pa|tri|arch

pa|tri|arch «PAY tree ahrk», noun.

1. the father and ruler of a family or tribe, especially one of the ancestral figures in the Bible, such as: a) Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, as the founders of Israel. b) any one of the twelve sons of Jacob, supposed to be ancestors of the twelve Israelite tribes. c) one of the tribal or family heads living before Noah and the Flood.

2. Figurative. a person thought of as the father or founder of something.

3. Figurative. a) a venerable old man, especially the oldest man of a village or the oldest member of a profession, company, or the like: »

He…was reverenced as one of the patriarchs of the village (Washington Irving).

b) the head of a flock, herd, or other group: »

a goat, the patriarch of the flock (Scott); the monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees (John Dryden).

4. a bishop of the highest rank in the early Christian Church, especially the bishop of Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, Constantinople, or Jerusalem.

5. a bishop of the highest rank in the Eastern Church or the Roman Catholic Church.

6. = pope. (Cf. ↑pope)

7. one of the highest dignitaries in the Mormon Church, who pronounces the blessing of the church; Evangelist.

╂[< Latin patriarcha < Greek patriárchēs < patríā family, clan + archós leader]