- Breeding
- Breed Breed, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Bred}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Breeding}.] [OE. breden, AS. br[=e]dan to nourish, cherish,
keep warm, from br[=o]d brood; akin to D. broeden to brood,
OHG. bruoten, G. br["u]ten. See {Brood}.]
1. To produce as offspring; to bring forth; to bear; to
procreate; to generate; to beget; to hatch.
[1913 Webster]
Yet every mother breeds not sons alike. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
If the sun breed maggots in a dead dog. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
2. To take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth; to bring up; to nurse and foster. [1913 Webster]
To bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
Born and bred on the verge of the wilderness. --Everett. [1913 Webster]
3. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; to train; -- sometimes followed by up. [1913 Webster]
But no care was taken to breed him a Protestant. --Bp. Burnet. [1913 Webster]
His farm may not remove his children too far from him, or the trade he breeds them up in. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
4. To engender; to cause; to occasion; to originate; to produce; as, to breed a storm; to breed disease. [1913 Webster]
Lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
5. To give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds stout men. [1913 Webster]
6. To raise, as any kind of stock. [1913 Webster]
7. To produce or obtain by any natural process. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Children would breed their teeth with less danger. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
Syn: To engender; generate; beget; produce; hatch; originate; bring up; nourish; train; instruct. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
