▪ I. grandfather
(ˈgrændfɑːðə(r), ˈgrænfɑːðə(r))
Forms: 5 grawntefader, grauntfadyr, -ir, graunfadre, 6– grandfather.
[f. grand a. 12 b + father; after F. grandpère.]
1. a. The father of one's father or mother.
| 1424 [Implied in grandfatherless]. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 259 Sarug, grawntefader to Thare the fader of Abraham. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. iii. 150 Lo here lieth my fadir and there lieth my graunt fadir. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 74 His fadre and his graunfadre. 1546 Eng. Gilds (1870) 197 Kinge Edward graundfather to Richard the second. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 295 La. Who begot thee? Sp. Marry, the son of my Grand-father. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 305 The markes which were in the body of the Grandfather do often appeare in the Grand⁓childe. 1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 204 Your grandfather sustained the character, which he had so early acquired, to the last moment of his life. 1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie I. iii. 42, I wish it was hot noon now, grand'ther. |
| appositive. 1871 Fraser Life Berkeley i. 6 The supposed grandfather-collector was a natural son of the first Lord Berkeley of Stratton. |
b. fig. and
humorous. (
occas. quasi-adj.)
| 1624 Donne Serm. cxxx. Wks. 1839 V. 336 Here are risen grandfather and great-grandfather sins quickly, a froward generation. 1655 Baxter Quaker Catech. 10, I have no such Infallibility, nor your Grandfather the Pope neither. 1709 Sacheverell Serm. 5 Nov. 22 The Grand-Father of Falshood, the Devil. 1961 P. Barry Unwillingly to School xvi. 221 There's been the grandfather of a mix-up somewhere. 1971 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 10 Sir Julian Huxley, whom Peter Scott yesterday described as the ‘grandfather’ of the World Wildlife Fund. |
† 2. Sc. Used for ‘great grandfather’
= grandsire 2.
Obs.| a 1651 Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 174 His grand⁓father, goodsir, and father, had served his predecessors, and some of them lost their lives under their service. |
3. A male ancestor; a forefather.
| 1613 Hieron Christian's Jrnl. Wks. I. 2 Our grand⁓father Adam. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 329 The habit they weare, differs not from their grandfather Adams. 1650 Trapp Comm. Gen. v. 32 Shem..was in dignity preferred, before his brother, to be grandfather to the Messiah. |
4. a. A kind of dance. (
Cf. grandpapa b and
grandpère.)
| 1897 Pall Mall Mag. Aug. 445 One of the last dances was an old-fashioned country dance, called ‘the grand⁓father’, when each couple in turn passed along holding a handkerchief, over which all the others had to jump. |
b. Short for
grandfather clock (see sense 5).
| 1894 F. J. Britten Former Clock & Watchmakers 175 Some of these primitive ‘grandfathers’ were exceedingly narrow in the waist. 1906 Bazaar, Exch. & Mart Suppl. 3 Oct. 1302/3 Wanted, old grandfathers, brass arched dials. 1909 E. Rickert Beggar in Heart 1 The house is so still I can hear grandfather ticking on the stairs with the door shut. 1967 B. Palmer Treasury Amer. Clocks 1 Grandfathers were the first type of clocks to be made in the Colonies. |
5. Comb., as
grandfather's beard,
chair (see
quots.);
grandfather clause U.S. colloq., a clause in the constitutions of some Southern states, exempting from suffrage restrictions the descendants of men who voted before the Civil War; also
transf.;
grandfather's clock [suggested by a song which was popular about 1880], a furniture-dealer's name for the kind of weight-and-pendulum eight-day clock in a tall case, formerly in common use; also
grandfather clock (now the usual name);
grandfather-long-legs = daddy-long-legs (
cf. grand-daddy 2).
| 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., Grandfather's beard, a species of Equisetum (mare's tail). 1892 Pall Mall G. 2 June 1/3 The new easy-chair..is called the grandfather's chair. It is roomy and soft, and on each side at the top has two projections, something like the peaks of a Gladstone collar. |
| 1900 Congress. Rec. 22 Jan. 1033/1 The grandfather clause will not avail those citizens who..are unable to pay their poll tax. 1903 N.Y. Evening Post 22 Dec. 6 It is proposed [in Maryland] to remodel the Constitution so as to exclude colored men from voting. The usual Southern method is followed, ‘grandfather clause’ and all. 1906 W. H. Fleming Slavery 44 This proviso was popularly known as the ‘Grandfather clause’. 1948 Georgia Hist. Q. Mar. 1 In 1898, Louisiana wrote the notorious ‘Grandfather Clause’ into its constitution. |
| [1876 H. C. Work Grandfather's Clock, My grandfather's clock was too large for the shelf, So it stood ninety years on the floor.] 1892 J. F. Kendal Hist. Watches 153 Longcase or ‘Grandfathers'’ clocks. 1910 Encycl. Brit. VI. 552/2 The long or ‘grandfather’ clock dates from about the fourth quarter of the 17th century. 1922 O. Mitchell Talking Machine Industry vi. 68 Others use weight-driven mechanism[s] like those of the old-fashioned grandfather's clocks. 1928 J. E. Haswell Horology 74 A typical grandfather clock. 1952 H. Gordon Antiques ii. 36 A particular development associated with the [Restoration] period was the first appearance of the ‘Grandfather’ clock. 1970 G. Savage Dict. Antiques 191 Grandfather clock, a comparatively recent term for the long-case clock. |
Hence
ˈgrandfatherhood, the condition of being a grandfather;
ˈgrandfatherland (
nonce-wd.), the ‘fatherland’ of one's parents;
ˈgrandfatherless a., without a grandfather; hence
ˈgrandfatherlessness;
ˈgrandfatherly a., of, befitting, or resembling a grandfather; also
transf.;
ˈgrandfathership, the fact of being a grandfather.
