brother

Noun (1)

brother (plural brothers or (archaic in most senses) brethren)

1. Son of the same parents as another person.
   • 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...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.
   • 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
   • Thank you, brother.
4. (informal) A form of address to a man.
   • Brother, can you spare a dime?
   • Listen, brother, I don't know what you want, but I’m not interested.
5. (African-American Vernacular) A fellow black man.
   • [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...1991 January, SPIN, volume 6, number 10, page 58
6. Somebody, usually male, connected by a common cause, situation, or affection.
   • 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)
   • 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
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. (poetic) Someone who is a kinsman or shares the same patriarch.
   • 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
   • 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

Verb

brother (third-person singular simple present brothers, present participle brothering, simple past and past participle brothered)

1. (transitive) To 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

Interjection

1. Expressing exasperation.
   • We're being forced to work overtime? Oh, brother!

Noun (2) capitalized: Brother

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.
   • 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.