cuzzin

Noun

cousin (plural cousins)

1. Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
   • Salute Andronicus⸝ and Junia my coſyns⸝ which were preſoners with me alſo⸝ which are wele taken amonge the apoſtles⸝ and were in Chriſt before me.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Epistle off the Apostle Paul to the Romanes xvj:[7], folio ccxvj, verso
   1. (specifically) Preceded by an ordinal number, as first, second, third, etc.: a person descended from a common ancestor by the same number of generations as another person.
      • […] I never knevv the marriage of ſecond Coſens forbidden, but by them vvho at the ſame time forbad the marriage of the firſt: […] And vve find that Iſaac married his ſecond Coſen, and that vvas more for it then ever could be ſaid againſt it.1660, Jeremy Taylor, “Rule 3. The Judicial Law of Moses is Annul'd, or Abrogated, and Retains No Obliging Power either in Whole or in Part over any Christian Prince, Commonwealth, or Person.”, in...
   2. (specifically) When used without a qualifying word: the child of a person's parent's brother (that is, an uncle) or sister (an aunt); a cousin-german, a first cousin.
      • Although we were cousins, we grew up like sisters.
2. (in plural) A person of an ethnicity or nationality regarded as closely related to someone of another ethnicity or nationality.
   • [H]e had received such good accounts from the Upper Nez Percés of their cousins, the Lower Nez Percés, that he had become desirous of knowing them as friends and brothers.1837, Washington Irving, chapter VII, in The Rocky Mountains: Or, Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Far West; […], volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, &...
3. Used as a term of address for someone whom one is close to; also, (preceding a first name, sometimes capitalized as Cousin) a title for such a person.
   • I aſſure you, my dirty Couſin! thof his Skin be ſo vvhite, and to be ſure, it is the moſt vvhiteſt that ever vvas ſeen, I am a Chriſtian as vvell as he, and no-body can ſay that I am baſe born, […]1749, Henry Fielding, “The Arrival of a Surgeon. His Operations, and a Long Dialogue between Sophia and Her Maid.”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […]...
4. Used by a monarch to address another monarch, or a noble; specifically (UK) in commissions and writs by the Crown: used in this way to address a viscount or another peer of higher rank.
   • My noble L[ords] and Coſens all, good morrovv, / I haue beene long a ſleeper, but I hope / My abſence doth neglect no great deſignes, / VVhich by my preſence might haue been concluded.c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC...

See all 16 meanings of cousin