Also 6–7 sonneship. [f. SON sb. + -SHIP. Cf. Du. zoonschap, G. sohnschaft.] The position, state or relation of a son; sonhood.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, v. (1592), 52. His begetting or Sonneship (if I may so tearme it) is more inward than all the breedings or begettings which we commonly see.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus iii. 7. All our right of sonneship is by Christ.
1646. Fuller, Wounded Consc. (1841), 321. To disclaim our sonship in God.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, I. III. 97. The poor Cloyster of which they boast themselves to be Sons, which Son-ship, is oftentimes purchas’d notwithstanding.
1706. Stanhope, Paraphr., III. 294. That Sonship was imparted by Adoption.
1719. Waterland, Vind. Christ’s Div., 162. All the Christian Writers speak unanimously of a higher, antecedent Sonship.
1850. F. W. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. v. (1853), 73. As in baptism he seals the universal Sonship on the individual by name.
1871. H. B. Forman, Our Living Poets, 328. The anguish of the father and the exquisite sonship of the youth.
