patrician

See also: Patrician

English

Borrowed from Middle French patricien, from Latin pātricius, derived from patrēs cōnscrīptī (“Roman senators”).

patrician (plural patricians)

(antiquity) A member of any of the families constituting the populus Romanus, or body of Roman citizens, before the development of the plebeian order; later, one who, by right of birth or by special privilege conferred, belonged to the senior class of Romans, who, with certain property, had by right a seat in the Roman Senate.
- c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i], page 31, column 1:
  Noble Patricians, Patrons of my right, / Defend the iuſtice of my Cauſe with Armes.
A person of high birth; a nobleman.
One familiar with the works of the Christian Fathers; one versed in patristic lore or life.

member of Roman aristocracy

nobleman

patrician (comparative more patrician, superlative most patrician)

Of or pertaining to the Roman patres ("fathers") or senators, or patricians.
Of, pertaining to, or appropriate to, a person of high birth; noble; not plebeian.
- Sir Walter Scott
  born in the patrician file of society
- Addison
  his horse's hoofs wet with patrician blood