sister

noun

1. A daughter of the same parents as another person; a female sibling.

   “My sister is always driving me crazy.”

2. A female member of a religious order; especially one devoted to more active service; (informal) a nun.

   “Michelle left behind her bank job and became a sister at the local convent.”

3. Any butterfly in the genus Adelpha, so named for the resemblance of the dark-colored wings to the black habit traditionally worn by nuns.
4. (British)A senior or supervisory nurse, often in a hospital.
5. Any woman or girl with whom a bond is felt through the same biological sex, gender or common membership in a community, race, profession, religion, organization, or ism.

   “Connie was very close to her friend Judy and considered her to be her sister.”

   “Sisters are doing it for themselves / Standing on their own two feet”

6. (capitalized, slang, sometimes)A black woman.

   “A fly sister rolled in with a suitcase full of hip-hop novels called The Glamorous Life, and an African brother with long dreads wanted to sell them some incense and some fake Jacob watches.”

   “The short “naps” of the average Sister do not sway in the wind as that of a blonde.”

   “And now, social media has made it worse. From Facebook to Twitter, I get all kinds of invitations. Recently a sister inboxed me on Facebook and told me that she knew for a fact that I wanted her and she wanted me.”

7. (informal)A form of address to a woman.

   “What’s up, sister?”

   “"Listen, sister. I've got a job for you."”

8. A female fellow member of a religious community, church, trades union etc.

   “Thank you, sister. I would like to thank the sister who just spoke.”

9. (attributive)An entity that has a special or affectionate, non-hierarchical relationship with another.

   “sister publication”

   “sister city”

   “sister projects”

10. A node in a data structure that shares its parent with another node.
11. (attributive, usually)Something in the same class.

    “sister ships”

    “sister facility”

    “Within the ABCZ clade, Arecanae are sister of a group that includes all of the other taxa, and the latter fall into two major clades.”

    “Karimi (1999) and Cheng et al. (1997), among others, on the other hand, assume that specific objects are base-generated at SpecVP, whereas nonspecific objects are sister of V.”

    “The bee-eaters are sister to a clade that includes the rollers, ground-rollers, todies, motmots, and kingfishers (Cracraft 2013).”

12. One of two tornados that form in close proximity at the same time or in quick succession.
13. Title of respect for an adult female member of a religious order.

    “At the convent, Sister Grace supervises the kitchen.”

    “Please welcome Sister Smith as she moves from her former congregation to her new congregation.”

    “Could you say a prayer for me, Sister?”

14. Title of respect for an adult female member of a fraternal/sororal organization, or comrade in a movement, or even a stranger using fictive kin.

    “Sister Huerta was to have been our initial speaker this morning. However, we received word later this morning that Sister Huerta would be unable to attend our convention.”

15. A title used to personify or respectfully refer to concepts or animals.

    “Native American leader Chief Seattle urged ecological responsibility, referring to Brother Eagle and Sister Sky in his purported 1854 speech.”

verb

1. (transitive)To strengthen (a supporting beam) by fastening a second beam alongside it.

   “I’m trying to correct my sagging floor by sistering the joists.”

2. (obsolete, transitive)To be sister to; to resemble closely.

   “Deep clerks she dumbs; and with her needle composes Nature's own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry, That even her art sisters the natural roses; Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied cherry”