son

Less common meanings

5. 5
   nativenouncountable

   A person, usually a man, regarded as the product or representative of a particular place, people, period, or movement.

   The mountain town claims the explorer as its proudest son.

   As a son of the coalfields, he never forgot where he came from.

   UsageUsually with of or a possessive: a son of the coalfields, the town's proudest son.

   Similarnative, product

   Note

   Here the word need not mean a man at all. In Oliver P. Badger's 1850 convention speech, "the people are the sons of the soil" takes in a whole citizenry. Sons of the soil is the set phrase, and it carries pride and rootedness. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Oliver P. Badger said the quoted words in a convention speech. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quotation reads exactly 'the people are the sons of the soil'. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   USSAHN/sɑn/UKUKSON/sɒn/US

   Cuban musicnoununcountable

   A genre of Cuban music and dance blending Spanish and African elements, which originated in the late nineteenth century.

   The band closed the night with a lively set of son.

   Cuban son spread across the Caribbean in the early twentieth century.

   UsageCommon phrases include Cuban son and play son.

   Note

   A separate word that only shares the spelling: Spanish son, literally "tone, sound." As the name of the genre it is uncountable, so a band plays a set of son, and its groups range from early trios to sextetos and conjuntos. Mark Kurlansky's Havana: A Subtropical Delirium (2017) recalls its arrival on Havana's streets in the early twentieth century, when police shut it down along with most forms of African culture. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • The musical word has a separate origin in Spanish son, meaning 'tone, sound'. en.wiktionary.org
   • Son is uncountable as a genre name, but individual pieces can be counted; the plural sones is used in English music scholarship. folkways.si.edu
   • Conjuntos are one ensemble format; son is also performed by smaller groups, including sextetos and septetos. en.wikipedia.org
   • Mark Kurlansky wrote Havana: A Subtropical Delirium, published in 2017. media.bloomsbury.com
   • Kurlansky describes son emerging on Havana's streets in the early twentieth century and being suppressed by police alongside most African cultural forms. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   have a boyverbraretransitive

   To give birth to, father, or beget a male child.

   Similarfather, bear

   Note

   A verb made directly from the noun as far back as Middle English sonen. Noel Polk's Outside the Southern Myth (1997) bends it from begetting toward the relationship itself: "I sonned a father who would not be sonned." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The verb derives from the noun through Middle English sonen. en.wiktionary.org
   • Noel Polk wrote Outside the Southern Myth, published in 1997. egrove.olemiss.edu
   • The quoted words are attributed to Polk's book and describe being a son in a relationship with a father. tr.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   verb

   To address someone using the word "son".

   “Don't 'son' me.” “I'm old enough to be your father,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

   2005, Jerry Flesher, Tomorrow I'll Miss You
9. 9
   noun

   In file backups, the most recent version of a file, produced from the earlier 'father' version.