In context

Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you. BB p.152 ¶2

Here: The passage uses fellowship in the sense of a company of equals bound by a shared aim and friendly intercourse — here, the group of recovered alcoholics called Alcoholics Anonymous — offered as the 'substitute' for drink, a living community rather than an abstract fellow-feeling.

For a reader in 1939 fellowship was an old, ordinary English word with a cluster of related senses. Webster's Collegiate (5th ed., 1939 printing) lists "Community of interest, activity, feeling, etc.", "Friendliness; comradeship", and "Any union or association; esp., a company of equals or friends". Webster's Revised Unabridged (1913) gives "Companionship of persons on equal and friendly terms; frequent and familiar intercourse" and also "Those associated with one, as in a family, or a society; a company." Webster's 1828 has the same core, "mutual association of persons on equal and friendly terms". It also carries a religious sense, communion, and the 1913 verb entry shows that sense had hardened into church usage ("to admit to Christian fellowship"). The word was also at home in universities, where a fellowship was a scholar's endowment, but that sense is not in play here.

The passage uses the 'company of equals or friends' sense, and the line "It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous" names both the group and the companionship it gives. It is a small, new thing, a few years old, with no institutional weight. Since 1939 the word has become a proper name for A.A. as a whole. The later front matter capitalizes it ("Fellowship") and uses it for a worldwide body. The dictionaries above do not show that capitalized, institutional use, so I would not claim the 1939 Collegiate or the 1913 Webster foresaw it. Modern dictionaries (the American Heritage entry and Wiktionary, quoted in the material) keep the same core sense, "a close association of friends or equals sharing similar interests", and have added the postdoctoral and medical-training senses.

What the 1939 sense brings out in this passage is that the 'substitute' for drinking is a set of relationships, not a program or an institution. The Collegiate's "Community of interest, activity, feeling" and "comradeship" fit the promises that follow: "release from care, boredom and worry". The closing "Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you" reads as an invitation to join a company of equals, with the article and lowercase f marking one fellowship among possible others. Elsewhere the 1939 text can say "fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in each city and hamlet", which shows the word as a countable noun for a local company rather than one global body.

Usages

• BB p.17 ¶2 “But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful.”
• BB p.89 ¶2 “to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends”
• BB p.153 ¶2 “fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in each city and hamlet, havens for those who must find a way out.”
• BB p.95 ¶2 “Offer him friendship and fellowship.”
• “Companionship of persons on equal and friendly terms; frequent and familiar intercourse.” — Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
• “Fellowship in woe doth woe assuage.” — Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
• After the funeral the old shipmates gathered, and the fellowship of that table did more for him than any sermon. illustration, written for this note
• She joined the choir for the fellowship as much as for the singing. illustration, written for this note
• A small fellowship of men met every Thursday in the back room of the church. illustration, written for this note

Written by Claude (sonnet) from the dictionaries and passages of the lookup; every quotation in it was checked against them, and what could not be found was left out. A study aid, not a source.

The dictionaries of 1939

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language (1828)

WordNet 3.0 (Princeton, 2006)

