patron

noun

• 1a person who gives financial or other support to a person, organization, cause, or activity:Charles became a patron of Rubens and van Dyck a celebrated patron of the arts

• 2a customer, especially a regular one, of a store, restaurant, or theater:we surveyed the plushness of the hotel and its sleek, well-dressed patrons

• 3short for patron saint.

• 4(in ancient Rome) a patrician in relation to a client. See also client (sense 3).
• (in ancient Rome) the former owner and (frequently) protector of a freed slave.

• 5British chiefly historical a person or institution with the right to grant a benefice to a member of the clergy.