son
[suhn]
- a male child or person in relation to his parents.
- a male child or person adopted as a son; a person in the legal position of a son.
- any male descendant: a son of the Aztecs.
- a son-in-law.
- a person related as if by ties of sonship.
- a male person looked upon as the product or result of particular agencies, forces, influences, etc.: a true son of the soil.
- a familiar term of address to a man or boy from an older person, an ecclesiastic, etc.
- the Son, the second person of the Trinity; Jesus Christ.
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Origin of son
before 900; Middle English sone, Old English sunu; cognate with Dutch zoon, German Sohn, Old Norse sunr, sonr, Gothic sunus, Lithuanian sūnùs, Sanskrit sūnus; akin to Greek huiós
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
boyheiroffspringdescendantrelativesiblingchilddependentjuniorscionladmaledisciplenativefilsbenExamples from the Web for sons
Contemporary Examples
Brands like Lo & Sons and Delsey are already tapping Travel Noire to connect with black travelers.
How many husbands, wives, sons, and daughters have we lost to a broken system?
I know that I cannot carry a gun in public and neither can my sons, even if it is a toy.
Both the Ramos sons squeezed their eyes and lowered their heads, doing their best not to cry.
That goodness steered him clear of the Sex Boys, the Crazy Homicides, the Sons of Nuns, and the other gangs of East New York.
Historical Examples
In reply he offers me, as if I were a beggar, employment for my sons.
The Raid From Beausejour; And How The Carter Boys Lifted The MortgageCharles G. D. Roberts
To the fear of losing our money is now added the fear of losing our sons.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
Most fathers know little of their sons and less of their daughters.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
He had not grown vicious, as have so many of his fellows among the sons of the rich.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
He goes on to condemn the scene between Gloucester and his sons in the same way.
The Man ShakespeareFrank Harris
son
- a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents
- a male descendant
- (often capital) a familiar term of address for a boy or man
- a male from a certain country, place, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environmenta son of the circus; a son of the manse
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Word Origin
Old English sunu; related to Old Norse sunr, Gothic sunus, Old High German sunu, Lithuanian sūnus, Sanskrit sūnu
Son
- Christianity the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for sons
son
n.
Old English sunu "son, descendant," from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian sunu, Old Norse sonr, Danish søn, Swedish son, Middle Dutch sone, Dutch zoon, Old High German sunu, German Sohn, Gothic sunus "son").
The Germanic words are from PIE *su(e)-nu- "son" (cf. Sanskrit sunus, Greek huios, Avestan hunush, Armenian ustr, Lithuanian sunus, Old Church Slavonic synu, Russian and Polish syn "son"), a derived noun from root *seue- (1) "to give birth" (cf. Sanskrit sauti "gives birth," Old Irish suth "birth, offspring"). Son of _____ as the title of a sequel to a book or movie is recorded from 1929 ("Son of Tarzan").
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with sons
son
In addition to the idiom beginning with son
- song and dance
- son of a bitch
also see:
- favorite son
- like father, like son
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.