eOE Laws of Ine (Corpus Cambr. 173) lxxvi. 122 Gif hwa oðres godsunu slea oððe his godfæder, sie sio mægbot & sio manbot gelic.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) iii. 26 Þa unsprecendan cild hi fullodon ðurh geleafan þæs fæder and ðære meder, and se godfæder wæs þæs cildes forspreca.

OE Will of Wulfric (Sawyer 1536) in P. H. Sawyer Charters of Burton Abbey (1979) 54 Hit [sc. þæt land] wæs mines godfæder gyfu.

a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 73 Hit wes iloked..þet mon scule childre fulhten and heore godfaderes and heore godmoderes scullen onswerie for hem.

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 4085 Alphouns his gode godfaderes dede him þan calle at kyrke for his kinde name.

a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 1692 Þou shalt nat..wedde þy godfadrys wyfe.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §909 Right so as he that engendreth a child, is his flesshly fader, right so is his godfader, his fader espiritueel.

1479 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 38 Whose godfadre was John Elwalde.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxvi Whome for a farther affinitie, he had made Godfather to hys sonne Charles the Doulphyn.

1650 N. Ward Discolliminium 44 I am glad God~fathers are cashiered for his sake.

1661 R. Baxter Accompt Proc. Commissioners i. 25 The far greater number of persons baptized within these twenty years last past, had no Godfathers nor God-Mothers at their Baptism.

1662 Bk. Common Prayer Publick Baptism There shall be for every male child to be baptized..two Godfathers and one Godmother: and for every female, one Godfather and two Godmothers.

1729 W. Law Serious Call x. 140 He refused to be Godfather to his nephew, because he will have no trust of any kind to answer for.

1770 A. Cooke Diary 16 Sept. in Jrnl. County Kildare Archæol. Soc. (1915–17) 8 206 Their second son Christain..Godfathers Capt. Thomas Weldon and Mr. Coghlan.

1839 C. Dickens Let. 26 July (1965) I. 571 I..must solicit you to become godfather.

1892 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 115/2 I was ‘Nunky’, though what connection that title had with my relationship as her godfather I never could discover.

1958 J. Thurber Let. 19 Dec. (2002) 699 I propose to lecture them a little. After all, as godfather to Dinah, I am entrusted with her spiritual welfare.

2004 Derby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 15 Mar. 12 My godfather's younger brother was a Rolls-Royce premium apprentice.

a1464 J. Capgrave Abbreuiacion of Cron. (Cambr. Gg.4.12) (1983) 53 He ordeyned þat euery child, both in baptem and confirmacion, schuld haue godfadir and godmodyr.

1480 Cronicles Eng. (Caxton) ccxlv. sig. u4^v Henry chicheley Erchebisshopp of Caunt[e]rbury was godfadre atte conferming.

1485 Croniclis of Englonde (St. Albans) iv. sig. gviij This man ordand that a chyld shuld haue a godfather and a godmother at baptim and confirmacion.

1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Confirmacion f. x*^v Then shall they bee brought to the Bushop by one that shal bee his godfather or godmother, that euerye childe maye haue a wittenesse of hys confirmacion.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. vii. xxxii. 351/2 Leo the fourth then Bishoppe confirmed him [sc. Alfred the Great], was his Godfather at the confirmation, and annointed him.

1687 Bp. J. Williams Catechism (ed. 2) iv. 56 The Person to be confirmed, setting his Foot upon the right Foot of the Godfather, is to have his Head bound.

1721 J. Strype Eccl. Memorials II. i. 4 The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Norfolk, Godfathers at the Font, and the Duke of Suffolk, Godfather at the Confirmation, were served with like Spices, Wafers and Wine.

1790 R. Robinson Hist. Baptism xviii. 121 The Earl of Oxford had been appointed godfather at the confirmation.

1819 A. Gurney tr. Literal Transl. Saxon Chron. 135 Late in the same year he was godfather to King Regenold at his confirmation.

1878 Irish Monthly 6 499 A bishop's son was not the offspring of a bishop, but one for whom a man has stood godfather in confirmation.

1960 W. Madsen Virgin's Children vi. 96 Doña Felisa and her husband..asked me to be confirmation godfather for their little boy.

2002 D. Abalos Latino Male p. x Angie's husband, was there when I needed a man to be my godfather for confirmation.

1498–9 in C. Kerry Hist. Church of St. Lawrence, Reading (1883) 84 Godfaders and godmoder at the consecracyon of the same bell.

1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Popish Kingdome i. f. 14 The Godfathers are present in their best and chiefe aray..a hundred shalt thou see, Two hundred yea, three hundred if the bell so worthy bee.

1612 J. Floyd Ouerthrow Protestants Pulpit-Babels ii. v. 244 The Pontificall reformed by Clement the eight, doth appoint, that the Bell must haue Godfathers.

1679 T. Oates Witch of Endor 46 The Godfathers and Godmothers shall give the Bell such a Name as they think good.

1756 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. I. 6 In the middle ages, the baptising of bells was attended with much festivity...The godfathers who were unlimited..gave grand entertainments.

1845 C. Dickens Chimes i. 4 They had had their Godfathers and Godmothers, these Bells (for my own part..I would rather incur the responsibility of being Godfather to a Bell than a Boy).

1851 H. W. Longfellow Golden Legend iv. 183 Conrad..who stood Godfather to our bells.

1897 C. A. Baker True Stories 86 M. Louis Lepage..invited his friend De L'Estage to be godfather at the ceremony of the blessing of the bells.

