Brother and sister, as applied to small children.
1835. Little ‘sis,’ therefore, has a most unrighteous reverence for her brother who tyranizes over her.—Knick. Mag., vi. 299 (Oct.).
1842. [He] took the little girl in his lap with the loving title of “Sis.”—Mrs. Kirkland, ‘Forest Life,’ i. 123.
1845. ‘Letters from a Baby’ are signed “Bub” in the St. Louis Reveille, Aug. 4, &c., and are alluded to as “Bub’s letters.”
1847. “Where are you going, Bub?” said one of them.—Charles F. Briggs, ‘Tom Pepper,’ p. 98.
1851. “An’t you joking, bud?” asked Polly [of her boy brother].—‘Polly Peablossom’s Wedding,’ &c., p. 19. (Italics in the original.)
1853. They exclaimed, ‘O Bub! what have you done? You have shot Jimmy!’—Knick. Mag., xli. 272 (March).
1855. Don’t be a fool, sis; if you knew, &c.—John Brougham, ‘A Basket of Chips,’ p. 27 (N.Y.).
1855. It’s sis! I wonder what she wants…. See who’s come, sis!—W. G. Simms, ‘The Forayers,’ pp. 278–9 (N.Y.).
1871. What his real name was Ralph could not find out, for in many of these families the nickname of “Bud” given to the oldest boy, and that of “Sis” which is the birthright of the oldest girl, completely bury the proper Christian name.—E. Eggleston, ‘The Hoosier School-master,’ p. 15–6.
1872. Many eminently genteel persons, whose manners make them at home anywhere, being evidently unaware of the true derivation of this word, are in the habit of addressing all unknown children by one of the two terms, “bub” and “sis,” which they consider endears them greatly to the young people.—Holmes, ‘The Poet at the Breakfast-Table,’ chap. i.
a. 1890. See Appendix XX.
