel:
- Father, dear father
Will you be proud of me?
I wish I could be
Just like you.
- A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 1 Kings 2:10:
- So Dauid ſlept with his fathers, and was buried in the citie of Dauid.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Romans 4:16:
- Therefoꝛe it is of faith, that it might bee by grace; to the ende the pꝛomiſe might be ſure to all the ſeede, not to that onely which is of the Law, but to that alſo which is of the faith of Abꝛaham, who is the father of vs all,
- A term of respectful address for an elderly man.
- Come, father; you can sit here.
- A term of respectful address for a priest.
- c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, “Measvre for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:
- Bless you, good father friar!
- A person who plays the role of a father in some way.
- My brother was a father to me after my parents got divorced.
- The child is father to the man.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Job 29:16:
- I was a father to the pooꝛe : and the cauſe which I knewe not, I ſearched out.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Genesis 45:8:
- So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God : and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and loꝛd of all his houſe, and a ruler thꝛoughout all the land of Egypt.
- The founder of a discipline or science.
- Albert Einstein is the father of modern physics.
- Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
- 1991, The Nairobi Law Monthly:
- Soon after the announcement of this year's election results, Mereka said that "the father of all battles had just begun." His dispute with Muite goes back to March last year [...]
- 2002, Financial Management:
- "If UK GDP slows by 1 per cent, there is the mother and father of all recessions. It was exciting, but very bizarre, working in such an environment."
- 2012, Zubairu Wai, Epistemologies of African Conflicts: Violence, Evolutionism, and the War in Sierra Leone, Palgrave Macmillan: (→ISBN), page 93:
- “The Father of All Battles”
- On March 23, 1991, a band of armed insurgents attacked the town of Bomaru [...]
- 1991, The Nairobi Law Monthly:
- Something inanimate that begets.
- 1649, Richard Lovelace, Amyntor's Grove, His Chloris, Arigo, and Gratiana. An Elogie.[1], Thomas Harper, page 88:
- Load you with fruit, ſuch as your Father / From you with all the joyes doth gather : / And may you when one branch is dead / Graft ſuch another in it's ſtead, […]
- A senator of Ancient Rome.
SynonymsEdit
- (parent): see Thesaurus:father
- (most significant thing): see mother and granddaddy
AntonymsEdit
HypernymsEdit
- (a male parent): parent
Derived termsEdit
terms derived from father (noun)
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
male parent
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term of address for an elderly man
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term of address for a priest
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
VerbEdit
father (third-person singular simple present fathers, present participle fathering, simple past and past participle fathered)
- To be a father to; to sire.
- 1592, William Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI v 4
- Well, go to; we'll have no bastards live; Especially since Charles must father it.
- 1592, William Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI v 4
- (figuratively) To give rise to.
- 1610, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline ii 2
- Cowards father cowards and base things sire base.
- 1610, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline ii 2
- To act as a father; to support and nurture.
- 1610, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline iv 2
- Ay, good youth! And rather father thee than master thee.
- 1610, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline iv 2
- To provide with a father.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- Think you I am no stronger than my sex, / Being so fathered and so husbanded?
- To adopt as one's own.
- (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- Men of wit / Often fathered what he writ.
- (Can we date this quote by Jonathan Swift and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
TranslationsEdit
to sire
to give rise to
See alsoEdit
AnagramsEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
NounEdit
father
- (Late Middle English) Alternative form of fader