grandfathers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of grandfather.

   Both of my grandfathers served in the merchant marine during the war.

   The museum displayed photographs of the founders' grandfathers from the previous century.

   Note

   The plural reaches past the family tree. Besides counting more than one grandfather, it can mean male forefathers in general, as in the ways of our grandfathers. In file backup it names the oldest archived versions, the ones that came before the father files. The same spelling is also the verb meaning 'exempts from new rules'. A direct object after it usually signals the verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of grandfather.

   The updated policy grandfathers existing subscribers into their original rates.

   Each revision of the code grandfathers in buildings constructed before its passage.

   Note

   Mostly a word of American rule-making. A law or policy that grandfathers someone lets them keep the old rules after new ones arrive. The verb is transitive, and the exempted party is its object, often with in or into close by. The family sense, acting as a grandfather to someone, takes the same shape: he grandfathers the neighbor's children.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2