grandfather

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The father of your father or mother.

   I called my grandfather on the phone.

2. 2
   verb

   To let someone or something keep old rules or privileges after new rules are introduced.

   Existing members were grandfathered in at the old, lower price.

Common collocations

• grandfather clock Noun + noun

The noun is derived from Middle English grandfadre, graundfadir, graunfadir, grauntfader, and other forms, from graunt (“big, large; great, important”) + fā̆der (“male parent, father; remoter male ancestor”), probably modelled after Middle French grandpere, grant pere (“male parent; remoter male ancestor”) (whence French grand-père); the English word is analysable as grand- + father. Superseded earlier eldfather, elderfather. The verb is derived from the noun.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images