father : Idioms & Phrases

• one who adopts the child of another, treating it as his own.

Webster 1913

• noun any important early teacher of Christianity or a Christian missionary to a people
  Apostle.
  

WordNet

• See under Apostolic, Conscript, etc.

Webster 1913

• early Christian writers, who were born in the first century, and thus touched on the age of the apostles. They were Polycarp, Clement, Ignatius, and Hermas; to these Barnabas has sometimes been added.

Webster 1913

• noun (Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became Doctor of the Church; the best known Latin Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom
  Church Father; Father.
  

WordNet

• noun an important municipal official
  

WordNet

• (Rom. Antiq.), the senators of ancient Rome. When certain new senators were first enrolled with the "fathers" the body was called Patres et Conscripti; afterward all were called Patres conscripti.

Webster 1913

• noun a Catholic priest who was the hero of detective stories by G. K. Chesterton
  

WordNet

• noun the legendary patron saint of children; an imaginary being who is thought to bring presents to children at Christmas
  Kriss Kringle; Saint Nicholas; St. Nick; Santa; Santa Claus; Saint Nick.
  

WordNet

• noun a man who takes over all the functions of the real father
  father figure.
  

WordNet

• a title given to bishops.

Webster 1913

Fa"ther long"legs`

Definitions

1. (Zoöl.) See Daddy longlegs, 2.

Webster 1913

• the Devil.

Webster 1913

• noun United States electrical engineer who in 1907 patented the first triode vacuum tube, which made it possible to detect and amplify radio waves (1873-1961)
  Lee De Forest; De Forest.
  

WordNet

• the oldest practitioner at the bar.

Webster 1913

• noun (Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became Doctor of the Church; the best known Latin Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom
  Church Father; Father.
  

WordNet

• . (a) Abraham. Rom. iv. Gal. iii. 6-9. (b) Mohammed, or one of the sultans, his successors.

Webster 1913

• the member of a legislative body who has had the longest continuous service.

Webster 1913

• noun American inventor who in 1775 designed a man-propelled submarine that was ineffectual but subsequently earned him recognition as a submarine pioneer (1742-1824)
  Bushnell; David Bushnell.
  

WordNet

• noun a man who takes over all the functions of the real father
  father figure.
  

WordNet

• noun US: third Sunday in June
  

WordNet

• noun a man (often a powerful or influential man) who arouses emotions usually felt for your real father and with whom you identify psychologically
  

WordNet

• noun God when considered as the first person in the Trinity
  Father; Fatherhood.
  
  • hear our prayers, Heavenly Father

WordNet

• noun the father of your spouse
  

WordNet

Fa"ther-in-law` noun

Wordforms

plural Fathers-in-law

Definitions

1. The father of one's husband or wife; -- correlative to son-in-law and daughter-in-law. ✍ A man who marries a woman having children already, is sometimes, though erroneously, called their father-in-law.

Webster 1913

Fa"ther-lash`er noun

Definitions

1. (Zoöl.) A European marine fish (Cottus bubalis), allied to the sculpin; -- called also lucky proach.

Webster 1913

• the aldermen.

Webster 1913

• noun a man who is a foster parent
  foster father.
  

WordNet

• a man who takes the place of a father in caring for a child. Bacon.

Webster 1913

• noun a man who is a foster parent
  foster father.
  

WordNet

• noun a member of the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in 1787
  
• noun a person who founds or establishes some institution
  father; beginner; founder.
  
  • George Washington is the father of his country

WordNet

• noun the head of the Roman Catholic Church
  Roman Catholic Pope; pontiff; pope; Catholic Pope; Vicar of Christ; Bishop of Rome.
  

WordNet

• a title given to archbishops and metropolitans, as to the archbishops of Canterbury and York.

Webster 1913

• the father of an illegitimate child.

Webster 1913

• a penurious person; a niggard. Obs. Robinson (More's Utopia).

Webster 1913

• noun one of the colonists from England who sailed to America on the Mayflower and founded the colony of Plymouth in New England in 1620
  Pilgrim; Pilgrim Father.
  

WordNet

• noun one of the colonists from England who sailed to America on the Mayflower and founded the colony of Plymouth in New England in 1620
  Pilgrim; Pilgrim Father.
  

WordNet

• a name popularly given to the one hundred and two English colonists who landed from the Mayflower and made the first settlement in New England at Plymouth in 1620. They were separatists from the Church of England, and most of them had sojourned in Holland.

Webster 1913

• one who is presumed to be the father of an illegitimate child; the supposed father.

Webster 1913

• a priest to whom confession is made.

Webster 1913

• . (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.

Webster 1913

• (R. C. Ch.), the pope.

Webster 1913

• to die. Gen. xxv. 8.

Webster 1913

• 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.

Webster 1913