Adjacent Words

Son definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SON, n.
1. A male child; the male issue of a parent, father or mother. Jacob had twelve sons. Ishmael was the son of Hagar by Abraham.
2. A male descendant, however distant; hence in the plural, sons signifies descendants in general, a sense much used in the Scriptures. The whole human race are styled sons of Adam.
3. The compellation of an old man to a young one, or of a confessor to his penitent; a term of affection. Eli called Samuel his son. Be plain, good son, and home;y in thy drift.
4. A native or inhabitant of a country; as the sons of Britain. Let our country never be ashamed of her sons.
5. The produce of any thing. Earth's tall sons, the cedar, oak and pine. [Note. The primary sense of child is produce, issue; a shoot.]
6. One adopted into a family. Moses was the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Exodus 2.
7. One who is converted by another's instrumentality, is called his son; also, one educated by another; as the sons of the prophets.
8. Christ is called the Son of God, as being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, or in consequence of his relation to the Father.
9. Son of pride, sons of light, son of Belial. These are Hebraisms, which denote that persons possess the qualities of pride, of light, or of Belial, as children inherit the qualities of their ancestors.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a male human offspring; "their son became a famous judge"; "his boy is taller than he is" [syn: son, boy] [ant: daughter, girl]
2: the divine word of God; the second person in the Trinity (incarnate in Jesus) [syn: Son, Word, Logos]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English sone, from Old English sunu; akin to Old High German sun son, Greek hyios Date: before 12th century 1. a. a human male offspring especially of human beings b. a male adopted child c. a human male descendant 2. capitalized the second person of the Trinity 3. a person closely associated with or deriving from a formative agent (as a nation, school, or race) • sonhood noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a boy or man in relation to either or both of his parents. 2 a a male descendant. b (foll. by of) a male member of a family, nation, etc. 3 a person regarded as inheriting an occupation, quality, etc., or associated with a particular attribute (sons of freedom; sons of the soil). 4 (in full my son) a form of address esp. to a boy. 5 (the Son) (in Christian belief) the second person of the Trinity. Phrases and idioms: son-in-law (pl. sons-in-law) the husband of one's daughter. son of a bitch sl. a general term of contempt. son of a gun colloq. a jocular or affectionate form of address or reference. Derivatives: sonless adj. sonship n. Etymology: OE sunu f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Son Son, n. [OE. sone, sune, AS. sunu; akin to D. zoon, OS., OFries., & OHG. sunu, G. sohn, Icel. sonr, Sw. son, Dan. s["o]n, Goth. sunus, Lith. sunus, Russ. suin', Skr. s[=u]nu (from s[=u] to beget, to bear), and Gr. ? son. [root]293. Cf. Sow, n.] 1. A male child; the male issue, or offspring, of a parent, father or mother. Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son. --Gen. xxi. 2. 2. A male descendant, however distant; hence, in the plural, descendants in general. I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings. --Isa. xix. 11. I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. --Mal. iii. 6. 3. Any young male person spoken of as a child; an adopted male child; a pupil, ward, or any other male dependent. The child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. --Ex. ii. 10. Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift. --Shak. 4. A native or inhabitant of some specified place; as, sons of Albion; sons of New England. 5. The produce of anything. Earth's tall sons, the cedar, oak, and pine. --Blackmore. 6. (Commonly with the def. article) Jesus Christ, the Savior; -- called the Son of God, and the Son of man. We . . . do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. --1 John iv. 14. Who gave His Son sure all has given. --Keble. Note: The expressions son of pride, sons of light, son of Belial, are Hebraisms, which denote persons possessing the qualitites of pride, of light, or of Belial, as children inherit the qualities of their ancestors. Sons of the prophets. See School of the prophets, under Prophet.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(sons) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. Someone's son is their male child. He shared a pizza with his son Laurence... Sam is the seven-year-old son of Eric Davies... They have a son. N-COUNT: oft with poss 2. A man, especially a famous man, can be described as a son of the place he comes from. (JOURNALISM) ...New Orleans's most famous son, Louis Armstrong. ...sons of Africa. N-COUNT: with poss 3. Some people use son as a form of address when they are showing kindness or affection to a boy or a man who is younger than them. (INFORMAL) Don't be frightened by failure, son. N-VOC [feelings]

Moby Thesaurus

aunt, auntie, blood brother, brethren, brother, bub, bubba, bud, buddy, child, country cousin, cousin, cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, daughter, descendant, father, first cousin, foster brother, foster child, frater, grandchild, granddaughter, grandnephew, grandniece, grandson, granduncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, half brother, heiress, junior, kid brother, lad, laddie, mother, nephew, niece, nuncle, nunks, nunky, offspring, scion, second cousin, sis, sissy, sister, sister-german, sistern, son and heir, sonny, stepbrother, stepchild, stepdaughter, stepsister, stepson, stripling, tad, unc, uncle, uncs, uterine brother