patronize

Verb

patronize (third-person singular simple present patronizes, present participle patronizing, simple past and past participle patronized)

1. (transitive) To act as a patron of; to defend, protect, or support.
   • A great perſonage aſked lord S——h, how the citizens came to patronize ſuch a profligate as Wilkes. His lordſhip replied, "They would patronize the devil, if he aſſiſted them to pull down a miniſter."[1773], [Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield], Lord Chesterfield’s Witticisms; or, The Grand Pantheon of Genius, Sentiment, and Taste. […] , London: Printed for Richard Snagg, […]; J. Mariner...
   • But she is totally devoid of elegant accomplishments, excepting the knowledge of French and Italian, which she acquired from the most grotesque monster you ever beheld, whom my father has engaged as a kind of librarian, and whom he patronizes, I believe, to show his defiance of the world's opinion.1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and...

   Synonyms:

   enpatron, patrocinate

2. (transitive) To be a customer of (an establishment), especially a regular customer.
   • "A chearful glaſs, then," ſaid Sir Sedley, "you think horridly intolerable?" […] "Well, the glaſs is not what I patroniſe," ſaid Sir Theophilus; "it hips me ſo conſumedly the next day; no, I can't patroniſe the glaſs." / "Not patroniſe wine?" cried Lord Newford; "O hang it! O curſe it! that's too...1796, [Frances Burney], “Traits of Character”, in Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth. […] In Five Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for T[homas] Payne, […]; and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W. Davies...
   • Mr John Puffingham was a patron—a patron to the diversified layers and strata of men and things pertaining to sublunary matters. He patronised his hatter, who, once a year, smoothed a cheap-and-shabby for his bald and shining brow. He patronised his tailor in the neighbourhood of the Minories. He...1844, John Mills, chapter XI, in The English Fireside. A Tale of the Past. […] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 181
3. (transitive) To treat condescendingly; to talk down to.
   • Near-synonyms: condescend, infantilize, denigrate
   • "Yes, she was inclined to patronise you, I thought." / "I don't think she meant to patronise me in particular, it's the sort of manner that comes to women when they find themselves married, especially if they have had aspirations after that state for some time.[…]"1851, [Georgiana A. Dalrymple], chapter XVI, in The Livingstones. A Story of Real Life. In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Colburn and Co., publishers […], →OCLC, page 273

   Synonyms:

   condescend, infantilize, denigrate

4. (obsolete, transitive) To blame, to reproach.
   • This leads us to conſider how a good, and underſtanding Perſon ought to behave himſelf, when the Caſe happens, that ſome things are preſcribed in a Church which he himſelf thinks lawful, but others pretend they do not; […] whether it is his Duty to inveigh againſt the Governours of this Church, and...1703, Benjamin Hoadly, The Reasonableness of Conformity to the Church of England, Represented to the Dissenting Ministers. […], 2nd corrected edition, part I, London: Printed for Tim[othy] Childe...