In the Book 79

Alcoholics Anonymous 55

• BB p.xi ¶3 …with A.A. But the chief change was in the section of personal stories, which was expanded to reflect the Fellowship’s growth. “Bill’s Story,” “Doctor Bob’s Nightmare,” and one other personal history from the first edition…
• BB p.xiii ¶3 When writing or speaking publicly about alcoholism, we urge each of our Fellowship to omit his personal name, designating himself instead as “a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.”
• BB p.xv > Figures given in this foreword describe the Fellowship as it was in 1955.
• BB p.xv ¶1 …has taken place. Our earliest printing voiced the hope “that every alcoholic who journeys will find the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination. Already,” continues the early text “twos and threes and fives of…
• BB p.xix …experience the conviction grew that A.A.’s had to hang together or die separately. We had to unify our Fellowship or pass off the scene.
• BB p.xxii ¶4 In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship, at its core it remains simple and personal. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one…
• BB p.xxiii ¶3 …“We are people who normally would not mix” (page 17 of this book) was written in 1939, it referred to a Fellowship composed largely of men (and a few women) with quite similar social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. Like…
• BB p.xxiv ¶1 …A.A. message, sweeping changes in society as a whole are reflected in new customs and practices within the Fellowship. Taking advantage of technological advances, for example, A.A. members with computers can participate in…
• BB p.xxv ¶5 …upon them that they must do likewise with still others. This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of these men and their families. This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered.
• BB p.15 ¶2 We commenced to make many fast friends and a fellowship has grown up among us of which it is a wonderful thing to feel a part. The joy of living we really have,…
• BB p.15 ¶2 …environs there are one thousand of us and our families. We meet frequently so that newcomers may find the fellowship
• BB p.17 ¶2 …social, and religious backgrounds. We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a…
• BB p.44 ¶3 But it isn’t so difficult. About half our original fellowship were of exactly that type. At first some of us tried to avoid the issue, hoping against hope we were not…
• BB p.45 ¶2 …Many times we talk to a new man and watch his hope rise as we discuss his alcoholic problems and explain our fellowship. But his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when we mention God, for we have…
• BB p.89 ¶2 …take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends—this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not…
• BB p.90 ¶4 …attention should be drawn to you as a person who has recovered. You should be described to him as one of a fellowship who, as part of their own recovery, try to help others and who will be glad to talk to him if he cares to…
• BB p.94 ¶2 …whether you would have made much progress had you not taken action. On your first visit tell him about the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. If he shows interest, lend him your copy of this book.
• BB p.95 ¶2 …the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you. Offer him friendship and fellowship. Tell him that if he wants to get well you will do anything to help.
• BB p.96 ¶1 …time on any one situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to live and be happy. One of our Fellowship failed entirely with his first half dozen prospects. He often says that if he had continued to work on them,…
• BB p.152 ¶2 Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. Your imagination will be…
• BB p.152 ¶2 …Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you.
• BB p.153 ¶2 …Many, we are sure, will rise to their feet and march on. They will approach still other sick ones and fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in each city and hamlet, havens for those who must find a way out.
• BB p.153 ¶3 …Perhaps the best way of treating you to a glimpse of your future will be to describe the growth of the fellowship among us. Here is a brief account:
• BB p.159 ¶1 …sense. I’m ready to do business. I guess the old folks were right after all.” So one more was added to the Fellowship.
• BB p.160 by anyone or everyone interested in a spiritual way of life. Aside from fellowship and sociability, the prime object was to provide a time and place where new people might bring their…
• BB p.161 ¶1 …miles away has fifteen fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. Being a large place, we think that some day its Fellowship will number many hundreds.
• BB p.162 ¶2 Some day we hope that every alcoholic who journeys will find a Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination. To some extent this is already true. Some of us are salesmen and…
• BB p.164 ¶1 …that, so you must remember that your real reliance is always upon Him. He will show you how to create the fellowship you crave.
• BB p.164 ¶3 …Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless…

