father

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A male whose sperm unites with an egg, producing an embryo.
• noun A male whose impregnation of a female results in the birth of a child.
• noun A man who adopts a child.
• noun A man who raises a child.
• noun A male parent of an animal.
• noun A male ancestor.
• noun A man who creates, originates, or founds something.
• noun A man who serves or is thought of as a protector.
• noun God.
• noun The first person of the Christian Trinity.
• noun An elderly or venerable man. Used as a title of respect.
• noun One of the leading men, as of a city.
• noun A church father.
• noun A member of the senate in ancient Rome.
• noun A priest or clergyman in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches.
• noun Used as a title and form of address with or without the clergyman's name.
• intransitive verb To provide the sperm that unites with an egg to produce (an embryo, fetus, or child).
• intransitive verb To act or serve as a father to (a child).
• intransitive verb To create, found, or originate.
• intransitive verb To attribute the paternity, creation, or origin of.
• intransitive verb To act or serve as a father.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The Sultan of Turkey.
• To beget as a father; become the father or progenitor of.
• To acknowledge or treat as a son or daughter; act as a father toward.
• To assume as one's own; profess or acknowledge one's self to be the owner or author of.
• To give a father to; furnish with a father.
• To ascribe or charge to one as his offspring or production; fix the generation or authorship of: with on or upon.
• noun He who begets a child; the nearest male ancestor; a male parent: so called in relation to the child.
• noun A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a lineal male ancestor, especially the first ancestor; the progenitor or founder of a race, family, or line: as, Ishmael was the father of the Bedouins of the desert.
• noun One who through marriage or adoption occupies the position of a male parent; a father-in-law; a stepfather.
• noun One who exercises paternal care over another; a fatherly protector or provider.
• noun [capitalized] The Supreme Being.
• noun [capitalized] In orthodox Christian phraseology, the first person of the Trinity.
• noun A respectful title bestowed on a venerable man; an appellation of reverence or honor: as, Father Abraham.
• noun A title given to dignitaries of the Roman Catholic and Eastern churches, to officers of monasteries and commonly to monks in general, and to confessors and priests.
• noun A member of one of various Roman Catholic fraternities: as, Fathers of the Oratory, etc.
• noun The title of a senator in ancient Rome. See conscript fathers, under conscript.
• noun The eldest member of any profession, or of any body: as, father of the bar (the oldest practitioner of law); father of the House of Representatives or of the House of Commons (the man who has been a member of the body for the longest continuous period).
• noun In universities, originally, a regent master fulfilling certain functions toward an inceptor; now, a fellow of a college appointed to attend a university examination in the interest of the students of that college.
• noun One who creates, invents, originates, or establishes anything; the author, former, or contriver; a founder, director, or instructor; the first to practise any art; specifically, in the plural, the authors, founders, or first promoters of any great work, movement, or organization: as, Gutenberg was the father of printing; the fathers of the church (which see, below); the pilgrim fathers (see pilgrim); the fathers of the American Constitution.
• noun In general, any real or apparent generating cause or source; that which gives rise to anything; a mainspring or moving element in a system or a process: as, “the boy is father of the man.”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To make one's self the father of; to beget.
• transitive verb To take as one's own child; to adopt; hence, to assume as one's own work; to acknowledge one's self author of or responsible for (a statement, policy, etc.).
• transitive verb rare To provide with a father.