Patronage \Pa"tron*age\, n. [F. patronage. Cf. LL. patronaticum,
and L. patronatus.]
1. Special countenance or support; favor, encouragement, or
aid, afforded to a person or a work; as, the patronage of
letters; patronage given to an author.
[1913 Webster]
2. Business custom. [Commercial Cant]
[1913 Webster]
3. Guardianship, as of a saint; tutelary care. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
4. The right of nomination to political office; also, the
offices, contracts, honors, etc., which a public officer
may bestow by favor.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Eng. Law) The right of presentation to church or
ecclesiastical benefice; advowson. --Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Patronage \Pa"tron*age\, v. t.
To act as a patron of; to maintain; to defend. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
patronage
n 1: the act of providing approval and support; "his vigorous
backing of the conservatives got him in trouble with
progressives" [syn: backing, backup, championship]
2: customers collectively; "they have an upper class clientele"
[syn: clientele, business]
3: a communication that indicates lack of respect by
patronizing the recipient [syn: condescension, disdain]
4: (politics) granting favors or giving contracts or making
appointments to office in return for political support
5: the business given to a commercial establishment by its
customers; "even before noon there was a considerable
patronage" [syn: trade]
v 1: support by being a patron of
2: be a regular customer or client of; "We patronize this
store"; "Our sponsor kept our art studio going for as long
as he could" [syn: patronize, patronise, support, keep
going]
WordNet (r) 2.0
104 Moby Thesaurus words for "patronage":
abetment, administration, advocacy, advocating, advocation, aegis,
aid, auspices, backing, benefaction, bias, boosting, business,
care, carriage trade, certificate of character, championship,
character, character reference, charge, charity, clientage,
clientele, condescension, contempt, contumely, countenance,
credential, cure, custodianship, custody, custom, deigning,
disdain, encouragement, favor, favoritism, favors of office,
financing, fosterage, good name, goodwill, governance, government,
guardianship, guidance, hands, help, humiliation, interest,
jurisdiction, keeping, letter of introduction, management, market,
melon, ministry, nepotism, oversight, partiality, pastorage,
pastorate, pastorship, patronizing, plum, political patronage,
pork, pork barrel, pork-barreling, preference, promotion,
protection, protectorship, public, purchasing public, recommend,
recommendation, reference, repute, rural market, safe hands, scorn,
seconding, spoils system, sponsorship, stewardship, stooping,
subsidy, suburban market, superiority, support, sympathy,
testimonial, trade, trading, traffic, tutelage, voucher, ward,
wardenship, wardship, watch and ward, wing, youth market
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
PATRONAGE. The right of appointing to office; as the patronage of the
president of the United States, if abused, may endanger the liberties of the
people.
2. In the ecclesiastical law, it signifies the right of presentation to
a church or ecclesiastical benefice. 2 Bl. Com. 21.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
|
|
|