• IPA: /ˈpeɪ.tɹən/

patron (plural patrons)

1. One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate.
   • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, 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 IV, scene ii]:

     patron of my life and liberty

   • the patron of true holiness

   • 1842, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome/Virginia:

     Let him who works the client wrong / Beware the patron's ire.

   1. A guardian; synonym of patron saint#English|patron saint.

      St. Joseph is the patron of many different places.

2. An influential, wealthy person who supported an artist, craftsman, a scholar or a noble.
3. A regular customer, as of a certain store or restaurant.

   This car park is for patrons only.

4. (historical, Roman law) A protector of a dependent, especially a master who had freed a slave but still retained some paternal rights.
5. (UK, ecclesiastical) One who has gift and disposition of a benefice.
6. (nautical) A padrone.
7. (obsolete or historical) A property owner, a landlord, a master. (Compare patroon.)
   • 1992, Eric O. Ayisi, St. Eustatius, Treasure Island of the Caribbean

     [...] would obtain permission from the West India Company to settle in certain areas in the New World and cultivate the land. Sometimes absentee patrons would give the colony to a group of interested persons and the patrons would finance ...

• pattern

• German: Schirmherr, Patron
• Italian: patrono
• Russian: засту́пник
• Spanish: patrón

• French: client
• German: Kunde, Stammkunde
• Italian: cliente
• Portuguese: cliente
• Russian: клие́нт
• Spanish: cliente, parroquiano, casero, vecero

• French: mécène
• German: Mäzen
• Italian: mecenate
• Portuguese: mecenas
• Russian: покрови́тель
• Spanish: mecenas, patrocinador, auspiciador

patron (patrons, present participle patroning; past and past participle patroned)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To be a patron of; to patronize; to favour.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To treat as a patron.