patriarch (n.)

  1. title for the heads of the Eastern Orthodox Churches (in Istanbul and Alexandria and Moscow and Jerusalem)

  2. the male head of family or tribe

    [ Syn: paterfamilias , paterfamilias ]

  3. any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers of the human race

  4. a man who is older and higher in rank than yourself

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
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