Noun

(en noun)

A person who loves and zealously supports and defends their country.

* (Alexander Pope)

Such tears as patriots shed for dying laws.

* {{quote-book

, year = 1901 , title = The Defendant , first = G. K. , last = Chesterton , authorlink = G. K. Chesterton , page = 166 , passage = “My country, right or wrong”, is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober”. }}

* {{quote-book

, year = 1953 , chapter = Purely Personal Prejudices , title = Strictly Personal , first = Sydney J. , last = Harris , authorlink = Sydney J. Harris , publisher = Regnery , page = 228 , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=DLcEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA228&dq=patriot , passage = The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war. }}

* 2013 , Simon Jenkins, Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history'' (in ''The Guardian , 14 August 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/14/gibraltar-falklands-deny-logic-history]

Nothing beats a gunboat. HMS Illustrious glided out of Portsmouth on Monday, past HMS Victory and cheering crowds of patriots . Within a week it will be off Gibraltar, a mere cannon shot from Cape Trafalgar.

(archaic) A fellow countryman, a compatriot.

*