grandfathern.
/ˈɡran(d)ˌfɑːðə/, U.S. /ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑðər/ 1.
a. The father of one's father or mother.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > grandparent > [noun] > grandfather
mother-fathereOE
eldfatherOE
grandsirec1300
aiela1325
belsirea1325
grandfather1424
belfatherc1440
goodsire?c1450
fore-grandsire1513
gutcher1523
granfer1564
granddaddy1648
grandpapa1680
grandada1699
grandad1764
grandpa?1785
grandpappy1857
grandpop1860
abuelo1876
dada1888
gramp1890
grampy1904
lolo1934
gramps1935
zayde1946
opa1948
opi1988
1424 [implied in: 1424 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 57 Þan shall he be left..grauntfaderles. (at grandfatherless adj.)].
1430 in H. Nicolas Proc. & Ordinances Privy Council (1835) IV. 38 Item þat in benefices..whan þei voiden suche as..have served his fadre or grandfadre be preferred.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 150 Lo here lieth my fadir and there lieth my graunt fadir.
a1450 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Cambr. Dd.1.27) (1850) Ecclus. Prol. 123 My graunfadir [E.V. a1382 Douce 369(1) elde-fader] Jhesus.
1546 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 197 Kinge Edward graundfather to Richard the second.
1583 G. Peckham True Rep. Newfound Landes iii. sig. E.i In the time of the Queenes Maiesties Grandfather.
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια v. xvi. 305 The markes which were in the body of the Grandfather do often appeare in the Grandchilde.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 288 La. Who begot thee? Sp. Marry, the son of my Grand-father . View more context for this quotation
1664 J. Long Let. 13 Apr. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1965) II. 172 I yesterday did speake with an aged man who well remembers when my grandfather caused the pitts to bee sunck.
1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 204 Your grandfather sustained the character, which he had so early acquired, to the last moment of his life.
1794 I. Leatham Gen. View Agric. E. Riding Yorks. 61 Fine old trees, planted by his father and grand-father.
1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie I. iii. 42 I wish it was hot noon now, grand'ther.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 15 Mar. 10/1 My grandfather was a hand-pressman in Ballantyne's Printing Office at the time when demand for his books was at its height.
1931 P. S. Buck Good Earth iii. 41 ‘It is a man child!’ he called triumphantly. ‘You are grandfather and I am father!’
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day i. 17 My grandfather, being a wholesale chemist, not a retailer, could never be suspected of handing articles across a counter.
2010 Ebony Feb. 59/1 My parents were both teachers. My grandfather was a minister and I had two uncles who were ministers.
b. figurative. A person or thing from which another person or thing is ultimately derived; the original and outstanding or greatest example of something.
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1655 R. Baxter Quakers Catech. 10 I have no such Infallibility, nor your Grandfather the Pope neither.
1688 C. Packe tr. F. M. van Helmont 153 Chymical Aphorisms 57 Sulphur, the father of all Metals. The Universal Coagulater is a Sulphur. Demagorgon is the Grandfather of all things.
1709 H. Sacheverell Perils False Brethren 22 The Grand-Father of Falshood, the Devil.
1871 J. A. Mathews Drayton Hall 411 ‘Hallo ! here comes the grandfather of all your small fry,’ and he threw into the boat a splendid bass.
1915 R. Pulitzer Over Front in Aeroplane v. 97 Judging by the report of this reduced charge, the full charge going off must be the grandfather of all explosions.
1961 P. Barry Unwillingly to School xvi. 221 There's been the grandfather of a mix-up somewhere.
1971 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 10 Sir Julian Huxley, whom Peter Scott yesterday described as the ‘grandfather’ of the World Wildlife Fund.
2013 Daily Tel. 29 Mar. 34/1 The latest brings things full circle: it is a remake of the grandfather of all cabin-in-the-woods films, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1981).
2. A male ancestor; a forefather.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > ancestor > [noun]
elder-fathereOE
fatherOE
elder971
alderOE
eldfatherOE
forme-fadera1200
ancestorc1300
grandsirec1300
aiela1325
belsirea1325
predecessora1325
forefather1377
morea1382
progenitorc1384
antecessorc1400
forn-fatherc1460
forebear1488
ancient1540
antecestrec1550
fore-grandsirec1550
grandfather1575
ascendant1604
forerunnera1616
ancienter1654
tupuna1845
1575 tr. J. D'Albin de Valsergues Notable Disc. xiv. f. 28v The Grandfathers & great Grandfathers of Caluin had neuer dreampt of the heresyes that now their reformed childe hath set so newly abroche.
