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An ancestor in the direct line; a forefather. And reverence thee their great progenitor. Milton.

The state of being a progenitor.

The name given in the Bible to the first man, the progenitor of the human race.

ands etc., in the northern part of the empire of Japan, by some supposed to have been the progenitors of the Japanese. The Ainos are stout and short, with hairy bodies.

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

A series of ancestors or progenitors; lineage, or those who compose the line of natural descent.

An ancestor; a progenitor. [Obs.]

e acute, etc.; as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to our first progenitor.

one who precedes in genealogy or degrees of kindred; a relative in the ascending line; a progenitor; -- opposed to descendant. Ayliffe.

a Border farmer of eccentric but fine character, who owns two terriers claimed to be the progenitors of the Dandie Dinmont terriers.

The derivation of the name of a race, tribe, etc., from that of a fabulous hero, progenitor, etc.

Those who descend from one common progenitor; a tribe, clan, or race; kindred; house; as, the human family; the family of Abraham; the father of a family. Go ! and pretennd your family is young. Pope.

A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor; a founder of a race or family; -- in the plural, fathers, ancestors. David slept with his fathers. 1 Kings ii. 10. Abraham, who is the father of us all. Rom. iv. 16.

One who goes before another; a predecessor; hence, an ancestor' a progenitor.

Regular descent of a person or family from a progenitor; pedigree; lineage.

Having a resemblance in structure, due to descent from a common progenitor with subsequent modification; homogenetic; -- applied both to animals and plants. See Homoplastic.

Descent in a line from a common progenitor; progeny; race; descending line of offspring or ascending line of parentage. Both the lineage and the certain sire From which I sprung, from me are hidden yet. Spenser.

One of a series of progenitors of human beings, and authors of human wisdom.

The race that proceeds from a progenitor; offspring to the furthest generation; the aggregate number of persons who are descended from an ancestor of a generation; descendants; -- contrasted with ancestry; as, the posterity of Abraham. If [the crown] should not stand in thy posterity. Shak.

To die sooner than. "If children predecease progenitors." Shak.