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.
Business custom. [Commercial Cant]
Guardianship, as of a saint; tutelary care. Addison.
The right of nomination to political office; also, the offices, contracts, honors, etc., which a public officer may bestow by favor.
The right of presentation to church or ecclesiastical benefice; advowson. Blackstone.
To act as a patron of; to maintain; to defend. [Obs.] Shak.
98,828 entries. Headwords are matched first, then definition text.