01 a. Of or pertaining to a patriarch or to patriarchs; possessed by, or subject to, patriarchs; as, patriarchal authority or jurisdiction; a pat…
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1.
Of or pertaining to a patriarch or to patriarchs; possessed by, or subject to, patriarchs; as, patriarchal authority or jurisdiction; a patriarchal see; a patriarchal church.
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2.
Characteristic of a patriarch; venerable.“About whose patriarchal knee Late the little children clung.” — Tennyson.
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3.
Having an organization of society and government in which the head of the family exercises authority over all its generations.(Ethnol.)
Phrases & compounds
Patriarchal cross —
a cross, the shaft of which is intersected by two transverse beams, the upper one being the smaller. See Illust. (2) of Cross.
Patriarchal dispensation —
the divine dispensation under which the patriarchs lived before the law given by Moses.