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 og Israel came down unto him
[Elisha], . . . and said, O my father, my father!
--2 Kings
xiii. 14.
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 esslesiastical 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 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.
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 {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.