brother-in-law

See also: brother in law

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English brother-in-lawe; equivalent to brother +‎ -in-law.

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbɹʌðɚ ɪn ˌlɔ/ (enPR: brŭˈ -thər-ĭn-lôˌ)
  • (cotcaught merger) IPA(key): /ˈbɹʌðɚ ɪn ˌlɑ/ (enPR: -läˌ)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbɹʌðəɹ ɪn ˌlɔː/ (enPR: -lôˌ)
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

brother-in-law (plural brothers-in-law or (archaic) brethren-in-law or (colloquial, nonstandard) brother-in-laws)

  1. A male relative of one's generation, separated by one degree of marriage:
    1. The brother of one's spouse.
      • 2023 January 6, Manu Raju and Devan Cole, “SEC closes insider trading probe into former Republican senator”, in CNN[1]:
        The US Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its insider trading investigation into stock trades made by then-Sen. Richard Burr and his brother-in-law at the outset of the pandemic, the former senator announced Friday.
    2. The husband of one's sibling.
  2. Co-brother-in-law: A male relative of one's generation, separated by two degrees of marriage:
    1. The husband of the sibling of one's spouse.
      • 2009, Donal Lowry, “Kettle, Thomas Michael (‘Tom’)”, in Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge University Press:
        He was appalled by trench conditions and the prolongation of the war, a disillusionment further encouraged by the Easter rising, in which his brother-in-law, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington (qv), was murdered by a deranged Anglo–Irish officer, J. C. Bowen-Colthurst (qv).
    2. (uncommon) The brother of the spouse of one's sibling.

Quotations

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Translations

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References