Meanings
plural fathers-out-law
- The father of one's boyfriend or girlfriend.
- The father of one's ex-spouse.
One day, in an argument with his wife, Haydar, he made a terrible mistake. He refused to acknowledge Henock Beamare as his father-in-law. Instead, he referred to him as his father-out-law.
2013, Lucien Nzeyimana, Burning the Last Straw (Fiction), →ISBN, 0THUAQAAQBAJ, page 1742 more examples
In the absence of the father in his role as father-in-law to Malone, the would be son-in-law comes under the direction of another father figure, the scientist Challenger, who rather than a substitute father-in-law can more pertinently be seen as a father-out-law.
2017, Josephine Sharoni, chapter 4, in Lacan and Fantasy Literature: Portents of Modernity in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Fiction (Psychology), →ISBN, 0THUAQAAQBAJ, page 57With this exit of the normal father, the would-be son-in-law ends up in the hands of a kind of father-out-law;, Challenger whose science will lead the young man to the fantasy space and the king of the ape-men.
2017, Josephine Sharoni, chapter 4, in Lacan and Fantasy Literature: Portents of Modernity in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Fiction (Psychology), →ISBN, 0THUAQAAQBAJ, page 117
Origin
From father + -out-law, by analogy to father-in-law.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
father-out-law. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/father-out-law
“father-out-law.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/father-out-law. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “father-out-law,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/father-out-law.
Source: father-out-law on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.