fatherly

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑːðəli/

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑðɚli/

From Middle English faderly, from Old English fæderlīċ (“fatherly, paternal”), from Proto-West Germanic *faderlīk, from Proto-Germanic *fadurlīkaz (“fatherly, paternal”), equivalent to father +‎ -ly. Cognate with West Frisian faderlik (“fatherly”), Dutch vaderlijk (“fatherly”), German väterlich (“fatherly”), Danish faderlig (“fatherly”), Swedish faderlig (“fatherly”), Icelandic föðurlegur (“fatherly”) . Doublet of fatherlike.

fatherly (comparative more fatherly, superlative most fatherly)

1. Characteristic of what is considered the ideal behaviour pertaining to fatherhood.

   fatherly advice

2. Befitting of a father; protective, paternal.

• fatherliness
• unfatherly

From Middle English faderly, fadirly, from Old English fæderlīċe (“in a fatherly way, as a father”), equivalent to father +‎ -ly.

fatherly (comparative more fatherly, superlative most fatherly)

1. In a way pertaining to, befitting, or of a father.
   • 1589, The Return of Pasquill:

     Exhorting him fatherlie to giue ouer that course.

   • a. 1723, Increase Mather, “A Vindication of New-England”, in The Andros Tracts: […], New York, N.Y.: Burt Franklin, published 1869, page 27 (page 9 of chapter):

     […]; tho’ God hath for a while Fatherly Chaſtiſed them by thoſe Rods which he hath afterwards conſumed.

   • 1848, James Russell Lowell, “The Changeling”, in Poems, second series, Cambridge: George Nichols; Boston: B. B. Mussey and Company, page 162:

     This child is not mine as the first was, / I cannot sing it to rest, / I cannot lift it up fatherly / And bliss it upon my breast;

   • 1850, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point”, in Poems, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, stanza VII, page 131:

     Indeed we live beneath the sky, . . / That great smooth Hand of God, stretched out / On all His children fatherly, / To bless them from the fear and doubt, / Which would be, if, from this low place, / All opened straight up to His face / Into the grand eternity.

   • 1970, Ronny Pearlman, The Monday Man, page 39:

     He looked fatherly at me.

   • 1988, Phyllis Ann Karr, “Two Bits of Embroidery”, in Parke Godwin, editor, Invitation to Camelot: An Arthurian Anthology of Short Stories, New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 41:

     When she fell forward a little, as if she were half fainting with the pleasure, he held her, fatherly, in his arms until she recovered.

• Flaherty