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patron

noun

  1. supporter or customer
  2. honorary person or organization that supports another organization
  3. returning customer
  4. user of library or archive services
L40571 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈpeɪ.tɹən/

noun

Etymology: From Middle English patroun, patrone, from Old French patron, from Latin patrōnus, derived from pater (“father”). Doublet of padrone, Patronus, patroon, and pattern.

  1. One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate.

    patron of my life and liberty

    the patron of true holiness

  2. One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate.

    St. Joseph is the patron of many different places.

  3. An influential, wealthy person who supported an artist, craftsman, a scholar or a noble.
  4. A customer, as of a certain store or restaurant.

    This car park is for patrons only.

    In our trial of the AOT, a transect was used to collect data about the languages being spoken by patrons of the NIE cafeteria during lunchtimes.

  5. A protector of a dependent, especially a master who had freed a slave but still retained some paternal rights.
  6. One who has gift and disposition of a benefice.
  7. A padrone.
  8. A property owner, a landlord, a master. (Compare patroon.)

    Half-a-dozen little boys carried it to the inn, where I had to explain to the patron, in my best Spanish, that we wanted a carriage to go to the baths, seven leagues off.

    [...] would obtain permission from the West India Company to settle in certain areas in the New World and cultivate the land. Sometimes absentee patrons would give the colony to a group of interested persons and the patrons would finance ...

verb

Etymology: From Middle English patroun, patrone, from Old French patron, from Latin patrōnus, derived from pater (“father”). Doublet of padrone, Patronus, patroon, and pattern.

  1. To be a patron of; to patronize; to favour.

    a good cause needs not to be patroned by passion

  2. To treat as a patron.