Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A man employed as a houseparent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The father of a family; the male head of a household, or of any collection of persons living as a family or in common, as in a primitive community.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a man in charge of children in an institution.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The father of a family; the male head of household, or of any collection of persons living as a family or in common, as in a primative community.
  • noun A man in charge of a house in a boarding school

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a man in charge of children in an institution

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From house +‎ father. Cognate with Dutch huisvader, German Hausvater, Swedish husfader, Icelandic húsfaðir.

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Examples

  • But when the mortar sundae hoarding their eyelets, the advantages moved around from the backdrop of the housefather and lined up in the stress frontispiece as I kicked off my retailers and scuttled downturn the drape to stand quite near the grower.

    Farouche Matt Dennison 2011

  • Since it was clear the gods had singled me out, I must seek the shaman, have him teach me, change from man to disciple, finally from housefather to shaman myself.

    The Boat of a Million Years Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1989

  • Since it was clear the gods had singled me out, I must seek the shaman, have him teach me, change from man to disciple, finally from housefather to shaman myself.

    The Boat of a Million Years Anderson, Poul, 1926- 1988

  • “Nothing warm in the house,” said the housefather, a carpenter himself.

    A Tramp's Wallet stored by an English goldsmith during his wanderings in Germany and France William Duthie

  • If all the food we eat were utilized for energy, the housewife could cook less, and the housefather could save money on grocer's and butcher's bills.

    General Science Bertha M. Clark

  • It is made up of a few large huts, round which cluster smaller ones, all of them rudely built, mostly of bamboo; in the other larger ones dwell the heads of families, while the smaller ones shelter their kinsfolk and followers, for this is a patriarchal world, and the housefather gives the law to his household.

    Hindu Gods And Heroes Studies in the History of the Religion of India Lionel D. Barnett

  • If they proved themselves trustworthy, they were transferred to cottages under the care of a housefather and housemother.

    Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948

  • If they proved themselves trustworthy, they were transferred to cottages under the care of a housefather and housemother.

    Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948

  • If they proved themselves trustworthy, they were transferred to cottages under the care of a housefather and housemother.

    Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948

  • If they proved themselves trustworthy, they were transferred to cottages under the care of a housefather and housemother.

    Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948

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