核心畫面
Picture the wealthy figure standing behind an artist or a small theatre — not on the stage, but paying the bills so the work can happen at all. The word points at that supporting position. From there English stretches it two ways: to a famous name lent to a charity, and, more formally, to the person whose regular money keeps a shop or restaurant going — the customer.
可以想成：一位有能力的人站在藝術家或小劇團的後面——他不上台，但帳單是他付的，作品才做得成。patron 指的就是這…更多收起
可以想成：一位有能力的人站在藝術家或小劇團的後面——他不上台，但帳單是他付的，作品才做得成。patron 指的就是這個「在後面撐著」的位置。從這裡英文往兩邊延伸：一邊是把名字借給慈善團體的名人，另一邊（語氣較正式）是掏錢讓一家店開得下去的人，也就是顧客。原始詞典資料10 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
patronnoun/ˈpeɪ.tɹən/
- 1
One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate.
- patron of my life and liberty
- the patron of true holiness
- 2
One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate.
- St. Joseph is the patron of many different places.
- 3
An influential, wealthy person who supported an artist, craftsman, a scholar or a noble.
- 4
A customer, as of a certain store or restaurant.
- This car park is for patrons only.
- In our trial of the AOT, a transect was used to collect data about the languages being spoken by patrons of the NIE cafeteria during lunchtimes.
- 5
historicallawA protector of a dependent, especially a master who had freed a slave but still retained some paternal rights.
- 6
ecclesiasticallifestylereligionOne who has gift and disposition of a benefice.
- 7
nauticaltransportA padrone.
- 8
obsoletehistoricalA property owner, a landlord, a master. (Compare patroon.)
- Half-a-dozen little boys carried it to the inn, where I had to explain to the patron, in my best Spanish, that we wanted a carriage to go to the baths, seven leagues off.
- [...] would obtain permission from the West India Company to settle in certain areas in the New World and cultivate the land. Sometimes absentee patrons would give the colony to a group of interested persons and the patrons would finance ...
patronverb/ˈpeɪ.tɹən/
- 1
obsoleteTo be a patron of; to patronize; to favour.
- a good cause needs not to be patroned by passion
- 2
obsoleteTo treat as a patron.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。