fellowship

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

fellow +‎ -ship

Noun

fellowship (plural fellowships)

1. A company of people that shares the same interest or aim.
2. A feeling of friendship, relatedness or connection between people.
3. A merit-based scholarship.
4. A temporary position at an academic institution with limited teaching duties and ample time for research; this may also be called a postdoc.
5. (medicine) A period of supervised, sub-specialty medical training in the United States and Canada that a physician may undertake after completing a specialty training program or residency.
6. (Christianity) Spiritual communion with a divine being.

   The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14, ESV))

Verb

fellowship (third-person singular simple present fellowships, present participle fellowshipping, simple past and past participle fellowshipped)

1. (transitive) To admit to fellowship, enter into fellowship with; to make feel welcome by showing friendship or building a cordial relationship. Now only in religious use.
   • c.1524, Sidney John Hervon Herrtage (ed.), The early English versions of the Gesta Romanorum, edition 1st ed. (1879), anthology, published for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., translation of Gesta Romanorum by anon., xxxiv. 135, (Harl. MS. c.1440), page 135:

     Then pes seynge hir sistris alle in acorde...she turnid ayene; For whenne contencions & styf wer' cessid, then pes was felashipid among hem.

     Then Peace saw her sisters all in accord...she turned again; for when contentions and strife were ceased, then Peace was fellowshipped among them.

     The Bishop's family fellowshipped the new converts. (LDS)

     The Society of Religious Snobs refused to fellowship the poor, immigrant family.

2. (intransitive) To join in fellowship; to associate with. Now only in religious use, and chiefly U.S.
   • c.1410, Hans Kurath quoting Nicholas Love (trans.), The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, edition 5th ed. (1989; 1st ed. 1953), quoted in Middle English Dictionary, translation of Meditationes Vitae Christi by Pseudo-Bonaventura, (Gibbs MS. c.1400), page 463:

     Oure lorde Jesu came in manere of a pilgrym and felauschipped [Aldh felischippede] with hem.

     Our lord Jesus came in the manner of a pilgrim and fellowshipped with them.

     The megachurch he attends is too big for making personal connections, so he also fellowships weekly in one of the church's small groups.

     After she got married, she stopped fellowshipping with the singles in our church.