father-in-law

[ fah-ther-in-law ]
See synonyms for father-in-law on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural fa·thers-in-law.
  1. the father of one's spouse.

Origin of father-in-law

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English fader in lawe; see origin at father, in, law1; from Middle English in-lawe “in law,” i.e., “a person within the regulation and protection of the law,” based on the prohibition by Roman civil law and, later, Christian canon law, of marriages within four degrees of consanguinity, i.e., up to and including first cousins

Words Nearby father-in-law

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use father-in-law in a sentence

  • Well, she was in the house when my father-in-law went on the visit and the girl came away with him.

    The Homesteader | Oscar Micheaux
  • As the representative of his father-in-law, Haggard asked his lordship with punctilious hospitality if he would take another peg.

  • It was the rough account of his investments and profits he remembered making for his father-in-law.

    The Doctor of Pimlico | William Le Queux
  • father-in-law would holler if he heard the car, but Bud did not intend that father-in-law should hear it.

    Cabin Fever | B. M. Bower
  • Catherine redoubled in care and cajolery of her father-in-law, being well aware that her sole support was in him.

    Catherine de' Medici | Honore de Balzac

British Dictionary definitions for father-in-law

father-in-law

nounplural fathers-in-law
  1. the father of one's wife or husband

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012