father
Cross references:
1. church father
1. fa.ther \'fa:th-*r\ n [ME fader, fr. OE fder; akin to OHG fater
father, L]pater, Gk pate-r 1a: a man who has begotten a child : SIRE cap
1b1: GOD 1b2: the first person of the Trinity 2: FOREFATHER 3a: one
related to another in a way suggesting that of father to child 3b: an old
man - used as a respectful form of address often cap 4: a Pre-scholastic
Christian writer accepted by the church as an authorita tive witness to its
teaching and practice 5a: ORIGINATOR 5b: SOURCE 5c: PROTOTYPE 6: a
priest of the regular clergy; broadly : PRIEST - used esp. as a title 7:
one of the leading men (as of a city) - usu. used in pl.
2. father \'fa:th-(*-)rin\ vt or fa.ther.ing 1a: BEGET 1b: to make oneself
the founder, producer, or author of 1c: to accept responsibility for 2:
to fix the paternity or origin of 3: FOIST