FATHER

noun a senator of ancient rome.

2. father ·vt to provide with a father.

3. father ·noun a respectful mode of address to an old man.

4. father ·vt to make one's self the father of; to beget.

5. father ·noun the supreme being and creator; god; in theology, the first person in the trinity.

6. father ·noun one who has begotten a child, whether son or daughter; a generator; a male parent.

7. father ·noun one who performs the offices of a parent by maintenance, affetionate care, counsel, or protection.

8. father ·noun 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.

9. father ·noun 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.

10. father ·noun 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.

11. father ·vt 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. ).

12. father ·noun 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.