dad

¹ American  

[dad] / dæd /

noun

1. a person’s father or one’s father.

2. a person who is corny or embarrassing in the way that a father figure might be.

   He was being such a dad when he told that story.

3. a term of endearment used to refer to a man or boy who is admired.

   A bunch of teens commented “HI DAD!” on the rapper’s post.

---

adjective

1. corny or embarrassing in the way that a father figure might be: the most dad story ever.

   a dad joke;

   the most dad story ever.

2. handsome or stylish; amazing; to be admired.

   Those shoes are totally dad.

verb (used with object)

1. to act as a father toward; act paternally toward.

   Stop dadding me about my grades!

2. to refer to (an admired man or boy) as “dad”.

   My friends dad me whenever I look good.

verb (used without object)

1. to perform the tasks or duties of a male parent; act paternally.

   He dads like a champ.

2. to refer to an admired man or boy as “dad”.

   They dad whenever a new photo pops up on their feeds.

dad ² American  

[dad] / dæd /

noun

Scot. and North England.

1. a solid blow or knock.

2. a large slice, lump, or portion.

---

ḍad ³ American  

[dahd] / dɑd /

noun

1. the 15th letter of the Arabic alphabet.

---

dad ⁴ American  

[dad] / dæd /

interjection

Informal.

1. God (used in combination in mild oaths).

   dad-blamed; dad-gummed.

---

dad British  

/ dæd /

noun

1. an informal word for father

---

Etymology

Origin of dad¹

First recorded in 1530–40; probably originally baby talk dah-dah

Origin of dad¹

First recorded in 1710–20; probably variant of dab ¹

Origin of ḍad¹

From Arabic

Origin of dad¹

First recorded in 1670–80; euphemism for God; Gad ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

As a co-parent, she had to put this into practice herself when her stepdaughter admitted she wanted to spend Christmas Day with her dad and siblings after they moved further away.

From BBC

And with that, he hopped out the door, where his even more terrifying-looking hawk dad was waiting for him and threw his wings open to hug his son.

From Literature

Maggiore, a stay-at-home dad when his kids were younger, once proposed slashing compensation to a penny.

From The Wall Street Journal

Her dad, Anthony Donatelli, received messages from people saying they were owed thousands of dollars because her predictions were wrong.

From Los Angeles Times

"I have enjoyed coming to the matches because of the people we sit with and I get to spend time with my dad, but we get so little joy."

From BBC

Related Words

• old man
• papa
• parent