Fa"ther (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fathered (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Fathering.]
1. To make one's self the father of; to
beget.
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.
Fa"ther (fä"&thlig;&etilde;r), n. [OE. fader, AS. fæder; akin to OS.
fadar, D. vader, OHG. fatar, G. vater, Icel. faðir Sw. & Dan. fader, OIr. athir, L.
pater, Gr. path`r, Skr. pitr, perh. fr. Skr. pā protect. √75,
247. Cf. Papa, Paternal, Patriot, Potential, Pablum.]
1. One who
has begotten a child, whether son or daughter; a generator; a male parent.
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 of Israel came down unto him
[Elisha], . . . and said, O my father, my father!
2 Kings xiii. 14.
5. A senator of ancient Rome.
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
ecclesiastical 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 lies, the Devil. -- 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.
Hear it pronounced