Great White Father
Americannoun
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the president of the U.S.
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any man who holds a position of great authority.
Etymology
Origin of Great White Father
An Americanism dating back to 1915–20; after the epithet supposedly used for the U.S. president by American Indians in the 19th century
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Maraniss states that he was a victim of the harmful myth “that the Great White Father knows best.”
From Washington Post • Aug. 12, 2022
Gripes longtime Court Clerk Fred Posey: "I don't need the Great White Father Heflin telling me how to run things."
From Time Magazine Archive
His successor is Louis Bruce, part Mohawk and part Oglala Sioux, who seems just as frustrated as his people in dealing with the Great White Father.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tigua Indians made the Great White Father an honorary chieftain of their tribe, gave him a peacock-feathered headdress, deerskin moccasins.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was the first to shake the hand of the Great White Father.
From Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian Women by Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
