father

I. noun Etymology: Middle English fader, from Old English fæder; akin to Old High German fater father, Latin pater, Greek patēr Date: before 12th century 1. a. a man who has begotten a child; also sire 3 b. capitalized (1) god 1 (2) the first person of the Trinity 2. forefather 3. a. one related to another in a way suggesting that of father to child b. an old man — used as a respectful form of address 4. often capitalized a pre-Scholastic Christian writer accepted by the church as an authoritative witness to its teaching and practice — called also church father 5. a. one that originates or institutes <

the father of modern science

> b. source <

the sun, the father of warmth and light — Lena M. Whitney

> c. prototype 6. a priest of the regular clergy; broadly priest — used especially as a title 7. one of the leading men (as of a city) — usually used in plural • fatherhood noun • fatherless adjective • fatherlike adjective or adverb II. verb (fathered; fathering) Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. a. beget b. to be the founder, producer, or author of <

fathered the improvement plan

> c. to accept responsibility for 2. a. to fix the paternity or origin of b. to place responsibility for the origin or cause of <

collected gossip and fathered it on responsible men — J. A. Williamson

> 3. foist, impose intransitive verb to care for or look after someone as a father might