| 1856 J. Grote in Cambridge Ess. 85 The similarity (arising from its relation of parentage, or more properly of *grand⁓fatherhood) between our language and the Latin in many words. 1892 Blackw. Mag. CLI. 224/1 Some..vague idea of relationship and grandfatherhood. |
| 1864 E. Burritt Walk Lond. to John O'Groat's 317 The *grandfatherland of fifty millions who now speak its language beyond the sea. |
| 1424 E.E. Wills (1882) 57 Þan shall he be left..*grauntfaderles. 1885 D. C. Murray Rainbow Gold III. v. ii. 25 Grand⁓fatherless persons whose manners smacked of mine and foundry. |
| 1896 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 595 That salve for *grandfatherlessness, indifference to rank and the opinions of others. |
| 1824 Coleridge Lett., Convers., etc. (1836) II. 167 My *Grandfatherly love and kisses to the Fairy Prattler. 1850 Hawthorne Scarlet L. viii. (1883) 138 He was a grand⁓fatherly sort of person. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 29 What substantial, respectable, grand⁓fatherly figures. 1880 New Virginians I. 95 A grand⁓fatherly rat. |
| 1883 B'ham Weekly Post 1 Sept. 4/5 The *grandfathership of the Norwich Lincolne is impossible. |
Add:
[1.] c. Computing. A tape of data two versions earlier than the version currently being processed, retained for security reasons.
Cf. *
father n. 11, *
son n.1 9.
| 1965 Friedman & Rice Fund. Electronic Data Processing ix. 405/2 On the chance that the new master tape may be lost, the old master is often saved until it is a ‘grandfather’. This means that the records..will have been updated twice... The second processing run uses the ‘son’ as input. It is updated and the old master's ‘grandson’ is produced. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xvi. 265 After the run, the father goes to the tape library with the son and is kept there at least until it becomes ‘grandfather’ before it is again used as ‘son’ tape. 1980 C. S. French Computer Sci. xii. 65 There will be a definite policy with regard to how many generations are kept; Grandfather—Father—Son should be adequate. |
▸
grandfather rights n. (also
grandfather's rights)
orig. U.S. rights granted because of the prior existence of a similar right or privilege (
cf. grandfather clause n. at Compounds);
esp. the right of an airline to continue to operate flights on a particular route, or to use an airport's facilities.
| 1936 50th Ann. Rep. Interstate Commerce Comm. 70 If a common carrier by motor vehicle were in operation on June 1, 1935, and continuously thereafter, it should be entitled to a certificate without further proof of public convenience and necessity... The rights conferred thereby are referred to as ‘*grandfather’ rights. 1941 Air Law Rev. 12 246 The [Civil Aeronautics] Authority..began consideration of the applications filed by air carriers for ‘grandfather’ rights. 1992 Economist 14 Mar. 98/2 The big established airlines claim so-called ‘grandfather rights’ (ie, ‘we were here first so nobody else should be allowed in’) over most of the routes and slots available at airports. 2000 Keyways Feb. 4/1 These gentlemen should feel very proud of their achievement, because not only had they become Fellow members of the [Master Locksmiths'] Association, but they were the first members to get Fellow status by performing a task and not by grandfather rights. |
▪ II. ˈgrandfather, v. rare.
[f. grandfather n.] trans. a. to grandfather up: ? to flatter with excess of deference.
b. to grandfather (a thing) on:
fig. [after
father v.] to impute to (a person) as its mediate originator.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. 331 Nor would I advise that you should go to grandfather up your cousin Morden. 1893 A. Birrell Res Judicatæ 99 Alexander Knox..on whom the Tractarian movement has been plausibly grandfathered. |
Restrict
rare to senses in
Dict. and add:
2. U.S. [After
grandfather clause s.v. grandfather n. 5.] To exempt from new legislation or regulations,
usu. because of some prior condition of previously existing privilege. Freq.
const. in,
out, or with
advb. phr. Also
transf.| 1953 Kentucky Revised Statutes 2190/2 All certificates or permits grandfathered shall be subject to the same limitations and restrictions. 1968 N.Y. Times 8 May 46/4 The committee ‘grandfathered’ out from effective coverage all existing distribution lines. 1980 San Francisco Bay Guardian 16–23 Oct. 5/1 Four of these planned buildings have already been exempted (‘grandfathered’ is the technical term) from the limits passed last March by the Supervisors. 1986 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 6 Apr. (Accent Suppl.) 6/3 Under the impending federal law, after Oct. 1 those young drinkers could not be ‘grandfathered’ into a new 21 drinking-age statute. 1987 Texas Monthly Apr. 168/3 She already had privileges at the Metropolitan, and we hadn't heard anything upfront from the Nix, so we decided to grandfather her in. |