Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
chiefly British English spelling of patronize (q.v.); for suffix, see -ize.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 To make a patron 2 To treat as inferior unduly, talk down to, treat condescendingly. 3 To make oneself a regular customer of a business.
WordNet
v. do one's shopping at; do business with; be a customer or client of [syn: patronize, shop, shop at, buy at, frequent, sponsor] [ant: boycott, boycott]
treat condescendingly [syn: patronize, condescend]
be a regular customer or client of; "We patronize this store"; "Our sponsor kept our art studio going for as long as he could" [syn: patronize, patronage, support, keep going]
Usage examples of "patronise".
Jeremy announces in the patronising tones which he would criticise in a policeman.
He was inclined to patronise Comus, as well as the African continent, and on even slighter acquaintance.
It was a cruel insult that went home with all the more force because it emphasised the triumph of the patronising, self-satisfied Laurence.
Neil who would be mildly interested that she had met his mother for lunch but who would never understand in a million years how outrageous it was to be patronised like this.
After all, if Clara was capable of handling the rewiring, praise for rehanging a door was just patronising.
He has been to town to do his semiweekly marketing, where, gaunt, misshapen, with his gray stubble and his dark spectacleblurred eyes and his blackrimmed hands and the rank manodor of his sedentary and unwashed flesh, he entered the one odorous and cluttered store which he patronised and paid with cash for what he bought.
Anyone who patronised the visiting professor from Yale often ended up with more than their egos bruised.