Dictionary

highfather en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈhaɪˌfɑː.ðɚ/ (General-American)
• /ˈhaɪˌfɑː.ðə/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Perhaps from Middle English hehfader, heahfeder, from Old English hēahfæder (“patriarch”, literally “high-father”); or perhaps a direct revival of the Old English word. By surface analysis, high + father.

Meanings

1. (rare) A respected, high-ranking male elder or leader; a patriarch; a forefather; a grandfather.
   • “I did not lie," said the High Father. “The odds of survival are grim. […]" 2011, Matthew Cody, The Dead Gentleman:
   • As she led him into the house, she told him that the High Father, her adoptive great-grandfather, was equivalent to a Supreme Court Justice. 2005, Alfred D. Byrd, On the Wings of Dream:
   • I do not have many powerful friends on earth, but rather they have gone forth, gone away from the joys of the world, sought for themselves the king of glory, they live now in heaven with the Highfather, dwell in glory. 2003, Patrick Murray-John, The poetics of 'knowing' in Anglo-Saxon visions:
   • There is no active worship for the Highfather, except at meal time, when all Mischta look into the sky and offer a symbolic thanks to him, whom they call "the Grandfather." 1990, Scott Haring, Scott Bennie, John Terra, Otherlands:

Forms