[f. as prec. + -SHIP:—OE. -scipe. Only in ONorthumb. broðerscip, and in recent occasional use as = ‘fraternity.’]
a. Brotherly fellowship, brotherliness. b. A fraternity or gild-brotherhood.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xxiv. 12. Eftcoles broðerscip vel lufo moniʓra.
1706. Farquhar, Recruit. Officer, I. i. Take your cap and your brothership back again.
1849. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, II. vii. 337. This wish … to be in brothership with religious houses.
1866. Cornh. Mag., Nov., 579. They possess trade-guilds and brotherships.
