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In concern with; engaged in; intent on. I must be about my Father's business. Luke ii. 49.

An abstract term. The concretes "father" and "son" have, or might have, the abstracts "paternity" and "filiety." J. S. Mill.

he U. S. army he is brigadier general. (b) (Among the Jesuits), one of a select number of fathers, who resided with the general of the order, each of whom had a province or country assigned to his care.

Pertaining to adoption; made or acquired by adoption; fitted to adopt; as, an adoptive father, an child; an adoptive language. -- A*dopt"ive*ly, adv.

Christ, considered as an intercessor. We have an Advocate with the Father. 1 John ii. 1. Faculty of advocates (Scot.), the Scottish bar in Edinburgh. -- Lord advocate (Scot.), the public prosecutor of crimes, and principal crown lawyer. -- Judge advocate. See under Judge.

tablishment or ascertaining of parentage; the assignment of a child, as a bastard, to its father; filiation.

y demeanor or language; to treat with marked incivility. How can any one imagine that the fathers would have dared to affront the wife of Aurelius Addison.

One born in Africa, the offspring of a white father and a "colored" mother. Also, and now commonly in Southern Africa, a native born of European settlers.

se, idiom, or custom peculiar to Africa or Africans. "The knotty Africanisms . . . of the fathers." Milton.

er of; as, to make a thing after a model; a picture after Rubens; the boy takes after his father. To name or call after, to name like and reference to. Our eldest son was named George after his uncle. Goldsmith.

Related or akin by the father's side; also, sprung from the same male ancestor.

o praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction. [Obs. or Archaic] Ye allow the deeds of your fathers. Luke xi. 48. We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning. Fuller.

one in another; an analogous term; as, the Latin "pater" is the analogue of the English "father."

One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a fore father.

cient castle. "Our ancient bickerings." Shak. Remove not the ancient landmarks, which thy fathers have set. Prov. xxii. 28. An ancient man, strangely habited, asked for quarters. Scott.

o the apostolic canons, and perhaps compiled by the same authors or author. -- Apostolic fathers, early Christian writers, who were born in the first century, and thus touched on the age of the apostles. They were Polycarp, Clement, Ignatius, and Hermas; to these Barnabas has sometimes been added. -- Apostolic king (…

sk. Beau. & Fl. That lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers. F. Harrison.

A superintendent of several monasteries, corresponding to superior abbot, or father provincial, in the Roman Catholic church.

e fourth century, or to the doctrines of Arius, who held Christ to be inferior to God the Father in nature and dignity, though the first and noblest of all created beings. -- n.

borne in shields, banners, etc., as marks of dignity and distinction, and descending from father to son.