A wise son maketh a glad father. Prov. x. 1.

David slept with his fathers. 1 Kings ii. 10.

Abraham, who is the father of us all. Rom. iv. 16.

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.

And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him [Elisha], . . . and said, O my father, my father! 2 Kings xiii. 14.

Bless you, good father friar ! Shak.

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.

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.

Cowards father cowards, and base things sire base. Shak.

Men of wit
Often fathered what he writ. Swift.

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.