highfather

English

Alternative forms

• high-father, high father

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪ ˌfɑːðə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪ ˌfɑːðɚ/

Noun

highfather (plural highfathers)

1. (rare) A respected, high-ranking male elder or leader; a patriarch; a forefather; a grandfather.
   • 1990, Scott Haring, Scott Bennie, John Terra, Otherlands:

     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."

   • 2003, Patrick Murray-John, The poetics of 'knowing' in Anglo-Saxon visions:

     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.

   • 2005, Alfred D. Byrd, On the Wings of Dream:

     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.

   • 2011, Matthew Cody, The Dead Gentleman:

     “I did not lie," said the High Father. “The odds of survival are grim. […] "