grandfather

CEFRA1

/ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
The father of your mother or father.
02
noun
Extra detail
A male forefather.

Examples

Bob met her grandfather early in the morning.
The firm had been founded by his grandfather.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 2
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 5

Also pronounced

/ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/
/ˈɡɹændˌfɑːðə/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

The archived older version of a file that immediately preceded the father file.
A father of someone's parent.

verb

Extra meaning

To be, or act as, a grandfather to.

More examples

In context

We named my son after my grandfather.
File C is the grandfather because it was used to create file B.
Three generations of file are usually kept, being the grandfather, father and son files.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

My blank, with his gray beard and bald head, is very wise.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

Grandfather, Father, and Son. The Father diſſeiſeth the Grandfather and dies, the Son endows the Mother, the Grandfather dies, the Son may enter upon the Mother; for he hath a new Right deſcended to him from the Grandfather, for the Grandfather might have entred upon the Mother, ſo ſhall his Heir.
1662, [Edmund] Plowden, “Entry”, in H. B., transl., Plovvdens Quæries: Or, A Moot-book of Choice Cases, Useful for the Young Students of the Common Law: Englished, Methodized, and Enlarged, London: Printed for Ch. Adams, J. Starkey, and Tho[mas] Basset, […], →OCLC, page 117
Lineal conſanguinity is that which ſubſists between perſons, of whom one is deſcended in a direct line from the other: as between John Stiles (the propoſitus in the table of conſanguinity) and his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and ſo upwards in the direct aſcending line; or between John Stiles and his ſon, grandſon, great-grandſon, and ſo downwards in the direct deſcending line.
1766, William Blackstone, “Of Title by Descent”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book II (Of the Rights of Things), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 203
One circumſtance […] peculiar to the Germanic empire, is the diſtinction between its mediate and immediate members. In the ſame manner as two objects which we may ſuppose to have relation to each other, are immediately related, when there is no third object intervening, but otherwiſe only mediate. This may be illuſtrated by the example of the connexion between a grandfather and his children, who may be ſaid to be mediately related; while the relation between the parents and children, on the contrary, is immediate; […]
1790 October, “An Historical Developement of the Political Constitution of the Germanic Empire. By J[ohann] S[tephan] Pütter, Privy Counsellor of Justice, &c. Translated from the German, by Josiah Dornford, of Lincoln’s Inn, L.L.D. Vol. II.”, in The Literary Magazine and British Review, volume V, London: Printed for the proprietors and sold by C[hristopher] Forster […], →OCLC, page 290, column 2
My grandfather’s clock was too large for the shelf.— / So it stood ninety years on the floor; / It was taller by half than the old man himself, / Though it weighed not a pennyweight more. / It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born, / And was always his treasure and pride; / But it stopp’d short—never to go again— / When the old man died.
1876, Henry C[lay] Work, “Grandfather’s Clock. Song and Chorus”, New York, N.Y.: Published by C. M. Cady, […], →OCLC, page 34
Grandfather was friendly, formal, and strict with the children in his large family, and quite displeased with the lively goings-on of the grandchildren. […] He only joked with me once, when I was four, and never again. Our festive Sunday dinner was crowned by a pudding. Perhaps I looked too greedy—Grandfather threatened to throw the pudding out of the window. It is reported that I answered, "Then I'll jump out of the window and gobble it up all by myself."
1965 March 25, Richard Willstätter, “My Ancestors”, in Lilli S[chwenk] Hornig, transl., edited by Arthur Stoll, From My Life: The Memoirs of Richard Willstätter: Translated from the German Edition, New York, N.Y.; Amsterdam: W. A. Benjamin, →OCLC, page 10

Keep grandfather

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

Origin

noun

The noun is derived from Middle English grandfadre, graundfadir, graunfadir, grauntfader, and other forms, from graunt (“big, large; great, important”) + fā̆der (“male parent, father; remoter male ancestor”), probably modelled after Middle French grandpere, grant pere (“male parent; remoter male ancestor”) (whence French grand-père); the English word is analysable as grand- + father. Superseded earlier eldfather, elderfather. The verb is derived from the noun.

Deep Dive

noun

verb

More examples

Related

Quick test

My blank—, with his gray beard and bald head, is very wise.

Nearby

Origin

noun

My blank, with his gray beard and bald head, is very wise.