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/ˈænsˌɛstər/ Listen

noun

Ancestor n.

One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a fore father.

(Biol.) An earlier type; a progenitor; as, this fossil animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse.

(Law) One from whom an estate has descended; the correlative of heir.

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Etymology of 'Ancestor'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ancestor" Quotes from Famous Books

... rather than Chaucer, but Chaucer resumes his rights as an ancestor with Henryson and Dunbar. The former[851] sits with his feet to the fire one winter's night, takes "ane drink" to cheer him, and "Troilus" to while away the time. The little homely scene is described in charming fashion; one seems, ...

— A Literary History of the English People - From the Origins to the Renaissance • Jean Jules Jusserand

... narrative of the preceding pages. Saunders was reluctant to draw any conclusions. At one time he thought that the fingered beast had been animated by the spirit of Sigismund Borlsover, a sinister eighteenth-century ancestor, who, according to legend, built and worshipped in the ugly pagan temple that overlooked the lake. At another time Saunders believed the spirit to belong to a man whom Eustace had once employed as a laboratory assistant, "a black-haired ...

— Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4) - Ghost Stories • Various

... don't give a hang whether they want to claim kin with me or not. They did not have the making of me and I am what I am regardless of them. I know perfectly well that I am descended from the same original Bucknors but I'm glad my ancestor mislaid part of the name and I wouldn't have the last syllable back for anything in ...

— The Comings of Cousin Ann • Emma Speed Sampson

... experience justify the observation, that where titles—a thing very rare—have been conferred as the rewards of merit, those to whom they have descended, far from being thereby animated to imitate their ancestor, have presumed upon that lustre which they supposed thrown round them, and, prodigally relying on such resources, lavished what alone was their ...

— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth

... of pork per capita has, in the last half century, diminished by half, our consumption of beef has remained stationary, but our consumption of poultry and eggs has doubled itself, we know not how many times, for a half century ago the ancestor of the industrious hen of this age serenely scratched up grandmother's geraniums and was unmolested by ...

— The Dollar Hen • Milo M. Hastings

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