stepfather
(ˈstɛpfɑːðə(r))
Forms: 1 stéupfædær, stéopfæder, 4 stifader, -dre, steffader; 4– step- (see father n.).
[OE. stéopfæder (see step-) = OFris. stiapfeder (NFris. stjâpfader, sjapfar, WFris. stiepfader), MLG. stēfvadere, Du. stiefvader, OHG. stiuffater (MHG., mod.G. stiefvater), ON. stj{uacu}pfaðer (Sw. styffader, Da. stiffader).]
A man who has married one's mother after one's father's death or divorce.
| c 825 Epinal Gloss. 1070 Vitricius, steupfaedaer. c 893 ælfred Oros. i. viii. 42 Adipsus [i.e. Oedipus]..æᵹþer ofsloh ᵹe..his steopfæder, ᵹe his steopsunu. 13.. Sir Beues 464 Beten ichaue me stifadre Wiþ me mace. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 93 Medus..folowed þe dedes of Iason þat was his owne stepfader. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iii. 83 It is no loue of a natureill fader, but it is rigoure of a stepfader. 1538 Elyot Dict., Vitricus, a father in lawe or steppefather. 1631 J. Anchoran Comenius' Gate Tongues 123 A stepfather, & stepmother, loue not very well their steppe sonnes, or steppe children. 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 30/2, I am not your own Child, but was adopted by one of your former Husbands; who..proved an excellent Step-Father to me. 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xiv. 46 He was the stepfather of Arthur of Brittany. |
b. transf. and fig.
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. 123 Hir [sc. the Church's] steffader cal I the Fend, For igain hir es he unhende. 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 335 Þis weiward steffadris of mennus soulis. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. v. 128 Who but Stepfathers to their Poemes be. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. viii. 86 Kings, if they be Wise for themselves will be Nursing Fathers,..not Stepfathers. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xv, ‘Dare we resist the Holy Father?’ ‘Holy step-father, you mean.’ 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. liii. II. 327 [Washington] was commonly called by them ‘The stepfather of his country.’ |
¶ c. A father-in-law. (? A conscious misuse.)
| a 1625 Fletcher Double Marr. iv. i, Pand. [to Juliana, his daughter-in-law] A word or two of a kind step-father I'll have put in. |
Hence ˈstepfatherly a.
| 1912 Nation 23 Mar. 1012/1 His step-fatherly rule does not kill even his own officialism. |