city father

American  

noun

1. any of the officials or prominent citizens of a city.

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city father British  

noun

1. a person who is active or prominent in the public affairs of a city, such as an alderman

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Etymology

Origin of city father

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

Example Sentences

In Cotati, Paulekas morphed into a bizarro city father: He became politically active, regularly speaking out at City Council meetings.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2022

One city father simply turns to another and whispers gleefully: "See, he has a natural flair for politics."

From Time Magazine Archive

Some 70,000 people call it home, but only a city father could love it.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Why, sweetheart, you don’t suppose I care for the great name of city father, do you?”

From Jewel Weed by Fisher, Harrison

While this was taking place in the city, father Fray Diego strove to have churches erected in Pata, Abulug, and Camalaniugan36—as was easily done, because the churches were very small and poor.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XXX, 1640 by Abreu, Antonio Alvarez de