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. II. iii. ix. sig. Oo.viiiv/2 The verie example of our graundfather Adam.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 329 The habit they weare, differs not from their grandfather Adams.
1649 C. Raue Disc. Orientall Tongues (new ed.) 86 Gen. 10:21. translated runnes thus. Concerning Sem (born to be the Grandfather of all the progeny beyond the River, brother of Yafet the Elder).
1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. v. 32) 61 Shem..was in dignity preferred, before his brother, to be grandfather to the Messiah.
1784 tr. J. de La Fontaine Looking-glass 17 Since the time of our Grandfather Adam.
1817 Clavis Arganthiana 61 Our Grandfathers were Papists, Our Fathers Oliverians.
1857 Chambers's Jrnl. 2 May 273/1 The individual making up her mind to what, as respect for Grandfather Adam and Grandmother Eve must compel us to admit, is an unnatural condition of being.
1906 G. R. Sims Living London (rev. ed.) III. 43/1 One arrives at January 30th, called once, especially in our grandfathers' and forerunners' prayer-books, ‘King Charles the Martyr's Day’.
1999 Cathedral Music Apr. 22/1 I doubt that what now passes as the boy treble sound would have been recognised as such by our grandfathers.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > grandparent > [noun] > grandfather > great-grandfather
fore-grandsire1474
besaiel1480
great-grandfathera1513
beayellc1540
first grandsirec1540
grandsire1541
great-grandsire?1541
grandfathera1650
a1650 D. Calderwood Hist. Kirk Scotl. (1843) II. 174 His grandfather, goodsir, and father, had served his predecessors, and some of them lost their lives under their service.
4. Short for grandfather clock n. at Compounds 2.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > pendulum clock
pendulum clock1663
pendule clock1664
pendulum1664
pendulum-piece1734
wag-at-the-wall1825
longcase clock1851
grandfather clock1883
trunk dial1884
grandfather1894
grandmother clock1898
longcase1899
granddaughter clock1926
grandmother1931
granddaughter1968
1894 F. J. Britten Former Clock & Watchmakers 175 Some of these primitive ‘grandfathers’ were exceedingly narrow in the waist.
1909 E. Rickert Beggar in Heart 1 The house is so still I can hear grandfather ticking on the stairs with the door shut.
1967 B. Palmer Treasury Amer. Clocks 1 Grandfathers were the first type of clocks to be made in the Colonies.
2009 Sunday Tribune (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 21 June 23 With cuckoo clocks, majestic grandfathers and dainty European timepieces in almost every room of the house.
5. A kind of country dance. Cf. Grandpapa dance n. at grandpapa n. Compounds and Grandpère n.
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society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > square, figure, or set dance > [noun] > specific dances
brawla1542
branglec1550
caterbrawl1565
bransle1590
branle1674
bocanea1701
cotillion1766
quadrille1773
German cotillion1831
supper quadrille1831
Grandpère1835
galop1837
brantle1846
German1853
lancers1862
grandfather1897
1897 Pall Mall Mag. Aug. 445 One of the last dances was an old-fashioned country dance, called ‘the grandfather’, when each couple in turn passed along holding a handkerchief, over which all the others had to jump.
1993 R. Wilkes in tr. L. Tolstoy Master & Man & Other Stories (2005) (note) Grandfather, German dance very popular in Russia.
6. Computing. The third most recent, or third most frequently updated, backup of some data. Often attributive. Cf. father n. 9b, son n.1 10.
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society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > [noun] > magnetic > tape drive > generations of tape
father1961
grandfather1961
son1961
1961 Commerc. Law Jrnl. 66 377/1 You will hear about ‘grandfather’, ‘father’, and ‘son’ tapes, or ‘first’, ‘second’, and ‘third’ generation tapes.
1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xvi. 265 After the run, the father goes to the tape library with the son and is kept there at least until it becomes ‘grandfather’ before it is again used as ‘son’ tape.
1980 C. S. French Computer Sci. xii. 65 There will be a definite policy with regard to how many generations are kept; Grandfather—Father—Son should be adequate.
2009 S. K. Cabral & K. Murphy MySQL Administrator's Bible xiii. 444 There are three defined sets of backups: daily (son), weekly (father), and monthly (grandfather).
Compounds
C1. General attributive and appositive.
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1588 in F. Collins Wills & Admin. Knaresborough Court Rolls (1902) I. 163 My bodye to be buryed in Fuiston churche yeard under my grandfather trough.
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1953) VI. 196 Here are risen Grandfather and Great-grandfather-sinnes quickly, a forward generation.