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions 24

• 12&12 p.15 ¶1 Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide fellowship of more than one hundred thousand alcoholic men and women who are banded together to solve their common…
• 12&12 p.15 ¶4 A.A.’s Twelve Traditions apply to the life of the Fellowship itself. They outline the means by which A.A. maintains its unity and relates itself to the world about it,…
• 12&12 p.16 ¶1 …can anywhere be seen? How can a set of traditional principles, having no legal force at all, hold the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous in unity and effectiveness? The second section of this volume, though designed for…
• 12&12 p.16 ¶2 …a New York broker. Both were severe cases of alcoholism and were destined to become co-founders of the A.A. Fellowship.
• 12&12 p.16 ¶3 …some ideas upon which success finally depended were the result of noting the behavior and needs of the Fellowship itself.
• 12&12 p.17 ¶1 …time the recoveries numbered about one hundred. The book was called “Alcoholics Anonymous,” and from it the Fellowship took its name. In it alcoholism was described from the alcoholic’s point of view, the spiritual ideas of the…
• 12&12 p.17 ¶1 …virtually impossible had now become possible. The book “Alcoholics Anonymous” became the basic text of the Fellowship, and it still is. This present volume proposes to broaden and deepen the understanding of the Twelve Steps…
• 12&12 p.125 ¶2 …--- In adapted form, the Steps are also used by Al-Anon Family Groups. Not a part of A.A., this worldwide fellowship consists of spouses and other relatives or friends of alcoholics (in A.A. or still drinking). Its…
• 12&12 p.129 ¶3 We may certainly answer this question with a loud “No!” We believe there isn’t a fellowship on earth which lavishes more devoted care upon its individual members; surely there is none which more…
• 12&12 p.130 ¶1 …he is but a small part of a great whole; that no personal sacrifice is too great for preservation of the Fellowship. He learns that the clamor of desires and ambitions within him must be silenced whenever these could damage…
• 12&12 p.143 ¶2 …came for him to speak in a meeting. We shivered, for we knew what was coming. He paid a fine tribute to the Fellowship; he told how his family had been reunited; he extolled the virtue of honesty; he recalled the joys of…
• 12&12 p.150 ¶1 …That is the central theme of this Tradition. Around it our Society gathers in unity. The very life of our Fellowship requires the preservation of this principle.
• 12&12 p.152 ¶1 …with the doctor—he certainly didn’t look good. But I told him my own story. I explained what a wonderful Fellowship we had, how well we understood each other. I bore down hard on the hopelessness of the drunk’s dilemma. I…
• 12&12 p.157 ¶3 …he be ideal? He’d certainly know the problem. His connection with A.A. would be valuable, because the Fellowship stood high in public favor and hadn’t an enemy in the world.
• 12&12 p.160 ¶2 …who had money thought otherwise. They figured that it was high time we now—sober—paid our own way. So our Fellowship stayed poor because it had to.
• 12&12 p.165 and so divert A.A. from its primary purpose. The moment that happened, our Fellowship’s confidence would be shaken. The board would be isolated, and would fall under heavy attack of criticism…
• 12&12 p.167 Fellowship than professionalism. Caretakers who swept floors, cooks who fried hamburgers, secretaries in offices,…
• 12&12 p.167 ¶1 …agreed that the Twelfth Step couldn’t be sold for money, we had been wise. But when we had declared that our Fellowship couldn’t hire service workers nor could any A.A. member carry our knowledge into other fields, we were…
• 12&12 p.171 ¶1 It is significant, now that almost no A.A. in our Fellowship breaks anonymity at the public level, that nearly all these fears have subsided. We see that we have no…
• 12&12 p.175 …for A.A. as a whole. Even our Foundation, once an independent board, is today directly accountable to our Fellowship. Its trustees are the caretakers and expediters of our world services.
• 12&12 p.175 ¶2 …actual operation it discloses a society without organization, animated only by the spirit of service—a true fellowship. --- In 1954, the name of the Alcoholic Foundation, Inc., was changed to the General Service Board of…
• 12&12 p.176 ¶1 NEVER since it began has Alcoholics Anonymous been divided by a major controversial issue. Nor has our Fellowship ever publicly taken sides on any question in an embattled world. This, however, has been no earned virtue.…
• 12&12 p.180 ¶1 …and favorable publicity of every description has been the principal means of bringing alcoholics into our Fellowship. In A.A. offices, clubs, and homes, telephones ring constantly. One voice says, “I read a piece in the…
• 12&12 p.183 ¶1 …reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship. --- In 1954, the name of the Alcoholic Foundation, Inc., was changed to the General Service Board of…

Linked from

• BB p.152 ¶2 “fellowship”