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sister

 - 6 dictionary results

sis⋅ter

  [sis-ter]
–noun
1. a female offspring having both parents in common with another offspring; female sibling.
2. Also called half sister. a female offspring having only one parent in common with another offspring.
3. stepsister.
4. a female friend or protector regarded as a sister.
5. a thing regarded as feminine and associated as if by kinship with something else: The ships are sisters.
6. a female fellow member, as of a church.
7. a female member of a religious community that observes the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
8. British. a nurse in charge of a hospital ward; head nurse.
9. a fellow black woman.
10. a woman who supports, promotes, or participates in feminism.
11. Informal. a form of address used to a woman or girl, esp. jocularly or contemptuously: Listen, sister, you've had enough.
–adjective
12. being or considered a sister; related by or as if by sisterhood: sister ships.
13. having a close relationship with another because of shared interests, problems, or the like: We correspond with school children in our sister city.
14. Biochemistry. being one of an identical pair.
Use sister in a Sentence
Origin:
bef. 900; ME (n.) < ON systir; c. OE sweoster, D zuster, G Schwester, Goth swistar; akin to Serbo-Croatian sèstra, Lith sesuõ, L soror (< *swesor), OIr siur, Welsh chwaer, Skt svasar sister, Gk éor daughter, niece

Related forms:
sis⋅ter⋅less, adjective
sis⋅ter⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To sister
sis·ter   (sĭs'tər)   
n.  

  1. A female having the same parents as another or one parent in common with another.

  2. A girl or woman who shares a common ancestry, allegiance, character, or purpose with another or others, specifically:

    1. A kinswoman.

    2. A woman fellow member, as of a sorority.

    3. A fellow woman.

    4. A close woman friend or companion.

    5. A fellow African-American woman or girl.

    6. A woman who advocates, fosters, or takes part in the feminist movement.

    7. A member of a religious order of women; a nun.

    8. Used as a form of address for such a woman, alone or followed by the woman's name.

  3. Informal Used as a form of address for a woman or girl.

  4. Abbr. Sr. Ecclesiastical

    1. A member of a religious order of women; a nun.

    2. Used as a form of address for such a woman, alone or followed by the woman's name.

  5. Chiefly British A nurse, especially the head nurse in a ward.

  6. One identified as female and closely related to another: "the sisters Death and Night" (Walt Whitman).

adj.  

  1. Related by or as if by sisterhood; closely related: sister ships; sister cities.

  2. Genetics Of or being one of an identical pair: sister chromatids.


[Middle English, from Old Norse systir; see swesor- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
sister

  1. n.
    a (female) friend. (Originally underworld. Sometimes a term of address.) : Come here, sister. I gotta have a word with you.
  2. n.
    a fellow sorority member. : One of my sisters let me borrow her car.
  3. n.
    a fellow feminist. : We can do this thing, sisters, we can do it!

  4. Go to (soul) sister. :
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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(soul) sister

  1. n.
    a black person's female, black friend. (See also sister.) : One of the soul sisters dropped by to talk.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

sister 
O.E. sweostor, swuster, or a Scand. cognate (cf. O.N. systir, Swed. sister, Dan. søster), in either case from P.Gmc. *swestr- (cf. O.S. swestar, O.Fris. swester, M.Du. suster, Du. zuster, O.H.G. swester, Ger. Schwester, Goth. swistar), from PIE *swesor, one of the most persistent and unchanging PIE root words, recognizable in almost every modern I.E. language (cf. Skt. svasar-, Avestan shanhar-, L. soror, O.C.S., Rus. sestra, Lith. sesuo, O.Ir. siur, Welsh chwaer, Gk. eor). Probably from PIE roots *swe- "one's own" + *ser- "woman." For vowel evolution, see bury. Used of nuns in O.E.; of a woman in general from 1906; of a black woman from 1926; and in the sense of "fellow feminist" from 1912.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: sis·ter
Pronunciation: 'sis-t&r
Function: noun
chiefly British : a head nurse in a hospital ward or clinic; broadly : NURSE
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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