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father
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
father
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a proud mother/father/parent
▪ Mark is the proud father of a three-week-old baby boy.
absent parent/father
▪ plans to force absent fathers to pay child maintenance
birth father
city fathers
Father Christmas
father figure
▪ Ken was a father figure to all of us.
Father's Day
founding father
▪ Saint Basil, one of the founding fathers of the Greek Orthodox Church
heavenly Father (=God)
Holy Father
sb is old enough to be sb’s mother/father (=used when you think that someone is much too old to be having a relationship with another person )
▪ Why would she want to go out with someone who was old enough to be her father?
surrogate father
▪ William was acting as a surrogate father for his brother’s son.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
figure
▪ His surrogate father figure was killed.
▪ With Diana out of the picture, Charles is emerging as a fitting father figure.
▪ Sondheim found a mentor, if not a father figure, in Hammerstein, Patinkin said.
▪ They, or rather Morrissey, thinks he's all wise and a sort of father figure.
▪ And one of the sturdiest of these is the father figure in the sky.
▪ Tiriac became a father figure and Nastase was at least able to fulfil some of his potential.
▪ Prior to 1916 Paul-Yves's life was anchored by the rock-like presence of a reassuring father figure, dominant, capable, sure.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
biological parent/father/mother etc
▪ Adopted children and their biological parents may suffer stress long after the adoption. 4.
▪ It's now estimated that by 2010, children in stepfamilies will actually outnumber those living with two biological parents.
▪ Most of the debate was really about an alleged universality of the nuclear family of married biological parents and their legitimate children.
▪ My biological father is diagnosed as paranoid / schizophrenic.
▪ Or now, when they swear their biological father forced them to make the whole story up?
▪ Steven Lowe, Liverpool Who would be the biological parents of a human clone, and what legal ramifications would this have?
▪ The hearing would decide whether the state should terminate the rights of the biological parents and put the child up for adoption.
▪ The two candidates for the role of biological father were both Black Panthers.
expectant mother/father
▪ Everyone treats me with the temerity usually afforded to expectant fathers and potential Messiahs.
father/mother/authority figure
▪ A young girl needs a strong mother figure.
▪ And he registers genuine hurt at the fact that Buzzy regards Buck as more of a father figure than himself.
▪ As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪ Disrespect the authority figure out there on the field and then wonder why the kids do it in their classrooms.
▪ Eventually Daley made the remarkable transition from political boss to father figure.
▪ He spoke seldom, but he was never impatient with her, always kind, a companionable father figure.
▪ It would seem that we are far more likely to obey unquestioningly when the authority figure is actually present.
▪ One wonders what is the unspoken view of the other authority figures involved in setting this up?
foster mother/father/parents
▪ By then, the girl had been put into the temporary care of foster parents by Wirral Council.
▪ His foster parents say they're giving him a break from events back home.
▪ News of the deal caused outrage in Britain, and Flintshire social services placed the girls with foster parents.
▪ On that occasion, they returned to Berkeley with a coachload of other would-be foster parents empty-handed.
▪ Richard had been passed from one set of foster parents to another until he was ten.
▪ The children went into voluntary care in June 1991 and were placed together with foster parents.
▪ The girl, who was with foster parents, wanted her family re-united.
▪ The sisters were separated, Lore working as a maid and the others going to foster parents.
lone mother/father/parent etc
▪ More than half of lone parents with two or more children had incomes below their absolute poverty level at £227 a week.
▪ One Parent Benefit is paid to 75% of lone parents.
▪ Sheila is a lone parent with two children, aged 13 and 15.
▪ Two thirds of lone parent families depend mainly on social security benefits, compared with one in eight two parent families.
▪ We can treat lone parents as poor people, needing means-tested social assistance of some sort - as we do now.
noncustodial parent/father/mother
the Almighty/Almighty God/Almighty Father
the Pilgrim Fathers
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ He's now the proud father of a three week old baby girl.
▪ Larry Blake, a father of three children, was shot dead outside his home last night.
▪ My father's a doctor.
▪ Pianto has been working with his father for 21 years.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Agnes, do not fight your father over this money.
▪ His father emphasized strenuous effort to achieve goals and total obedience to those in authority, and he ranted about corrupt politicians.
▪ In 1969 there were three generations of the Holmes family taking part, father, son and grandson.
▪ Jerome pocketed the smokes from his father.
▪ My respects to you, and my father.
▪ Now that my father is dead, I must be old Mr Scott, Adam wanted to tell him.
▪ When his father died, Marshall ventured with two partners into yarn manufacture by the new process of spinning flax by machinery.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
child
▪ Tests had proved that he could never father a child.
▪ The court also ruled that no public policy bars men from fathering children posthumously.
▪ So Edwin Garland had almost certainly been incapable of fathering a child.
▪ Men separated from their women father illegitimate children.
▪ I do not know how I can have fathered such children.
▪ Having already fathered two children, he had only reluctantly agreed to have an-other child.
▪ Half the pregnant women on the estate would be swearing I fathered their children.
▪ Married Princess Beatrice; fathered ten children.
son
▪ There is the Brooklyn Bridge, and next to it the two Roeblings, father and son.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Bill was told he would never be able to father children.
▪ He fathered eight daughters and three sons.
▪ Roosevelt fathered the concept of Social Security.
▪ Taylor denies fathering her 4-month-old son.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ All the portraits in this book show men who father from the heart, but none more than this one.
▪ An apparent suicide note found in the house on the day she died claimed the child had been fathered by another man.
▪ Elephant seals are so severely sieved that in each generation a handful of males father all the offspring.
▪ He fathered nine children with four women and the unpaid amounts totaled $ 25,000.
▪ I do not know how I can have fathered such children.
▪ In other versions, Zeus rapes Demeter and fathers Persephone.
▪ Unfortunately, Edison was not himself a musician, and the technology he fathered was never used for mass-producing serious musical records.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
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

