patron🔊

One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate.

A guardian or intercessor. +

An influential, wealthy person who supported an artist, craftsman, a scholar or a noble.

A customer, as of a certain store or restaurant.

(historical, Roman law) A protector of a dependent, especially a master who had freed a slave but still retained some paternal rights.

(UK, ecclesiastical) One who has gift and disposition of a benefice.

(nautical) A padrone.

(obsolete or historical) A property owner, a landlord, a master.

(obsolete) To be a patron of; to patronize; to favour.

(obsolete) To treat as a patron.