Paternal

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Paternal \Pa*ter"nal\, a. [L. paternus, fr. pater a father: cf.
     F. paternel. See {Father}.]
     1. Of or pertaining to a father; fatherly; showing the
        disposition of a father; guiding or instructing as a
        father; as, paternal care. "Under paternal rule."
        --Milton.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Received or derived from a father; hereditary; as, a
        paternal estate.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Their small paternal field of corn.   --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Paternal government} (Polit. Science), the assumption by the
        governing power of a quasi-fatherly relation to the
        people, involving strict and intimate supervision of their
        business and social concerns, upon the theory that they
        are incapable of managing their own affairs.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  paternal
       adj 1: belonging to or inherited from one's father; "spent his
              childhood on the paternal farm"; "paternal traits"
       2: characteristic of a father [ant: {maternal}]
       3: relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent;
          "parental guidance" [syn: {parental}, {maternal}] [ant: {filial}]
       4: related on the father's side; "a paternal aunt" [syn: {agnate},
           {agnatic}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  43 Moby Thesaurus words for "paternal":
     adoring, affectionate, ancestorial, ancestral, concerned, conjugal,
     demonstrative, devoted, faithful, fatherlike, fatherly, filial,
     fond, grandfatherly, grandmotherly, grandparental, husbandly,
     indulgent, kindly, languishing, lovelorn, lovesick, lovesome,
     loving, maternal, melting, mother, motherlike, motherly, parent,
     parental, patriarchal, patrilateral, patrilineal, patrilinear,
     patrimonial, romantic, sentimental, soft, solicitous, tender,
     uxorious, wifely
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PATERNAL. That which belongs to the father or comes from him: as, paternal 
  power, paternal relation, paternal estate, paternal line. Vide Line.