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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
father

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

father

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]

\nThe classic example of Grimm's Law, where PIE "p-" becomes Germanic "f-." Spelling with -th- (15c.) reflects widespread phonetic shift in Middle English that turned -der to -ther in many words, perhaps reinforced in this case by Old Norse forms; spelling caught up to pronunciation in 1500s (compare mother (n.), weather (n.)). As a title of various Church dignitaries from c.1300; meaning "creator, inventor, author" is from mid-14c.; that of "anything that gives rise to something else" is from late 14c. As a respectful title for an older man, recorded from 1550s. Father-figure is from 1954. Fathers "leading men, elders" is from 1580s.
Wiktionary
father

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.

WordNet
father

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

father
  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]

Wikipedia
Father (The Avengers)

"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 (band)

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 (disambiguation)

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

Father (2000 film)

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.

Father

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 (Ms. Dynamite song)

"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 (1966 film)

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 (2011 film)

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 (1990 film)

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 (LL Cool J song)

"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.

Usage examples of "father".

They all shuffle, all these strange lonely children of God, these mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives whose noisy aberrations are safely muffled now by drugs.

Beyond that, I have no knowledge of how my father managed to enhance psychic ability in the men.

I am ignorant by what arts they could determine the lofty emperor of the Greeks to abjure the catechism of his infancy, and to persecute the religion of his fathers.

When we went on holidays, we called it going pink-eye, my Aboriginal father carried me on his shoulders when I was tired.

Father Marcus was an Uraluran, converted and ordained, abrim with zeal.

The child, no matter how abused, still wanted to love and admire her parents, and particularly her father.

Miss A had almost certainly told Graham Letts that she had been abused by her father and her brother at the age of twelve, and she may well have told Rosemary West exactly the same thing during their conversations in Cromwell Street.

I mean, why take his word for it that he caught your father abusing you?

Not long afterwards, they repeated the experiment, this time by persuading their mother and father to watch the episodes of the television serial Brookside which dealt with a sexually abusive father who was buried under the patio.

Rosemary West, too, was the daughter of a dominant and abusive father, a man whose actions she also idealised.

You get older daughters trying to protect younger siblings by doing anything they can to keep the abusive father focused on them.

If your mother was abused by her father, she may well have married a sexually abusive man.

I remembered all along that my father had been abusive, only I did not consistently remember.

Africa had been abysmal, though in truth his aim had been more to occupy himself and to avoid his father, than to add to his income.

I confess that I have not yet repented on his account, for Capitani thought he had duped me in accepting it as security for the amount he gave me, and the count, his father, valued it until his death as more precious than the finest diamond in the world.