cousins-german

Noun

cousin-german (plural cousins-german or cousin-germans)

1. (archaic) A first cousin.
   • This interesting explanation of family connections given by Mrs. Boville occasioned an éclaircissement exceedingly gratifying to Mrs. De Brooke and Rosilia. Doctor Lovesworth, for whom they had mutually, with the whole of their family, felt so great a partiality, was found to be the cousin-german...1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XX, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 254
2. (archaic, figuratively) Something closely related.
   • This propensity to display its blossoms on bare branches the almond shares with several of its kindred; and, as a parallel to Solomon's image, we may refer to its cousin-german the sloe, in our own cold clime so familiar, with its snowy petals […]1866, Patrick Fairbairn, The Imperial Bible-Dictionary, page 59