All 5 Uses of

patron
in
David Copperfield

I told them what a fine fellow Steerforth was, and what a patron of mine, and Peggotty said she would walk a score of miles to see him.†
Chpt 7-9

They did just what they liked with me; and wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell, with a certainty I blush to think of, the more especially, as in my juvenile frankness, I took some credit to myself for being so confidential and felt that I was quite the patron of my two respectful entertainers.†
Chpt 16-18

He is not my private friend and public patron, as Steerforth was, but I hold him in a reverential respect.†
Chpt 16-18

It completely conveyed the idea of a man who had been born, not to say with a silver spoon, but with a scaling-ladder, and had gone on mounting all the heights of life one after another, until now he looked, from the top of the fortifications, with the eye of a philosopher and a patron, on the people down in the trenches.†
Chpt 25-27

Micawber and myself are deeply sensible of the very considerate kindness of our friends and patrons.†
Chpt 52-54 *

Definitions:

(1) (patron as in: a patron of the arts)
a regular customer; or someone who gives money or support to an organization, cause, or person
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

In ancient Roman history, patron referred to the more powerful person in a complex client-patron relationship. The term is still used in some cultures today to describe a property owner who is in charge of workers.

Also see patron saint.

Much more rarely, a patron is the proprietor of an inn.