ˈfoster-brother
[OE. fóster-bróðor, f. foster n.1 So ON. fóstbróðir.]
A male child nursed at the same breast as, or reared together with, another of different parentage.
| a 1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 268 Alumnus, foster-broþor. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. vi, My sone your foster broder Syre Kay. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. liv. (1663) 212 The Chaumigrem his Foster-brother was Commander in Chief. 1752 Fielding Amelia Wks. 1775 X. 78 He had been her foster-brother. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxiv, Eachin MacIan placed himself in the second line betwixt two of his foster-brothers. |
| transf. and fig. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1320/1 Foure of fansies fellowes, fosterbrothers to desire, and drie nurst by despaire. 1610 Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. iv. i, My wrongs, Which are my foster-brothers. a 1735 Arbuthnot Wks. (1751) I. 195 The Bear with her Cubs and their Foster-Brother. 1860 All Year Round No. 63. 295 The nestling cuckoo ungratefully ejects his legitimate foster-brethren out of the family nest. |
Hence
foster-ˈbrotherhood.
| 1886 Athenæum 6 Feb. 194/1 A more picturesque story of foster-brotherhood was never imagined. |