Parent
['peər(ə)nt] or ['pɛrənt]
Definition
(noun.) an organism (plant or animal) from which younger ones are obtained.
(noun.) a father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian.
Editor: Patrick--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) One who begets, or brings forth, offspring; a father or a mother.
(n.) That which produces; cause; source; author; begetter; as, idleness is the parent of vice.
Checker: Rhonda
Definition
n. one who begets or brings forth: a father or a mother: one who or that which produces: an author: a cause.—n. Par′entage descent from parents: birth: extraction: rank or character derived from one's parents or ancestors: relation of parents to their children.—adj. Parent′al pertaining to or becoming parents: affectionate: tender.—adv. Parent′ally.—ns. Par′enthood state of being a parent: duty or feelings of a parent; Parent′icide one who kills a parent.—adj. Par′entless without a parent.
Checked by Joseph
Unserious Contents or Definition
To see your parents looking cheerful while dreaming, denotes harmony and pleasant associates. If they appear to you after they are dead, it is a warning of approaching trouble, and you should be particular of your dealings. To see them while they are living, and they seem to be in your home and happy, denotes pleasant changes for you. To a young woman, this usually brings marriage and prosperity. If pale and attired in black, grave disappointments will harass you. To dream of seeing your parents looking robust and contented, denotes you are under fortunate environments; your business and love interests will flourish. If they appear indisposed or sad, you will find life's favors passing you by without recognition. See Father and Mother.
Checked by Estes
Unserious Contents or Definition
One of the hardships of a minor's life.
Edited by Lelia
Examples
- The offspring nestled to the parent; that parent, feeling the endearment and hearing the appeal, gathered her closer still. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Immediately, the venerable parent--on a cold winter's night, it is said--anathematized and turned her out. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- On my pointing out the great impropriety of the word, especially in connexion with his parent (for he added sulkily By her! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- The guests bowed deeply to the mourning parent, and withdrew from their hospitable guide. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Jist vot I told you, my boy,' rejoined his parent. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- At this period, the termination of an animal's love for its offspring,--the true affection of the human parent commences. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- By this indulgence of the fancy in its inconstancy, the tie of child and parent still preserves its full force and influence. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- An arm of the main conflagration had shot out a half mile south of its parent to embrace this tiny strip of road in its implacable clutches. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Wealth, I said, and poverty; the one is the parent of luxury and indolence, and the other of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent. Plato. The Republic.
- My dear,' assented her eminently practical parent, 'quite true, quite true. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- He seems every thing the fondest parent could. Jane Austen. Emma.
- She treated her therefore, with all the indulgent fondness of a parent towards a favourite child on the last day of its holidays. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- By all means, he said, tell us about the child, and you shall remain in our debt for the account of the parent. Plato. The Republic.
- She sang the songs he asked for, with feeling; they reminded her of a parent to whom she had been truly attached; they reminded her of her young days. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It is an incidental result of differences in the reproductive systems of the parent-species. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- He only told me a little about his parents and grandparents, and almost all in answer to my questions. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Jos's London agents had orders to pay one hundred and twenty pounds yearly to his parents at Fulham. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I asked Caddy what had made their parents choose this profession for them. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- My parents were indulgent, and my companions amiable. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Their notions relating to the duties of parents and children differ extremely from ours. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- I dare not tell your parents yet, but I think they would consent if they knew that we adored one another. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- You may as well say that the parents be the cause of a murder by the child, for without the parents the child would never have been begot. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Augustine and another brother were the only children of their parents. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- She had often vainly applied to her parents, as well as to her uncle, Lord Carysfort, who only wrote to load her with reproaches. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I heard that the table beer was a robbery of parents, and the pudding an imposition. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- To her parents she never talked about this matter, shrinking from baring her heart to them. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Who are your parents? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- I love home, I am somewhat domestic, I love, dearly love my parents, and wish to improve the little talents God has given me. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- A love-child,' returned Betty Higden, dropping her voice; 'parents never known; found in the street. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I was able to invent names for my parents, whom I pretended to be obscure people in the province of Gelderland. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
Typed by Dominic