gossiphood

Noun

gossiphood (uncountable)

1. (rare) Relationship by baptismal rites; spiritual affinity or parentage; sponsorship.
   • XV. Where Challenge may be for affinity to the party or to bis kinſman , or alley of the party, and how it may be pleaded, and ſor Goſſiphood.1657, William Hughes, “Challenge”, in Nomotomia, in two parts, London: […] T. R. for H. Twyford; T. Dring; J. Place, page 225
   • The gossiphood is the only guarantee of any connexion with the later märchen.1883, Jacob Grimm, “Death” (chapter XXVII), in James Steven Stallybrass, transl., Teutonic Mythology, volume II, London: George Bell & Sons, page 854
2. (rare) Gossip; idle talk.
   • […] while my Lord Storford had already approved himself too staunch a knight, too honourable a gentleman, and too graceful a courtier, for much surprise to await the Lady Mildred's second choice, either in the prattling gossiphood of the shire of Gloucester, or the more solemn discussions of the...1838, Catherine Gore, “The Champion”, in Mary Raymond, and Other Tales, volume II, London: Henry Colburn, page 282
   • […] for Dr. May had such a great inclination to scramble up the ladder after them, that she, thinking it a dangerous experiment for so helpless an arm, was obliged to assure him that it would create a sensation among the gossiphood of Stoneborough, if their physician were seen disporting himself on...1856, Charlotte Mary Yonge, chapter XI, in The Daisy Chain; or, Aspirations, London: John W. Parker and Son, pages 459-460