释义 |
ˈfoster-father [OE. fósterfæder, f. foster n.1 (also féster-: cf. related forms under foster n.2 and v.). Cf. ON. fóstrfaðir.] a. One who performs the duty of a father to another's child. b. The husband of a nurse (esp. in Ireland and the Highlands).
a800Corpus Gloss. 140 Altor, fostorfaeder. a1000Martyrol. (Cockayne) 62 He is ure festerfæder on Criste. c1200Ormin 8855 Annd till hiss fossterrfaderr ec He wass buhsumm & milde. 13..Guy Warw. (A.) 169 Gij a forster fader hadde That him lerd and him radde. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke ii. 37 a, The chylde..beeyng vnder the guydyng of his mother, and his foster-father. 1622Bacon Hen. VII Mor. & Hist. Wks. (Bohn) 342 The duke of Britain having been..a kind of parent or foster-father to the king. 1711Addison Spect. No. 123 ⁋5 Florio lived at the House of his Foster-father. 1848Dickens Dombey ii, He motioned his child's foster-father to the door. fig.1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 161 Esay..promiseth that kinges shalbe fosterfathers of y⊇ Chirch. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. iii. 51 Epicureans (who are not the true, but foster-fathers of that natural philosophy they brag of). |