Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(father). Father of the family and chief of its descendants. The Hebrew form of government till Moses established the theocracy (Acts 2:29; 7:8-9; Heb. 7:4).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
“Head of a family,” applied in the New Testament to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as ancestors of the Israelites, and to the twelve sons of Jacob. David also is thus designated (Acts 2:29; Acts 7:8-9; Heb. 7:4). In other passages the same persons are called “the fathers.”
Strong’s Dictionary of Greek Words:
Transliteration:
patriarches
Phonic:
pat-ree-arkh’-ace
Meaning:
from 3965 and 757; a progenitor ("patriarch")