begetter
(bɪˈgɛtə(r))
Also 5 begetare, 6 begettor.
[f. beget v. + -er1.]
1. One who begets; a procreator.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 28/2 Begetare, as a fathyr, genitor. Begetare, as mothere, genitrix. 1587 Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 126 The begettor of this base-borne childe. 1616 Chapman Musæus 200 Blest was thy great begetter; blest was she Whose womb did bear thee. 1875 G. Smith Assyr. Discov. 321 Esarhaddon, king of Assyria,..my begetter. |
2. fig. and transf. The agent that originates, produces, or occasions.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay iii. 28 The onely one God..the Begetter of the Soules of the other Gods. 1606 Shakes. Sonn. (Inscr.) To the onlie begetter of these insuing sonnets. 1637 Bastwick Litany iii. 11 The word of God is both the begetter of faith, and the increaser of it. 1884 Pall Mall G. 2 Aug. 4/2 Dr. Alfred Wright, the ostensible begetter of these very light and graphic sketches. |