1871 A. C. Fraser Life & Lett. G. Berkeley i. 6 The supposed grandfather-collector was a natural son of the first Lord Berkeley of Stratton.
1987 K. Awoonor Until Morning After 89 His chest wheezing like a grandfather pipe organ.
1999 H. Bering Helmut Kohl iii. 59 With his huge drooping moustache, grandfather pipe, and old sweater, Grass looks docile enough.
C2. † grandfather-long-legs n. chiefly U.S. Obsolete = granddaddy-long-legs n. at granddaddy n. Compounds.
grandfather chair n. (also grandfather's chair) a type of roomy armchair with padded sides and wings.
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1841 Monthly Chron. 7 176 Fixedly resolving, after the proper decades have been hunted through, to run in to the haven of the grandfather chair, and, as folks say, retire.
1890 Decorator & Furnisher 16 43/2 The shape of the back will suggest some of those old grandfather's chairs with side pads which have again become deservedly popular.
1930 Times 6 Jan. 24/2 (advt.) Several Chippendale Grandfather Chairs.
1998 I. de la Bere Last Deception Palliser Wentwood ii. 41 ‘Poo, this chair smells!’ said Naomi, jumping from the grandfather chair.
grandfather clock n. (also grandfather's clock) [with allusion to a song: see quot. c1876] (originally a commercial name for) a weight-and-pendulum eight-day clock in a tall case.
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the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > pendulum clock
pendulum clock1663
pendule clock1664
pendulum1664
pendulum-piece1734
wag-at-the-wall1825
longcase clock1851
grandfather clock1883
trunk dial1884
grandfather1894
grandmother clock1898
longcase1899
granddaughter clock1926
grandmother1931
granddaughter1968
c1876 H. C. Work Grandfather's Clock (sheet music) My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf, So it stood ninety years on the floor.]
1883 Decorator & Furnisher Mar. 186/3 This old English grandfather's clock was made by Fromanteel of London.
1910 Encycl. Brit. VI. 552/2 The long or ‘grandfather’ clock dates from about the fourth quarter of the 17th century.
1952 T. Armstrong Adam Brunskill v. 139 The soothing tick of the grandfather clock, the blue-flamed peat fire offsetting the night's chill, the company of friends.
2006 A. Goodman Intuition v. v. 246 Thayer Houghton-Smith..litigated high above the Boston skyline from offices fitted out with wing chairs and nautical paintings, grandfather clocks and china urns.
grandfather-in-law n. the grandfather of one's spouse.
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1660 W. Bushnell Narr. Proc. Commissioners for ejecting Ignorant Ministers 70 I desired the Commissioners might have been informed..what a manner of man William Pinchin had formerly been towards Grand-father in law, and..Father in Law, and Mother in Law.
1782 G. R. Fitzgerald Appeal to Public 43 A very large bundle of letters, containing a choice correspondence between him, his father, and his grandfather-in-law.
1883 Winchester (Indiana) Jrnl. 17 Jan. I shall have the dearest old grandfather-in-law in the world.
1986 Mich. Alumnus July 35/1 My grandfather-in-law endured and returned to Lithuania.
2015 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 May a20 My grandfather-in-law lived to be nearly 104.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > division Pseudoarachnida > order Opiliones > family Phalangidae or genus Phalangium > member of
shepherd1608
carter spider1665
shepherd spider1665
spider1665
shepherd's spider1688
father-long-legs1746
granddaddy1808
daddy-long-legs1818
harvestman1830
grandfather-long-legs1833
phalangian1835
phalangidan1835
harvest-spider1852
granddaddy-long-legs1858
phalangid1869
phalange1876
opilionid1900
1833 J. Neal Down-easters II. 131 I thought so! cried spindle-shanks,..capering about, like one of the grandfather-long-legs that children are so delighted with.
1897 Ladies' Home Jrnl. May 1/2 We..did not like most of the spiders seen, and..had no fear whatever of the one known as ‘Grandfather Long-legs’.
1910 Sabbath Recorder 25 July 121/1 Grandfather Longlegs was at home, and all the ants promised to run over now and then..to help see to things.
grandfather paradox n. (also with capital initials) chiefly Science Fiction a paradox concerning the implications of time travel, expressed by the idea that a hypothetical time traveller could potentially go back into the past and (deliberately or inadvertently) kill his or her grandfather, thus preventing the time traveller's existence and the possibility of having travelled back into the past in the first place.The paradox was first described in René Barjavel's 1943 novel Le Voyageur Imprudent.
