dad

¹

[ dad ]

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.

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

[ dad ]

interjection

, Informal.

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

   dad-blamed; dad-gummed.

dad

³

[ dad ]

noun

, Scot. and North England.

1. a solid blow or knock.
2. a large slice, lump, or portion.

ḍad

⁴

[ dahd ]

noun

1. the 15th letter of the Arabic alphabet.

dad

/ dæd /

noun

1. See father
   an informal word for father

Word History and Origins

Origin of dad¹

First recorded in 1530–40; probably originally baby talk dah-dah

Origin of dad²

First recorded in 1670–80; euphemism for God; Gad ¹( def )

Origin of dad³

First recorded in 1710–20; probably variant of dab ¹

Origin of dad⁴

From Arabic

Word History and Origins

Origin of dad¹

C16: childish word; compare Greek tata, Sanskrit tatas

Related Words

• old man
• papa
• parent