brotherlessadj.
/ˈbrʌðələs/, U.S. /ˈbrəðərləs/ Without a brother or brothers; having no brothers.In quot. OE2 as part of a riddle (describing one of a pair of antlers apparently serving as an inkhorn, and thus separated from its partner) using anthropomorphic imagery; compare quot. OE at brother n. 10.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > sibling > brother > relationship of brothers > [adjective] > having no brother
brotherlessOE
unbrothered1798
OE Descent into Hell 62 Þonne monige [perh. read monigne] bindeð broþorleasne wræccan.
OE Riddle 88 21 Nis min broþor her, ac ic sceal broþorleas bordes on ende staþol weardian.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1913) II. l. 14544 (MED) There many a lady was husbondles, and many a sostyr brothirles.
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 213 (MED) Alas..ow be we tweyn brotherles.
?1562 W. Ward tr. R. Roussat Most Excellent Bk. Doctour & Astrologien Arcandam sig. D.viv Although he haue manye Chyldren..yet his owne brethren shal not lyue longe, but shall remayne brotherlesse.
a1678 A. Marvell Misc. Poems (1681) 17 The brotherless Heliades Melt in such Amber Tears as these.
c1720 Bewick & Graham xix, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1890) IV. 146 They'll say, There rides a brotherless man!
1821 Ld. Byron Cain iii. i, in Sardanapalus 434 I Shrink from the deed which leaves thee brotherless.
1865 T. Lewis Extracts from Jrnls. & Corr. of Miss Berry I. p. xvi She was brotherless and unmarried.
1914 J. H. Robinson in J. H. Breasted & J. H. Robinson Outl. European Hist. I. xxviii. 692 The king of Spain, Charles II, was childless and brotherless.
2011 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 13 Mar. (Late ed.) (ST section) 6 My extended family consists almost entirely of fatherless, brotherless and husbandless women.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.OE