Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a non-sexual relationship between males.

2003		Sunday Sun 6 July 23/5: [pic. caption] bro-mance...twins John and Nick Morgan.
2004		Edmonton Jrnl 21 Dec. 21/5: Pop Echo’s first release [...] featuring two dance stompers, Bromance and The Chant.
2007		(ref. to 1990s) age.com.au 🌐 The term was coined in the late 1990s by Dave Carnie, editor of Big Brother, an American skateboarding magazine. [...] bromance specifically described the relationship between skate-buddies who spent lots of time together and/or shared hotel rooms on road trips.
2007		Eve. Herald (Dublin) 15/4: And now we have a new term — bromance [...] a close but non-sexual relationship between two men.
2009		Sydney Morn. Herald 31 Jan. 18/1: Thorpe’s friends had long insisted that the relationship was nothing more than a ‘bromance’ between the pair. In the old days we simply called them mates [Simes:DLSS].
2014		C. Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Crime 101’ in Broken 65: [They] bust his chops for having a ‘man crush,’ a ‘bromance’ with Robie.