PA'TRIARCH, n. L. patriarcha Gr. a family, father, and a chief.
1. The father and ruler of a family one who governs by paternal right. It is usually applied to the progenitors of the Israelites, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the sons of Jacob, or to the heads of families before the flood as the antediluvian patriarchs.
2. A learned and distinguished character among the Jews.
3. In the christian church, a dignitary superior to the order of archbishops as the patriarch of Constantinople, of Alexandria, or of Ephesus.