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Dictionary definition: father
- Article from:
- The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
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Copyright© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information)
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father
Father Christmas an imaginary figure said to bring presents for children on the night before Christmas Day. He is conventionally pictured as a jolly old man from the far north, with a long white beard and red garments trimmed with white fur, an image which is comparatively recent. In late medieval Europe he became identified with St Nicholas (Santa Claus); in England Father Christmas was a personification of Christmas in many 16th-century masques and in mummers' plays. There was a great revival of the celebration of Christmas in the 19th century and Father Christmas acquired (from St Nicholas) the association of present-bringing.
Father of English Poetry a name for Geoffrey