brother

plural brothers · archaic plural brethren · alternative brotha · alternative brudda · alternative brothah · alternative brothuh · alternative Cockney Multicultural London English bruvver · alternative obsolete broth'r

1. Son of the same parents as another person.

   1 more example

   It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

2. A male having at least one parent in common with another person (see half-brother, stepbrother).
3. A male fellow member of a religious community, church, trades union etc.

   Thank you, brother.

   2 more examples

   You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.

   1975, New King James Version, Deuteronomy 23:19

   I would like to thank the brother who just spoke.

4. informalA form of address to a man.

   Brother, can you spare a dime?

   1 more example

   Listen, brother, I don't know what you want, but I’m not interested.

5. African-American VernacularA fellow black man.

   But damn if they knew when to just leave a brother alone and let him sulk in silence.

   2013, Gwyneth Bolton, Ready for Love

   3 more examples

   [Michael Jackson] went on television and said, “I don't have sex because of my religious beliefs”, and the public believed it. I know brothers was like “get the fuck out of here!”. And white people, “Michael's a special kinda guy!”

   1987, Eddie Murphy Raw, spoken by Eddie Murphy

   SPIN: Aren't you both as popular with white people as black people? L.L.: Oh, no question. But I've always said, that's why when people say, "L.L., hey, like, on the last album, you sold out," I say, "Yo, can I ask you a question, Mike Tyson sell out?" "No, he's a brother." I say, he's a cross-over artist. He went pop. You know what I'm saying? I mean, the rap audience [...] they have to understand that their music is for all people. Me personally, I don't think it's about being black or white, […]

   1991 January, SPIN, volume 6, number 10, page 58

   The white cop grilled me. He was tall, but had a stomach like a pregnant woman. The other two were brothers, and they looked like they just didn't wanna be standing there.

   2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 148

6. Somebody, usually male, connected by a common cause, situation, or affection.

   O, then! To ride upon such glories, Till my time comes nigh, And commune in the city of peaceful slumbers Among my brothers of wind-blown rye.

   2016, William Burkholder, The City of My Brothers

   2 more examples

   The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

   1963, Martin Luther King Jr., (Please provide the book title or journal name)

   Just like eating halal is not a choice for our Muslim brothers and sisters, for us, eating kosher is not voluntary; it’s who we are and as necessary as the oxygen we need for sustenance.

   2020 August 20, Eliezer Brand, “ICE is forcing Muslims to eat pork. My fellow Orthodox Jews: This is our fight!”, in The Forward, archived from the original on 24 Oct 2020

7. Someone who is a peer, whether male or female.

   And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers.

   1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC

8. poeticSomeone who is a kinsman or shares the same patriarch.

   Oh, my Brothers, five nights ago many of our braves were out upon the buffalo grounds.

   1908 June, Grace Kellogg, “A Keeper of the Door”, in National Magazine, volume 28, page 280

   3 more examples

   The eighteenth century text, with its antislavery message and its Adamic figuration, calls implicily for the reconciliation of all peoples as "brothers" (not the reprehensible brothers of Joseph but the cocreated brothers of Adam).

   1995, Theophus H. Smith, Conjuring Culture, page 89

   In the case of the boy, a certain amount of instruction comes from the male members of the mother's clan, such as how to go after game, how to handle horses, how to dress, how to conduct yourself and what to seek in life. They also teach the boy how to treat domestic animals. Even pets understand kindness, and the clan brothers use that as an example.

   2010, Justin B. Richland, Sarah Deer, Introduction to Tribal Legal Studies, page 193

   The carriage that the brothers of the Kai clan rode on had travelled a lot these past few days, and the horses that pulled the carriage were exhausted.

   2020, Xiao Xiao Ma Jia Hao, Three Kingdoms: Super Hegemon

present singular third person brothers · participle present brothering · participle past brothered · past brothered · alternative brotha · alternative brudda · alternative brothah · alternative brothuh · alternative Cockney Multicultural London English bruvver · alternative obsolete broth'r

1. transitiveTo treat as a brother.

   Seest thou not we are overreached, and that our proposed mode of communicating with our friends without has been disconcerted by this same motley gentleman thou art so fond to brother?

   1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

alternative brotha · alternative brudda · alternative brothah · alternative brothuh · alternative Cockney Multicultural London English bruvver · alternative obsolete broth'r

1. Expressing exasperation.

   We're being forced to work overtime? Oh, brother!

plural Brothers

1. Title of respect for an adult male member of a religious or fraternal order.

   At the monastery, Brother Stephen supervises the kitchen.

   1 more example

   Please welcome Brother Smith as he moves from his former congregation to his new congregation.

2. Title of respect for an adult male member of a fraternal/sororal organization, or comrade in a movement, or even a stranger using fictive kin.

   Synonyms: Br., Bro

3. A title used to personify or respectfully refer to concepts or animals.

   The Native American had a kinship with nature, even referring to Mother Earth and Brother Bear.