[See STEP-. Cf. MHG. stiefbruoder (mod.G. stiefbruder).] A son, by a former marriage, of one’s stepfather or stepmother.

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c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 474/1. Stepbrothyr, of the fadyrs syde, victrigenus. Stepbroder, on the modyrs syde, novercatus.

2

1530.  Palsgr., 276/1. Stepbrother, beav frere.

3

1828.  in Webster.

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1868.  L. H. Morgan, Syst. Consanguinity (1870), 482. These are step-brothers and step-sisters to the children of their mother’s sisters.

5

1869.  J. Eadie, Comm. Galatians, 89. Is, then, the theory of step-brethren or cousins be surrounded with difficulties.

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1882.  Farrar, Early Chr., I. 510. Whether he [sc. St. James] were a half-brother or only a step-brother of Jesus.

7

  Hence Stepbrotherhood.

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1869.  J. Eadie, Comm. Galatians, 78. For the theory of step-brotherhood, there is no explicit evidence in Scripture.

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