papa bear

papa bear (plural papa bears)

1. (informal) A male bear who has sired cubs.
2. (by extension, slang) A man, especially a father, who is extremely protective of a child or children.
   • 2012, Bryan Mealer, chapter 5, in Muck City, Crown Archetype, page 82:

     Her husband, James, worked in the mills of U.S. Sugar. Once the cane season was finished, he followed harvests as a packinghouse foreman. He was a papa bear in the wide eyes of his children, strong arms and a round belly, a man whose talents over a kitchen stove braising oxtails and simmering stews only matched his generous appetites.

   • 2015, Myrna Mackenzie, chapter 3, in Cowgirl Makes Three, in New Arrivals: His Inherited Family, Mills & Boon, page 37:

     He shook his head. “I don’t know anything, Ivy, because I don’t tune in to gossip. Plus...I really had no right to ask that question. You’re here to work, and your skills and dependability are all that matter. I shouldn’t have gone all Papa Bear on you and asked. I retract my question.”

   • 2017, Barbara Wallace, chapter 6, in Christmas Baby for the Princess, Mills & Boon, page 177:

     She had crossed the exam room yet again, to retrieve what looked like electronic equipment sitting on a wheeled cart. “I have to admit, it was funny hearing him be all papa bear on the phone. I forgot how protective he could get.”

   • 2022, Cat Johnson, City Girl Seeks Cowboy, →ISBN, chapter 18, page 117:

     Her heart bled for this man who'd had to raise his baby daughter alone. Of course, he'd built a wall around himself and his daughter. He was a papa bear protecting his cub and his heart.

   • 2022, Elsie Silver, chapter 14, in Heartless: A Small Town Single Dad Romance, →ISBN:

     The papa bear in me roars at the story she’s recounting. My protective side. The one I’ve been honing for decades. I slide my hand up to the side of her neck, rubbing a thumb over the pulse point there, as I hold her bright green gaze with my own.

3. (colloquial) One's father.

   Synonyms: dad, pa; see also Thesaurus:father

   • 2015, Daniel Kraus, chapter 16, in The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch: At the edge of empire, Volume I, Simon & Schuster, page 283:

     “And you thought I brought home nothing for my papa bear.”

   • 2015, R.K. Summers, “Acknowledgements”, in The Old Ways, Inspired Quill, page 6:

     And to my Papa Bear, who does the most accurate impression of Gollum I’ve ever seen, who brings me chocolate when I’m down, and who raised and loved me as his own.

   • 2016, Matt Gallagher, chapter 3, in Youngblood, Washington Square Press, page 20:

     Chambers spat out a wad of dip. “Thirty last month. Don't tell the youngbloods, though. Don’t want them thinking their papa bear is too old to whip their ass.”

• helicopter parent

• mama bear