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• pater
  pater

  noun

  father.
• Pater
  Pater

  noun

  Walter Horatio, 1839–94, English critic, essayist, and novelist.

pater

¹ American  

[pey-ter, pat-er] / ˈpeɪ tər, ˈpæt ər /

noun

• paters
  plural

1. British Informal. father.

2. (often initial capital letter) the paternoster; Lord's Prayer.

3. a recitation of it.

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Pater ² American  

[pey-ter] / ˈpeɪ tər /

noun

1. Walter Horatio, 1839–94, English critic, essayist, and novelist.

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Pater ¹ British  

/ ˈpeɪtə /

noun

1. Walter ( Horatio ). 1839–94, English essayist and critic, noted for his prose style and his advocation of the "love of art for its own sake". His works include the philosophical romance Marius the Epicurean (1885), Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873), and Imaginary Portraits (1887)

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pater ² British  

/ ˈpeɪtə /

noun

1. facetious a public school slang word for father

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pater

1300–50; Middle English < Latin: father

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pater Pater paters

For instance, we find closely matching terms in Latin with "pater," Sanskrit's "pitar" and in Greek with "patér" – all older languages that developed separately from the Germanic line.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2022

They serve without any accountability, except to pater familias.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 6, 2018

Yet critics maintain that the Packers have betrayed not only the country but also the pater familias of football: legendary Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi.

From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2017

Cosby set Constand up on a meeting with Lou Weiss, a pater familias of the old WMA who retired in 2007.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2017

A fissure ran across the length of the ceiling and the far end of the cavern collapsed, burying the altar and the pater.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Muratov read the works of those who had traveled on the Italian Grand Tour before him: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Walter Pater, Vernon Lee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Seits and Pater trailed 8-4 in the second game but rallied for a 25-23 victory before dominating the third 15-8.

From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2024

"I was surprised by how quickly clouds disappeared on Neptune," de Pater added.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2023

No. What was happening instead is that Monet’s painting was becoming increasingly poetic, closer and closer to abstraction and to what the critic Walter Pater called “the condition of music.”

From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2023

Pater Lumley’s voice was rough and soft at the same time.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

This single parent language – known as Proto Indo-European – spawned all these later languages and their shared word for paters.

From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2022

“Good man. But best not mention it to”—Hugo nodded through the garage wall—“the maters and the paters, or we'll spend the rest of the afternoon playing Ludo or the Game of Life under strict supervision.”

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

I say, Robin," exclaimed Springall, "come out of your shell; you have remained there long enough to tell over a dozen creeds or paters, were they in fashion—Come out, are you bewitched?

From The Buccaneer A Tale by Mrs. S. C. Hall

To Cours la Reine!" cried D'Artagnan to the coachman; then turning to Mazarin he said, "Now, my lord, you can say five paters and five aves, in thanks to Heaven for your deliverance.

From Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas père

So that avenin' he ordhered his monks to say a thousand craydos, an' two thousand paters an' aves, an' afther that was done, he got in his boat an' crassed the lake.

From Irish Wonders by D. R. (David Russell) McAnally