Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of the hereditary aristocracy of ancient Athens.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the Eupatridæ.
  • Of or pertaining to the Eupatridæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One well born, or of noble birth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One well born, or of noble birth.
  • noun zoology Any member of the Eupatridae.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek eupatridēs : eu-, eu- + patēr, patr-, father; see pəter- in Indo-European roots + -idēs, patronymic suff.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ancient Greek well + father.

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Examples

  • You are of noble family, "eupatrid" by descent, a priest of the divinities,

    The Symposium 431 BC-350? BC Xenophon 1874

  • You are of noble family, “eupatrid” by descent, a priest of the divinities,351 and of

    Symposium 2007

  • Whatever politicians say nowadays, that house was eupatrid as far as you could trace it back.

    The Praise Singer Renault, Mary 1978

  • Ah! revile that old faith as you will, it has lasted longer than any other cultus; and whilst altars have reeled, and idols been shattered, and priests changed their teachings, and peoples altered their gods, the old faith has lasted through all; and the simple instinct of the Greek eupatrid and of the Roman patrician still moves the heart of the English gentleman -- the instinct of _Noblesse oblige_.

    Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos of Ouida Selected from the Works of Ouida 1839-1908 Ouida 1873

  • To that eupatrid, joined before with himself, was now intrusted the command of the Grecian fleet.

    Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

Comments

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  • "...and why question in 1932 (or how*?) the credo trained into us of economic propraetorships inevitably to come, the steady steak-fed beating of the Big Board heart, and naturally at the last the opulent, the eupatrid retirement?"

    - W.M. Spackman, Heyday

    *the text has "or how?" but I think "or now" makes asmuch/more sense given the publication date.

    December 22, 2011

  • The youth who boasts of "noble" birth

    Of wit displays a dismal dearth.

    He may be a stupid kid

    But since he's a eupatrid,

    His playmates must simulate mirth.

    December 18, 2015