padrone
Americannoun
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padrones,
plural
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padroni
plural
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a master; boss.
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an employer, especially of immigrant laborers, who provides communal housing and eating arrangements, controls the allocation of pay, etc., in a manner that exploits the workers.
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an innkeeper.
noun
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the owner or proprietor of an inn, esp in Italy
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an employer who completely controls his workers, esp a man who exploits Italian immigrants in the US
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of padrone
From Italian, dating back to 1660–70; see origin at patron
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.
See Examples For:
The bank should satisfy the critical eye of its padrone.
From Time Magazine Archive
Phil, the Fiddler is a memorial to a successful crusade that Alger led against the padrone system, by which hundreds of little street musicians, brought to Manhattan from Italy, were kept as virtual slaves.
From Time Magazine Archive
His padrone, disgusted, spells out what awaits him: "Go make pizzas."
From Time Magazine Archive
A. In a marriage there is always a padrone, a master, and it is not necessarily the man.
From Time Magazine Archive
We pushed out into the current, and drifted slowly down under the bridges, without oars the padrone quietly smoking his pipe at the helm.
From Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by N. Parker Willis
There is also a Boston Italian Society, organized in 1902, to protect newcomers from sharpers, thieves, and fraudulent persons; also from the frauds of bankers and padrones.
From Aliens or Americans? by Howard B. (Howard Benjamin) Grose
It was being sold to the padrones, who were bringing it to Palma and Barcelona.
From The Dead Command From the Spanish Los Muertos Mandan by Frances Douglas
The men uncovered their heads, as the noble padrones passed.
From The Title Market by J. H. Gardner Soper
The importation of contract laborers, usually under the direction of padrones, from Greece, Italy, and Austria-Hungary.
From Aliens or Americans? by Howard B. (Howard Benjamin) Grose
The steamship companies had to bear the expense of taking them back, but the padrones have not suffered any penalty, and will go on with their unlawful work.
From Aliens or Americans? by Howard B. (Howard Benjamin) Grose
When the provveditore was present at solemn functions a bench was placed for him and the "padroni," as well as for the authorities of the Castelli and the colonel of the district.
From The Shores of the Adriatic The Austrian Side, The Küstenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia by F. Hamilton (Frederick Hamilton) Jackson
"You have a beautiful pair of padroni, you and your brother," observed Nennè, making a hideous face over the boat's side.
From The Children of the King by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
Then the padroni will have eaten and the rocks will be covered with crabs, and the moon will not be yet risen.
From The Children of the King by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford
As we pass with the padrona of the hotel, who is a Bavarian, we stop to speak to our own padroni, the Di Paoli.
From Twilight in Italy by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
A determined warfare was declared against the Italian padroni, who thrive upon the toil of the little unfortunates to whom they pretend to teach music, and whom they utilize as peddlers and chimney-sweepers.
From The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 2, November, 1884 by Various
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.
