padrone
Americannoun
plural
padrones,plural
padroni-
a master; boss.
-
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.
-
an innkeeper.
noun
-
the owner or proprietor of an inn, esp in Italy
-
an employer who completely controls his workers, esp a man who exploits Italian immigrants in the US
Other Word Forms
- padronism noun
Etymology
Origin of padrone
From Italian, dating back to 1660–70; 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.
His padrone, disgusted, spells out what awaits him: "Go make pizzas."
From Time Magazine Archive
By this time the Old Man has been transmogrified into a wise and mellow padrone, and the story shifts a generation.
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
Best shots : Miss Daniels in her metal dress; a Mexican padrone respect fully kissing a moneyed young man be cause he takes him to be a safecracker.
From Time Magazine Archive
The little padrone was the passionate 18th's new-style ward boss and idol.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
