Definition of "patron"

patron

/ˈpeɪ.tɹən/

noun
plural patrons
1. One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate.
  Quotations
  patron of my life and liberty
  c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene ii]
  the patron of true holiness
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
  Let him who works the client wrong beware the patron’s ire!
  1834–1838 (date written), Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Virginia”, in Lays of Ancient Rome, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], published 1842, page 154
  1. A guardian or intercessor; synonym of patron saint.
2. An influential, wealthy person who supported an artist, craftsman, a scholar or a noble.
3. A customer, as of a certain store or restaurant.
  Quotations
  In our trial of the AOT, a transect was used to collect data about the languages being spoken by patrons of the NIE cafeteria during lunchtimes.
  2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, page 4
4. (historical, Roman law) A protector of a dependent, especially a master who had freed a slave but still retained some paternal rights.
5. (UK, ecclesiastical) One who has gift and disposition of a benefice.
6. (nautical) A padrone.
7. (obsolete or historical) A property owner, a landlord, a master. (Compare patroon.)
  Quotations
  Half-a-dozen little boys carried it to the inn, where I had to explain to the patron, in my best Spanish, that we wanted a carriage to go to the baths, seven leagues off.
  1879, Annie Allnutt Brassey, A Voyage in the "Sunbeam", page 170
  [...] would obtain permission from the West India Company to settle in certain areas in the New World and cultivate the land. Sometimes absentee patrons would give the colony to a group of interested persons and the patrons would finance ...
  1992, Eric O. Ayisi, St. Eustatius, Treasure Island of the Caribbean
verb
third-person singular simple present patrons, present participle patroning, simple past and past participle patroned
1. (transitive, obsolete) To be a patron of; to patronize; to favour.
  Quotations
  a good cause needs not to be patroned by passion
  1642, Tho, published 1656
2. (transitive, obsolete) To treat as a patron.

Definition of "patron"

patron

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

verb

Quotations