Etymology : Middle English breden, from Old English brEdan; akin to Old English brOd brood
Pronunciation : 'brEd
Function : verb
Date : before 12th century
1. kind, sort, species, race, stock, pedigree. reproduce; raise animals; guide, nurture; cause. to have sex: "Yo girl, we gonna breed or what? ". breed\breed\ , v. t. [imp. & p. p. bred ; p. pr. & vb. n. breeding.] [oe. breden, as. brēdan to nourish, cherish, keep warm, from brōd brood; akin to d. broeden to brood, ohg. bruoten, g. brüten. see:
brood.].
2. to produce as offspring; to bring forth; to bear; to procreate; to generate; to beget; to hatch. yet every mother breeds not sons alike. if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog.
3. to take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth; to bring up; to nurse and foster. to bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed. born and bred on the verge of the wilderness.
4. to educate; to instruct; to form by education; to train; -- sometimes followed by up. but no care was taken to breed him a protestant. burnet. his farm may not remove his children too far from him, or the trade he breeds them up in.
5. to engender; to cause; to occasion; to originate; to produce; as, to breed a storm; to breed disease. lest the place and my quaint habits breed astonishment.
6. to give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds stout men.
7. to raise, as any kind of stock.
8. to produce or obtain by any natural process. [obs.] children would breed their teeth with less danger.
9. To produce as offspring; to bring forth; to bear; to procreate; to generate; to beget; to hatch.
10. To take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth; to bring up; to nurse and foster.
11. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; to train; sometimes followed by up.
12. To engender; to cause; to occasion; to originate; to produce; as, to breed a storm; to breed disease.
13. To give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds stout men.
14. To raise, as any kind of stock.
15. To produce or obtain by any natural process.
16. To bear and nourish young; to reproduce or multiply itself; to be pregnant.
17. To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated, or to grow, as young before birth.
18. To have birth; to be produced or multiplied.
19. To raise a breed; to get progeny.
20. A race or variety of men or other animals , perpetuating its special or distinctive characteristics by inheritance.
21. Class; sort; kind; of men, things, or qualities.
22. A number produced at once; a brood. a lineage or race of people a special variety of domesticated animals within a species; "he experimented on a particular breed of white rats"; "he created a new strain of sheep" a special lineage; "a breed of Americans" have young ; "pandas rarely breed in captivity" of plants or animals; "She breeds dogs" copulate with a female, used especially of horses; "The horse covers the mare".
23. 1. A breed of a pet animal or farm animal is a particular type of it. For example, terriers are a breed of dog. rare breeds of cattle Certain breeds are more dangerous than others.
24. If you breed animals or plants, you keep them for the purpose of producing more animals or plants with particular qualities, in a controlled way. He lived alone, breeding horses and dogs These dogs are bred to fight. see also:
cross-breed + breeding breed·ing There is potential for selective breeding for better yields.
25. When animals breed, they have babies. Frogs will usually breed in any convenient pond The area now attracts over 60 species of breeding birds. + breeding breed·ing During the breeding season the birds come ashore.
26. If you say that something breeds bad feeling or bad behaviour, you mean that it causes bad feeling or bad behaviour to develop. If they are unemployed it's bound to breed resentment Violence breeds violence. = create.
27. You can refer to someone or something as one of a particular breed of person or thing when you want to talk about what they are like. Sue is one of the new breed of British women squash players who are making a real impact The new breed of walking holidays puts the emphasis on enjoyment, not endurance = strain see also:
breeding, ill-bred, pure-bred, well-bred.
28. Someone who was born and bred in a place was born there and grew up there. I was born and bred in the highlands.
29. familiarity breeds contempt: see:
familiarity.