patron

Etymology

From Middle English patroun, patrone, from Old French patron, from Latin patrōnus, derived from pater (“father”). Doublet of pattern.

noun

1. One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate.
   1. A guardian or intercessor; synonym of patron saint.
      St. Joseph is the patron of many different places.
2. An influential, wealthy person who supported an artist, craftsman, a scholar or a noble.
3. A customer, as of a certain store or restaurant.
   This car park is for patrons only.
   In our trial of the AOT, a transect was used to collect data about the languages being spoken by patrons of the NIE cafeteria during lunchtimes. 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4
4. (historical, Roman law) A protector of a dependent, especially a master who had freed a slave but still retained some paternal rights.
5. (UK, ecclesiastical) One who has gift and disposition of a benefice.
6. (nautical) A padrone.
7. (obsolete or historical) A property owner, a landlord, a master. (Compare patroon.)
   Half-a-dozen little boys carried it to the inn, where I had to explain to the patron, in my best Spanish, that we wanted a carriage to go to the baths, seven leagues off. 1879, Annie Allnutt Brassey, A Voyage in the "Sunbeam", page 170
   … would obtain permission from the West India Company to settle in certain areas in the New World and cultivate the land. Sometimes absentee patrons would give the colony to a group of interested persons and the patrons would finance ... 1992, Eric O. Ayisi, St. Eustatius, Treasure Island of the Caribbean

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To be a patron of; to patronize; to favour.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To treat as a patron.