[OE. stéopdohtor: see STEP-. Cf. MLG. stéfdochter, Du. stiefdochter, MHG., mod.G. stieftochter, ON. stjúpdóttir (Sw. styfdotter, Da. stifdatter).] A daughter, by a former marriage, of one’s husband or wife.
a. 850. Kentish Glosses, in Wr.-Wülcker, 88/20. Filiaster, steopdohtor.
912. MS. Vesp. D xiv. lf. 170. Prouigna, stefdohtor.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 103. Theodora þe step-douȝter [1432–50 trans. Higden stappe-doȝhter] of Herculeus Maximianus.
14[?]. Lat.-Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 605. Privigna, a stypdowtur.
1581. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 121. In families there are … the step Mother, and the steppe Daughter, the Coosins and Allies.
1681. Fountainhall, Hist. Notices (Bannatyne Club), I. 343. Lady Sophia Lindsay, his stepdaughter.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1776. Next morning he introduced me to Mrs. Lucy Porter, his step-daughter.
1913. C. Read, in Eng. Hist. Rev., Jan., 48. Leicester was planning to marry his step-daughter to James.
Hence Stepdaughtership.
1876. Mrs. Whitney, Sights & Insights, xiii. She was keenly delicate of her step-daughtership.
