brotherBROTHER, n. plu. brothers or brethren. [L. frater.] In scripture, the term brother is applied to a kinsman by blood more remote that a son of the same parents; as in the case of Abraham and Lot, Jacob and Laban. Persons of the same profession call each other brother, as judges, clergymen, professors of religion, members of societies united in a common cause, monks and the like. Kings give to each other the title of brother.address their congregations by the title of brethren. In a more general sense, brother or brethren is used for man in general; all men being children of the same primitive ancestors, and forming one race of beings. Brother-german is a brother by the father's and mother's side, in contradistinction to a uterine brother, or by the mother only. |