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.

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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.

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ḍad ³ American  

[dahd] / dɑd /

noun

1. the 15th letter of the Arabic alphabet.

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dad ⁴ American  

[dad] / dæd /

interjection

Informal.

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

   dad-blamed; dad-gummed.

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dad British  

/ dæd /

noun

1. an informal word for father

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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

With their investment arguably as famous as their successful acting careers, Reynolds said his children get "frustrated" by the amount of people who want to talk to their dad about the club.

From BBC

“We’re reducing my dad to a bag of cash,” says Harry.

From Los Angeles Times

He says he leapt at the chance to move to Parkhead, with a wee push from his dad.

From BBC

She’s looking between our dad and our aunt like it’s one of Andre’s lacrosse matches and she’s interested for once.

From Literature

“I’m not the dad,” it says, “and I’m not the coach.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• old man
• papa
• parent