F'ATHER-IN-LAW, noun The father of one's husband or wife; and a man who marries a woman who has children by a former husband is called the father in law or step-father of those children. F'ATHER, verb transitive 1. To adopt; to take the child of another as one's own. 2. To adopt any thing as one's own; to profess to be the author. Men of wit often father'd what he writ. 3. To ascribe or charge to one as his offspring or production; with on. My name was made use of by several persons, one of whom was pleased to father on me a new set of productions.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI