Adjacent Words

Father-in-law definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

F'ATHER-IN-LAW, n. The father of one's husband or wife; and a man who marries a woman who has children by a former husband is called the father in law or step-father of those children.
F'ATHER, v.t.
1. To adopt; to take the child of another as one's own.
2. To adopt any thing as one's own; to profess to be the author.
Men of wit often father'd what he writ.
3. To ascribe or charge to one as his offspring or production; with on.
My name was made use of by several persons, one of whom was pleased to father on me a new set of productions.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the father of your spouse

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural fathers-in-law) Date: 14th century 1. the father of one's spouse 2. archaic stepfather

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Father-in-law Fa"ther-in-law`, n.; pl. Fathers-in-law. The father of one's husband or wife; -- correlative to son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Note: A man who marries a woman having children already, is sometimes, though erroneously, called their father-in-law.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(fathers-in-law) Someone's father-in-law is the father of their husband or wife. N-COUNT: usu poss N

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

fa'-ther-in-lo.

See RELATIONSHIPS, FAMILY.