To strengthen (a supporting beam) by fastening a second beam alongside it.
To be sister to; to resemble closely.
Origin
From Middle English sister, suster, from Old English swustor, sweoster, sweostor; from Proto-Germanic *swestēr ("sister"), from Proto-Indo-European *swésōr ("sister").
Cognate with Scots sister, syster, West Frisian sus, suster, Dutch zuster ("sister"), German Schwester ("sister"), Norwegian Bokmål søster ("sister"), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish syster ("sister"), Icelandic systir ("sister"), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌰𐍂 ("sister"), Latin soror ("sister"), Russian сестра́ ("sister"), Lithuanian sesuo ("sister"), Albanian vajzë ("girl, maiden"), Sanskrit स्वसृ ("sister"), Persian خواهر ("sister").
In standard English, the form with i is due to contamination with Old Norse systir ("sister").
The plural sistren is from Middle English sistren, a variant plural of sister, suster; compare brethren.
Modern English dictionary
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