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son - 7 dictionary results

son

  [suhn]
Use son in a Sentence
–noun
1. a male child or person in relation to his parents.
2. a male child or person adopted as a son; a person in the legal position of a son.
3. any male descendant: a son of the Aztecs.
4. a son-in-law.
5. a person related as if by ties of sonship.
6. a male person looked upon as the product or result of particular agencies, forces, influences, etc.: a true son of the soil.
7. a familiar term of address to a man or boy from an older person, an ecclesiastic, etc.
8. the Son, the second person of the Trinity; Jesus Christ.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME sone, OE sunu; c. D zoon, G Sohn, ON sunr, sonr, Goth sunus, Lith sūnùs, Skt sūnus; akin to Gk huiós

Related forms:
sonless, adjective
sonlike, adjective

son-

 
var. of soni- before a vowel: sonance.

soni-

 
a combining form meaning “sound,” used in the formation of compound words: soniferous.
Also, son-, sono-.

Origin:
< L soni-, comb. form of sonus sound 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To son
son   (sŭn)   
n.  
  1. One's male child.
  2. A male descendant.
  3. A man considered as if in a relationship of child to parent: a son of the soil.
  4. One personified or regarded as a male descendant.
  5. Used as a familiar form of address for a young man.
  6. Son Christianity The second person of the Trinity.

[Middle English, from Old English sunu; see seuə-1 in Indo-European roots.]
son'ly adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Son

Son\, n. [OE. sone, sune, AS. sunu; akin to D. zoon, OS., OFries., & OHG. sunu, G. sohn, Icel. sonr, Sw. son, Dan. s["o]n, Goth. sunus, Lith. sunus, Russ. suin', Skr. s[=u]nu (from s[=u] to beget, to bear), and Gr. ? son. [root]293. Cf. Sow, n.]

1. A male child; the male issue, or offspring, of a parent, father or mother.

Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son. --Gen. xxi. 2.

2. A male descendant, however distant; hence, in the plural, descendants in general.

I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings. --Isa. xix. 11.

I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. --Mal. iii. 6.

3. Any young male person spoken of as a child; an adopted male child; a pupil, ward, or any other male dependent.

The child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. --Ex. ii. 10.

Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift. --Shak.

4. A native or inhabitant of some specified place; as, sons of Albion; sons of New England.

5. The produce of anything.

Earth's tall sons, the cedar, oak, and pine. --Blackmore.

6. (Commonly with the def. article) Jesus Christ, the Savior; -- called the Son of God, and the Son of man.

We . . . do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. --1 John iv. 14.

Who gave His Son sure all has given. --Keble.

Note: The expressions son of pride, sons of light, son of Belial, are Hebraisms, which denote persons possessing the qualitites of pride, of light, or of Belial, as children inherit the qualities of their ancestors.

Sons of the prophets. See School of the prophets, under Prophet.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : son
Spanish: hijo,
German: der Sohn,
Japanese: 息子
More Translations »

son 
O.E. sunu "son," from P.Gmc. *sunuz (cf. O.S., O.Fris. sunu, O.N. sonr, Dan. søn, Swed. son, M.Du. sone, Du. zoon, O.H.G. sunu, Ger. Sohn, Goth. sunus "son"), from PIE *sunu-/*sunyu- (cf. Skt. sunus, Gk. huios, Avestan hunush, Armenian ustr, Lith. sunus, O.C.S. synu, Rus., Pol. syn "son"), from root *su- "to give birth" (cf. Skt. sauti "gives birth," O.Ir. suth "birth, offspring"). Sonny as a familiar form of address to one younger or inferior is from 1870. Son of _____ as the title of a sequel to a book or movie is recorded from 1929.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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son

In addition to the idiom beginning with son, also see favorite son; like father, like son.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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