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1971 L. Niven All Myriad Ways 111 The Grandfather Paradox is basic to any discussion of time travel... We will call any such interference with the past, especially self-cancelling interference, a Grandfather Paradox.
1989 A. I. Janis in S. K. Biswas et al. Cosmic Perspectives xiv. 242 Considerations like the grandfather paradox have caused many people..to conclude that any solutions to the equations of general relativity that allow such travel into the past must be ruled out.
2012 Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania) (Nexis) 29 Sept. 47 The grandfather paradox rears its baffling head in some form in pretty much every time travel story in text and on screen.
grandfather rights n. (also grandfather's rights) originally U.S. rights granted because of the prior existence of a similar right or privilege (cf. grandfather clause n.).
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1936 50th Ann. Rep. Interstate Commerce Comm. 70 If a common carrier by motor vehicle were in operation on June 1, 1935, and continuously thereafter, it should be entitled to a certificate without further proof of public convenience and necessity... The rights conferred thereby are referred to as ‘grandfather’ rights.
1941 Air Law Rev. 12 246 The [Civil Aeronautics] Authority..began consideration of the applications filed by air carriers for ‘grandfather’ rights.
1992 Economist 14 Mar. 98/2 The big established airlines claim so-called ‘grandfather rights’ (ie, ‘we were here first so nobody else should be allowed in’) over most of the routes and slots available at airports.
2000 Keyways Feb. 4/1 These gentlemen should feel very proud of their achievement, because not only had they become Fellow members of the [Master Locksmiths'] Association, but they were the first members to get Fellow status by performing a task and not by grandfather rights.
grandfather's beard n. (a) an equisetum, a mare's tail (now rare); (b) a beard lichen, esp. one of the genus Usnea.
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1883 W. H. Cope Gloss. Hampshire Words Grandfather's beard, a species of Equisetum (mare's tail).
1920 W. E. Brenchley Weeds of Farm Land xiii. 213 Equisetum.—Cat-rushes, cat's-tail, feather, grandfather's beard, grass (joint, scrub, shave, water), holy-water-sprinkle, horse-tail, [etc.].
1936 Univ. Washington Publ. in Anthropol. Nov. 15 The somber aspect of the forest is heightened by a thick carpet of mosses, and every tree has its garlands and festoons of ‘Grandfather's beard’.
1998 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 Nov. e1 I run my hand over a swatch of grandfather's beard lichen on a rock.
Derivatives
ˈgrandfatherhood n. the condition of being a grandfather.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > grandparent > [noun] > grandfather > condition of
grandfathership1647
grandfatherhood1842
1842 Catholic Tel. 25 June 204/2 Many parents had even arrived at grandfatherhood in this lamentable condition.
1856 J. Grote in Cambridge Ess. 85 The similarity (arising from its relation of parentage, or more properly of grandfatherhood) between our language and the Latin in many words.
1892 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 151 224/1 Some..vague idea of relationship and grandfatherhood.
1935 W. De La Mare Early One Morning 11 The saddest feature..of grandfatherhood..is that it is likely to be brief.
2002 Observer 13 Oct. i. 30/1 Men who..elect to become fathers at an age more traditionally allocated to grandfatherhood.
ˈgrandfatherland n. [after fatherland n.] rare the land of one's parent's birth.
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1864 E. Burritt Walk to John O'Groats 317 The grandfatherland of fifty millions who now speak its language beyond the sea.
1914 Washington Post 30 Aug. It does not, of course, include any of the millions of ‘second generation’ children of foreign-born parents, whose interests in their ‘grandfatherlands’ must also be exceedingly strong.
2010 Guardian (Nexis) 21 June (G2 section) 12 Jong..has demonstrated his devotion to the grandfatherland by spurning far more lucrative opportunities to represent World Cup rivals Japan or South Korea.
ˈgrandfathership n. the fact of being a grandfather.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > grandparent > [noun] > grandfather > condition of
grandfathership1647
grandfatherhood1842
1647 J. Lightfoot Harmony Old Test. 183 We may well conclude..that Darius because of his Grand-fathership did beare the name of the Royalty.
1883 B'ham Weekly Post 1 Sept. 4/5 The grandfathership of the Norwich Lincolne is impossible.
2001 Independent on Sunday 7 Oct. (Sport section) 8 What this 45-year-old, recently elevated to grandfathership, most certainly exudes is the determination to become again the boss of a Premiership club.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
grandfatherv.
