neighbourship

Meanings

nounneighbourship (plural neighbourships)

The state or condition of being neighbours; a connection or relationship between people or things which is based simply on living close geographically.
The travelling artist they knew, the pedlar, the insurance agent, and the cockney beanfeaster; but the stranger who desired permanent neighbourship with them they knew not; him they treated as a lunatic at large.
1907, William J. Dawson, The Quest of the Simple Life
1 more example
He called to his mind and said: "Surely the Ant had in former days his dwelling underneath this tree, and was busy in hoarding a store of provision: now I will lay my wants before her, and, in the name of good neighbourship, and with an appeal to her generosity, beg some small relief.
1890, W. A. Clouston, Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers
A relationship between people and / or things which is based simply on being of a similar class.
Their conveyance is no handsome carriage, but a rickety dog-cart, unmistakably betraying its neighbourship to the carts and ploughs of some rural farmyard.
1912, May Sinclair, The Three Bront

From Northern Middle English nychtbourschype, neȝeborusipe, equivalent to neighbour + -ship. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Noaberskup (“neighbourship”), West Frisian neibuorskip (“neighbourship”), Dutch nabuurschap (“neighbourship”), German Low German Naberskupp, Naverschop (“neighbourhood; neighbourship”), German Nachbarschaft (“neighbourship; neighborhood”), Danish naboskab (“neighbourship”), Swedish naboskap (“neighbourship”).

More words from Middle English

Catalan veïnatge

Cite this entry

APA

neighbourship. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neighbourship

MLA

“neighbourship.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neighbourship. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “neighbourship,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/neighbourship.