Pa*ter"nal (?), a. [L. paternus, fr. pater a father: cf. F. paternel. See Father.]
1.
Of or pertaining to a father; fatherly; showing the disposition of a father; guiding or instructing as a father; as, paternal care.
"Under
paternal rule."
Milton.
2.
Received or derived from a father; hereditary; as, a paternal estate.
Their small paternal field of corn.
Dryden.
Paternal government Polit. Science, the assumption by the governing power of a quasi-fatherly relation to the people, involving strict and intimate supervision of their business and social concerns, upon the theory that they are incapable of managing their own afffairs.
© Webster 1913.