half-sister
[Not recorded in OE., though healf-sweostor was prob. in use: cf. MHG. halpswester (G. halbschwester), Sw. halfsyster, Da. halvsöster.]
1. A sister by one parent only.
| c 1205 Lay. 8412 He wes his hælue suster sune. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2464 Arthurez half suster Þe duches doȝter of Tyntagelle. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 120 Half sisters of þer fader syde wedd þai. 1530 Palsgr. 228/2 Halfe suster, sevr uterine. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. App. 587 The elder Countess Adelaide has been commonly taken to be only a half-sister of William. |
| fig. 1832 Tennyson ‘Love thou thy land’ 96 Raw Haste, half-sister to Delay. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. v. (1885) 118 The genius for religion..is half-sister to the genius for music. |
† 2. A lay sister in a convent.
Obs.| 1482 Marg. Paston's Will in Paston Lett. No. 861 III. 284 Iche hole and half susters at Normans in Norwich. |