/ˈɡran(d)ˌfɑːðə/, U.S. /ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑðər/ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > flattery or flattering > servile flattery or currying favour > flatter servilely or curry favour with [verb (transitive)]
flatter1340
to claw the back ofc1394
to pick a thank (also thanks)c1422
clawc1425
to claw by the sleeve1509
to claw by the backa1542
fawna1568
to make or pay (one's) court to1590
adulate1612
hug1622
sycophant1637
to make up to1701
to whip it in with1702
cultivate1706
incense1708
to wheedle in with1726
to grandfather up1747
slaver1794
toad1802
to play up to ——1809
nut1819
toady1827
bootlick1846
to suck up to1860
lickspittle1886
jolly1890
bum-suck1918
arse-lick1919
to cosy up to1937
brown-nose1948
ass-kiss1951
ass-lick1962
love-bomb1976
1747 S. Richardson Clarissa I. xlii. 297 Nor would I advise, that you should go to grandfather-up your cousin Morden.
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the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (transitive)] > assert to be something in origin
father1471
to grandfather (a thing) on1888
1888 A. Birrell in Reflector 18 Mar. 282/1 Alexander Knox..on whom the Tractarian movement has been plausibly grandfathered.
3. transitive. To be the grandfather of (someone); (also) to act like a grandfather towards, to take care of as a grandfather.
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1898 Sunset May 12/2 To see a white-headed Union veteran grandfathering a tiny half-Confederate whose papa has..[won] the daughter of a Federal soldier.
1911 Granville (Ohio) Times 22 June Grandpa Ferguson says its his first experience grandfathering any one.
1971 D. H. Givens Givens-Hall Family Hist. xiii. 535 He fathered and grandfathered two ministers of the same faith.
2006 Sacramento (Calif.) Bee (Nexis) 17 July The caretaking went beyond doctoring to fathering and grandfathering children in the extended Pucci family who had lost parents or grandparents.
4. transitive. North American. To exempt from new legislation or regulations, usually because of some prior condition of previously existing privilege. Frequently with in (also with into, out). Also in extended use.
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society > law > legislation > make (laws) or establish as law [verb (transitive)] > remove from jurisdiction of (a statute) > in specific way
exterritorialize1870
grandfather1953
grandparent1974
1953 Kentucky Revised Statutes 2190/2 All certificates or permits grandfathered shall be subject to the same limitations and restrictions.
1968 N.Y. Times 8 May 46/4 The committee ‘grandfathered’ out from effective coverage all existing distribution lines.
1980 San Francisco Bay Guardian 16 Oct. 5/1 Four of these planned buildings have already been exempted (‘grandfathered’ is the technical term) from the limits passed last March by the Supervisors.
1986 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 6 Apr. (Accent Suppl.) 6/3 Under the impending federal law, after Oct. 1 those young drinkers could not be ‘grandfathered’ into a new 21 drinking-age statute.
1987 Texas Monthly Apr. 168/3 She already had privileges at the Metropolitan, and we hadn't heard anything upfront from the Nix, so we decided to grandfather her in.
2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 18 July ii. 27/1 Several producers of existing shows say they feel grandfathered in: if their series weren't already established, they would have little chance of finding a slot on today's prime-time schedule.
Derivatives
ˈgrandfathered adj. North American exempt from a new regulation because of some previously existing condition or privilege.
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1970 Daily Kennebec Jrnl. (Augusta, Maine) 21 Nov. It was also proposed that grandfathered licensees be required to register..the location..and amount of discharge.
1973 ABA Jrnl. Dec. 1442/3 The district court held that it had concurrent jurisdiction with the F.D.A. to determine whether drugs are ‘new’ or ‘grandfathered’.
1991 Constr. Equipm. Oct. 25/3 The study suggests that all states be allowed to establish divisible-load permit programs—whether or not they claim a grandfathered, or pre-existing, right to do so.
2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 17 Apr. x. 10/2 Faber was one of 17 ‘grandfathered’ spitballers allowed to keep throwing the pitch after it was banned in 1920.
ˈgrandfathering n. the action or process of being or acting as a grandfather.
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1898 Glasgow Herald 23 Aug. 4/4 That verbosity [of the Kaiser] which has just found scope in fresh grandfathering—in words—at Mayence.
1916 Washington Post 12 Nov. 3 Grandfathering, domesticity and literary efforts..will occupy all the time of Theodore Roosevelt.
1985 W. Sheed Frank & Maisie x. 246 He took to grandfathering with such thoroughness that his generic name slipped into Grandfather even faster than usual.
2013 Tampa Bay (Florida) Times (Nexis) 26 May (Hernando Bay section) 4 Brazinski came to Brooksville..to raise his children. Now they are married, and he would like to have more time for grandfathering.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1424
v.1747