Patronage

5 definitions found

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

  Patronage \Pa"tron*age\, n. [F. patronage. Cf. LL. patronaticum,
     and L. patronatus.]
     1. Special countenance or support; favor, encouragement, or
        aid, afforded to a person or a work; as, the patronage of
        letters; patronage given to an author.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. Business custom. [Commercial Cant]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Guardianship, as of a saint; tutelary care. --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. The right of nomination to political office; also, the
        offices, contracts, honors, etc., which a public officer
        may bestow by favor.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Eng. Law) The right of presentation to church or
        ecclesiastical benefice; advowson. --Blackstone.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Patronage \Pa"tron*age\, v. t.
     To act as a patron of; to maintain; to defend. [Obs.] --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  patronage
       n 1: the act of providing approval and support; "his vigorous
            backing of the conservatives got him in trouble with
            progressives" [syn: {backing}, {backup}, {championship}]
       2: customers collectively; "they have an upper class clientele"
          [syn: {clientele}, {business}]
       3: a communication that indicates lack of respect by
          patronizing the recipient [syn: {condescension}, {disdain}]
       4: (politics) granting favors or giving contracts or making
          appointments to office in return for political support
       5: the business given to a commercial establishment by its
          customers; "even before noon there was a considerable
          patronage" [syn: {trade}]
       v 1: support by being a patron of
       2: be a regular customer or client of; "We patronize this
          store"; "Our sponsor kept our art studio going for as long
          as he could" [syn: {patronize}, {patronise}, {support}, {keep
          going}]

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

  104 Moby Thesaurus words for "patronage":
     abetment, administration, advocacy, advocating, advocation, aegis,
     aid, auspices, backing, benefaction, bias, boosting, business,
     care, carriage trade, certificate of character, championship,
     character, character reference, charge, charity, clientage,
     clientele, condescension, contempt, contumely, countenance,
     credential, cure, custodianship, custody, custom, deigning,
     disdain, encouragement, favor, favoritism, favors of office,
     financing, fosterage, good name, goodwill, governance, government,
     guardianship, guidance, hands, help, humiliation, interest,
     jurisdiction, keeping, letter of introduction, management, market,
     melon, ministry, nepotism, oversight, partiality, pastorage,
     pastorate, pastorship, patronizing, plum, political patronage,
     pork, pork barrel, pork-barreling, preference, promotion,
     protection, protectorship, public, purchasing public, recommend,
     recommendation, reference, repute, rural market, safe hands, scorn,
     seconding, spoils system, sponsorship, stewardship, stooping,
     subsidy, suburban market, superiority, support, sympathy,
     testimonial, trade, trading, traffic, tutelage, voucher, ward,
     wardenship, wardship, watch and ward, wing, youth market
  
  

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

  PATRONAGE. The right of appointing to office; as the patronage of the 
  president of the United States, if abused, may endanger the liberties of the 
  people. 
       2. In the ecclesiastical law, it signifies the right of presentation to 
  a church or ecclesiastical benefice. 2 Bl. Com. 21.