# patron

Pronunciation: say "PAY-truhn" /ˈpeɪ.tɹən/

## Noun

1. A customer of a particular establishment, such as a store or restaurant.
   - Simple: A customer of a store, restaurant, or other business.
   - _A longtime patron of the diner, she always orders the same breakfast._
   - _Bar patrons spilled onto the sidewalk when the music ended._
2. A person who gives financial, political, or moral support to a person, organization, cause, or activity, especially a wealthy backer of artists or scholars; a protector or champion.
   - Simple: Someone who supports a person, group, cause, or the arts, often by giving money, protection, or public backing.
   - _The sculptor found a patron willing to fund a full year of work in marble._
   - _Renaissance patrons commissioned paintings to display their wealth and piety._
3. A guardian or intercessor, especially a saint regarded as the special protector of a person, place, or occupation.
   - Simple: A saint believed to watch over and protect a place, job, or group of people.
   - _Saint Cecilia, the patron of musicians, is honored with concerts each November._
   - _The village celebrates its patron with a procession every July._
4. A person who holds the right to present or appoint a member of the clergy to a church benefice. *(UK)*
   - Simple: A person who has the right to choose the priest for a church.
   - _The college has been patron of the parish since the sixteenth century, presenting each new rector._
   - _As patron, the duke offered the vacant living to his late chaplain's son._
6. A protector of a dependent person, especially a former master who had freed a slave but retained certain paternal rights over the freedman.
   - Simple: In ancient Rome, a master who freed a slave but still kept some rights over that person.
   - _Though legally free, the freedman owed his patron respect, services, and a share of his estate._
   - _When the freedman died without heirs, his patron inherited the property._

## Noun

5. A property owner, landlord, or master, especially one with authority over tenants or dependents. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In the past, a person who owned land or property and had power over the people on it.

## Verb

7. To act as a patron to someone or something; to support, patronize, or favor. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To give support, money, or protection to a person or their work.
8. To treat or regard a person as one's patron. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To treat someone as your patron or protector.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The master of a small trading or fishing vessel, especially in the Mediterranean; a padrone.

## Origin

Latin patrōnus, derived from pater ("father"), gave Old French patron, which became Middle English patroun. Padrone, Patronus, patroon and pattern are doublets.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/patron (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).