auntshipn.
/ˈɑːntʃɪp/, /ˈantʃɪp/, U.S. /ˈæntˌʃɪp/, /ˈɑntˌʃɪp/ The state, condition, or fact of being an aunt; = aunthood n.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > aunt > [noun] > condition of aunt
auntship1686
aunthood1847
1686 Abstr. Argument conc. Marriage of Uncle 12 The Nephew is forbidden to Marry with his Fathers or Mothers Sister, or Uncles Wife, which is all the possibility of Auntship that can be supposed.
1796 G. Smythe Generous Attachm. iii. 27 She..began to assert the prerogative of her Aunt-ship, and Countess-ship in much too dissonant a tone for the texture of my nerves to support.
a1837 R. Nicoll Marion Wilson in C. I. Johnstone Edinb. Tales (1846) II. 370/1 Loudly as Mrs. Barker sounded her brother's praises, where so great an interest was at stake as her auntship to a duke, she had misgivings.
1870 J. Lubbock in Illustr. London News 1 Oct. On the Sandwich Islands uncleship, auntship, cousinship were ignored.
1919 Amer. Anthropologist 21 429 ‘Uncleship’ and ‘auntship’ in primitive races is of more account than the paterno-filial relationship.
1994 J. Marsh Christina Rossetti xxi. 280 Christina's letter to Mary Haydon about prospective auntship shows that she had looked forward to greater friendship.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1686