What is "father"

Father \Fa"ther\ (f[aum]"[th][~e]r), n. [OE. fader, AS. f[ae]der; akin to OS. fadar, D. vader, OHG. fatar, G. vater, Icel. fa[eth]ir Sw. & Dan. fader, OIr. athir, L. pater, Gr. path`r, Skr. pitr, perh. fr. Skr. p[=a] protect. [root]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.

   1. Abraham.
      --Rom. iv.
      --Gal. iii. 6-9.

   2. 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.

      1. A religious teacher or guide, esp. one instrumental in leading a soul to God.

      2. (R. C. Ch.) A priest who hears confession in the sacrament of penance.

         The Holy Father (R. C. Ch.), the pope.

Father \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 To father 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.

c.1400, from father (n.). Related: Fathered; fathering.

Old English fæder "he who begets a child, nearest male ancestor;" also "any lineal male ancestor; the Supreme Being," and by late Old English, "one who exercises parental care over another," from Proto-Germanic *fader (cognates: Old Saxon fadar, Old Frisian feder, Dutch vader, Old Norse faðir, Old High German fatar, German vater; in Gothic usually expressed by atta), from PIE *pəter- "father" (cognates: Sanskrit pitar-, Greek pater, Latin pater, Old Persian pita, Old Irish athir "father"), presumably from baby-speak sound "pa." The ending formerly was regarded as an agent-noun affix.\n\nMy heart leaps up when I behold\n
A rainbow in the sky:\n
So was it when my life began;\n
So is it now I am a man;\n
So be it when I shall grow old,\n
Or let me die!\n
The Child is father of the Man;\n
I could wish my days to be\n
Bound each to each by natural piety.\n

\n

[Wordsworth, 1802]

n. A (generally human) male who begets a child. vb. 1 To be a father to; to sire. 2 (context figuratively English) To give rise to. 3 To act as a father; to support and nurture. 4 To provide with a father. 5 To adopt as one's own.

v. make children; "Abraham begot Isaac"; "Men often father children but don't recognize them" [syn: beget, get, engender, mother, sire, generate, bring forth]

1. n. a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father); "his father was born in Atlanta" [syn: male parent, begetter] [ant: mother, mother]

2. the founder of a family; "keep the faith of our forefathers" [syn: forefather, sire]

3. `Father' is a term of address for priests in some churches (especially the Roman Catholic Church or the Orthodox Catholic Church); `Padre' is frequently used in the military [syn: Padre]

4. (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 Lation Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom [syn: Church Father, Father of the Church]

5. a person who holds an important or distinguished position in some organization; "the tennis fathers ruled in her favor"; "the city fathers endorsed the proposal"

6. God when considered as the first person in the Trinity; "hear our prayers, Heavenly Father" [syn: Father-God, Fatherhood]

7. a person who founds or establishes some institution; "George Washington is the father of his country" [syn: founder, beginner, founding father]

8. the head of an organized crime family [syn: don]

"Father" is the codename given to a blind female British government official who appears as a supporting character in the 1998 film The Avengers, based on a very brief appearance in the British TV series of the same name.

Father is an alternative metal band from Rijeka, Croatia. The band was assembled in March 2000 by three members of the band Easyman. They released their debut album Inspirita on Dallas Records in October 2005 to critical and commercial acclaim. The band subsequently released the songs Cynosure and Machina as singles, both featured on the album.

Father is the male parent of a child. Father may also refer to:

Father is a 2000 Chinese film directed by the writer Wang Shuo. To date, it is Wang's first and only directorial effort. The film is based on Wang's own novel, Wo Shi Ni Baba (English: I Am Your Father). Despite being partially backed by the state-run Beijing Film Studio, Father suffered from years of bureaucratic red tape. Made in 1996, the film was not screened until 2000, when it surreptitiously premiered at the 2000 Locarno International Film Festival.

The films stars the director Feng Xiaogang, who also helped adapt Wang's novel for the screen.

A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental legal and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations, although this varies between jurisdictions. An adoptive father is a male who has become the child's parent through the legal process of adoption. A biological father is the male genetic contributor to the creation of the baby, through sexual intercourse or sperm donation. A biological father may have legal obligations to a child not raised by him, such as an obligation of monetary support. A putative father is a man whose biological relationship to a child is alleged but has not been established. A stepfather is a male who is the husband of a child's mother and they may form a family unit, but who generally does not have the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent in relation to the child.

The adjective "paternal" refers to a father and comparatively to "maternal" for a mother. The verb "to father" means to procreate or to sire a child from which also derives the noun "fathering". Biological fathers determine the sex of their child through a sperm cell which either contains an X chromosome (female), or Y chromosome (male). Related terms of endearment are dad (dada, daddy), papa/pappa, papasita, (pa, pap) and pop. A male role model that children can look up to is sometimes referred to as a father-figure.

"Father" is the first single taken from Ms. Dynamite's second studio album, Judgement Days. "Father" was released on 26 September 2005 as a double A-side single with "Judgement Day". The single became her fourth solo consecutive top 30 hit, reaching number 25 in the UK Singles Chart.

Father is a 1966 Hungarian drama film written and directed by István Szabó. The film is a coming of age story. The main character copes with his childhood loss of his father against the backdrop of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and memories of the Arrow Cross dictatorship.

Father is a 2011 French thriller film directed by Pasquale Squitieri. It stars Franco Nero, Andrea Fachinetti, Daniel Baldock and Claudia Cardinale. It was screened at the Bari International Film Festival.

Father is a 1990 film about a retired German immigrant living in Australia, Joe Muller ( Max von Sydow), who is accused of being a former Nazi who committed war crimes in the Second World War by a strange woman called Iya Zetnick ( Julia Blake). His daughter Anne Winton ( Carol Drinkwater) is not certain whom to believe.

The film was directed by John Power, written by Tony Cavanaugh and Graham Hartley and produced by Barron Entertainment and Film Victoria. At the 1990 AFI awards, Max von Sydow won the 'Best Actor in a Lead Role' category, and Julia Blake won the 'Best Actress in a Supporting Role'. The film was also entered into the 17th Moscow International Film Festival.

"Father" is the third single from LL Cool J's seventh album, Phenomenon. It was released on January 13, 1998 for Def Jam Recordings and was produced by the Trackmasters.

"Father", which was an auto-biographical song that detailed LL's abuse from his mother's boyfriend, would prove to be the most successful single from the album, it made it to #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became his eighth single to reach #1 on the Hot Rap Singles. It sold 500,000 copies. The song's main sample is " Father Figure" by George Michael.

The music video was directed by Samuel Bayer.