1998 J. McManners Church & Society 18th-cent. France I. ii. x. 317 When the new bell was blessed—‘baptized’ in popular parlance—a ‘godfather’ and ‘godmother’ were chosen.

?1541 M. Coverdale Confut. Standish sig. kij^v She [sc. Mary] must now haue a sorte of hereticall Ruffyans, to become new godfathers vnto her?

1594 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis (new ed.) Ded. If the first heyre of my inuention proue deformed, I shall be sory it had so noble a god-father.

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost i. i. 88 These earthly Godfathers of heauens lights, That giue a name to euery fixed Starre. View more context for this quotation

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 37 After they had fined me some cannes of wine, and..had made me free, it remained that he whom they had chosen to be my God-father,..should instruct me with some precepts.

1645 J. Milton Tetrachordon 52 When law contracts a kindred and hospitality with transgression, becomes the godfather of sinne and names it Lawfull [etc.].

1674 J. Josselyn Acct. Two Voy. 219 America so named from Americus Vespucius,..although Columbus and Cabota deserved rather the honour of being Godfathers to it.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at God The Name God-father was also antiently given to a kind of Seconds, who attended and assisted the Knights in Tournaments or single Combats.

1744 T. Odell Prodigal ii. 29 He that wears a brave Soul, and does handsomly do, Is a Herald to himself, and a Godfather too.

1749 T. Smollett tr. A. R. Le Sage Gil Blas IV. xii. i. 178 Each having a wax-taper in his hand, and a godfather by his side. [Note] People named by the Inquisitor, to accompany the prisoners in the Auto da Fé, and obliged to be answerable for them.

1815 Sporting Mag. 46 117 The author has acknowledged but one godfather throughout his work.

1839 F. Marryat Phantom Ship III. xl. 233 The culprits who had been spared were led back to the Inquisition by their godfathers.

1890 B. H. Chamberlain Things Japanese 221 The conduct of the affair must be entrusted to a middleman (nakōdo)—some discreet married friend, who not only negotiates the marriage, but remains through life a sort of godfather to the young couple.

1975 D. Davin Closing Times v. 106 He had become a kind of godfather to the children and he insisted on joining all birthday parties.

2002 H. Dick Emergence of National Econ. vi. 188 After Independence, in the context of the Cold War, the USA acted as godfather to the young nation.

a1547 Common Pleas Rolls (P.R.O.: CP 40/1106) m. 580 dorso Thowe arte a false knave and hathe had xii god fathers mo than I and that xx of my neyghbours will reporte the same.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iv. i. 395 In christning shalt thou haue two Godfathers, had I beene iudge, thou shouldst haue had ten more, to bring thee to the gallowes, not to the font. View more context for this quotation

1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse v. v. 11 in Wks. II Not I, If you be such a one Sir, I will leaue you, To your God-fathers in Law. Let twelue men worke.

a1635 T. Randolph Muses Looking-glasse iv. iv. 79 in Poems (1638) I had rather zee him remitted to the jayle, and haue his twelve God-vathers, good men and true contemne him to the Gallowes.

a1704 T. Brown To Author in Duke of Buckingham Wks. (1705) II. 96 My Twelve blunt Godfathers wou'd soon agree, To doom me, sober, to the fatal Tree.

1881 A. Trumble Slang Dict. Godfathers, jurymen, because they name the degree of crime.

1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 46/1 Godfathers, jurors serving in a felony trial.

1830 Boston Masonic Mirror 14 Aug. 51/3 Thurlow Weed, of whisker notoriety—and the godfather of antimasonry.

1899 R. Mackintosh From Comte to Benjamin Kidd i. 2 Already in Auguste Comte, the founder or the godfather of sociology, biology counts for a great deal.

1945 H. Clurman Fervent Years i. ii. 20 They set forth to investigate the meaning of our past, studied our history with the purpose of shaping our future. Van Wyck Brooks was perhaps their godfather.

1973 Melody Maker 24 Feb. 57/4 Another name's been added, just to keep things modern. ‘James Brown—The Godfather Of Soul.’

1984 Texas Monthly July 78/1 (advt.) The Happy Jazz Band and occasional distinguished friends, such as arch-clarinetist and jazz godfather Herb Hall, play straight dixieland.

2012 Jrnl. Tribune (Biddeford, Maine) 29 Mar. a5/2 He [sc. Larry Stevenson] basically was the godfather of skate culture. Before him, skateboards were toys.

1963 Illicit Narcotics Traffic: Hearings Comm. Govt. Operations (88th U.S. Congress, 1 Sess.) 184 Are you the godfather of any other member ‘made’ since then?

1969 M. Puzo Godfather i. 15 There was only one man who could arrange such an affair. The Godfather. Don Corleone.

1972 N.Y. Times Mag. 4 June vi. 91/1 Just to run down the names of the nearly dozen capos—all subordinate to the family boss, or godfather, as he is also called—heading the different regimes within the family..illustrates what this investigator means when he says the Colombo combine is deep into ‘everything’.

1974 Times 15 Jan. 2/5 [The] London restaurant owner..said to have been known as ‘The Godfather’ in a drug smuggling ring, was jailed.

1978 N.Y. Times 13 Feb. a12/1 Some critics say the I.R.A. has become a children's army... The youngsters, they say, are manipulated by a little band of experienced ‘godfathers’ who make the plans but never risk their own lives.

1984 Sunday Times 4 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 38/3 In America one can catch the same faces on trade union leaders, corporate executives, mafia godfathers, mafia lieutenants, some congressmen and..some of President Reagan's close advisers.

1997 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) May 20/3 Buscetta is the highest-ranking Mafia godfather to break their code of silence.