GODFATHER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does godfather mean? 

• GODFATHER (noun)
  The noun GODFATHER has 2 senses:

1. any man who serves as a sponsor for a child at baptism

2. someone having a relation analogous to that of a male sponsor to his godchild

  Familiarity information: GODFATHER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GODFATHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any man who serves as a sponsor for a child at baptism

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("godfather" is a kind of...):

godparent (a person who sponsors someone (the godchild) at baptism)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone having a relation analogous to that of a male sponsor to his godchild

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("godfather" is a kind of...):

patron; sponsor; supporter (someone who supports or champions something)

 Context examples 

He is your godfather, is not he?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He was my godfather, and excessively attached to me.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Daisy, he said, with a smile—for though that's not the name your godfathers and godmothers gave you, it's the name I like best to call you by—and I wish, I wish, I wish, you could give it to me!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My godfather!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)