Brotherhood \Broth"er*hood\, n. [Brother + -hood.]

1. The state of being brothers or a brother.

2. An association for any purpose, as a society of monks; a fraternity.

3. The whole body of persons engaged in the same business, -- especially those of the same profession; as, the legal or medical brotherhood.

4. Persons, and, poetically, things, of a like kind.

A brotherhood of venerable trees. --Wordsworth.

Syn: Fraternity; association; fellowship; sodality.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)