DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 pa·tri·arch /ˈpetriˌɑrk/
 創辦人,家長,元老

 Pa·tri·arch n.
 1. The father and ruler of a family; one who governs his family or descendants by paternal right; -- usually applied to heads of families in ancient history, especially in Biblical and Jewish history to those who lived before the time of Moses.
 2. R. C. Ch. & Gr. Ch. A dignitary superior to the order of archbishops; as, the patriarch of Constantinople, of Alexandria, or of Antioch.
 3. A venerable old man; an elder.  Also used figuratively.
    The patriarch hoary, the sage of his kith and the hamlet.   --Longfellow.
    The monarch oak, the partiarch of trees.   --Dryde.
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 Patriarch
      n 1: title for the heads of the Eastern Orthodox Churches (in
           Istanbul and Alexandria and Moscow and Jerusalem)
      2: the male head of family or tribe [syn: paterfamilias]
      3: any of the early Biblical characters regarded as fathers of
         the human race
      4: a man who is older and higher in rank than yourself

 Patriarch
    a name employed in the New Testament with reference to Abraham
    (Heb. 7:4), the sons of Jacob (Acts 7:8, 9), and to David
    (2:29). This name is generally applied to the progenitors of
    families or "heads of the fathers" (Josh. 14:1) mentioned in
    Scripture, and they are spoken of as antediluvian (from Adam to
    Noah) and post-diluvian (from Noah to Jacob) patriachs. But the
    expression "the patriarch," by way of eminence, is applied to
    the twelve sons of Jacob, or to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
      "Patriachal longevity presents itself as one of the most
    striking of the facts concerning mankind which the early history
    of the Book of Genesis places before us...There is a large
    amount of consentient tradition to the effect that the life of
    man was originally far more prolonged than it is at present,
    extending to at least several hundred years. The Babylonians,
    Egyptians, and Chinese exaggerated these hundreds into
    thousands. The Greeks and Romans, with more moderation, limited
    human life within a thousand or eight hundred years. The Hindus
    still farther shortened the term. Their books taught that in the
    first age of the world man was free from diseases, and lived
    ordinarily four hundred years; in the second age the term of
    life was reduced from four hundred to three hundred; in the
    third it became two hundred; in the fourth and last it was
    brought down to one hundred" (Rawlinson's Historical
    Illustrations).