gossipred
(ˈgɒsɪprɛd)
Also 4 gossybrede.
[f. gossip n. + OE. rǽden condition: see -red.
An etymologizing perversion appears in Huloet 1552: ‘Goshipbred, or gatheringe of goshyps at the wyne, syssitia.’]
1. The relationship of gossips (see gossip n. 1 and 2); spiritual affinity. Now only Hist. (with reference to Irish customs).
| c 1315 Shoreham 68 Ase the gossybrede draȝth Ryȝt to ous after crystnynge, So gossibrede draȝeth eke Ryȝt after confermynge. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 357 In gosib⁓rede and holy kynrede. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 36 Be wel ware of feyned cosynage, And gossiprede. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 435 He..assertayned hym of y⊇ gossyprede y{supt} was atwene hym and Blanche his wyfe. 1533 More Debell. Salem v. Wks. 941/1, I haue none affinitie..eyther by gossepred or bi mariage. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, &c. (1747) 181 The like may be said of gossipred or compaternitie which though by the canon lawe it be a spiritual affinity [etc.]. 1646 J. Temple Irish Rebell. 8 marg., Alliance by marriage, nurture of Infants, and gossipred with the Irish are high treason. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. iii. x. 458 The custom of fostering, and gossipred, among the Irish. 1861 Goldw. Smith Irish Hist. 37 The connexion of sponsorship or gossiprede was made a sort of second fosterage. |
† b. transf. Affinity in general. Obs. rare.
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 91 We find some bodies amongst us hold up a Gossipred, that seem to have little or nothing of kinred. |
¶ 2. By some mod. writers used for: The habitual action of a gossip or tattler; small-talk; = gossip n. 4.
| 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xx, Our poor fellow-citizen..having been active in spreading these reports, as indeed his element lay in such gossipred. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 369 The women..collecting in a group upon their little stools indulge in the pleasures of gossipred and the pipe. 1892 Manning Pastime Papers 53 It is a rigorous destiny that Gossipred should have come to signify one of the worst of social vices. |