'Breed' definitions:

Definition of 'breed'

From: WordNet
noun
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" [syn: breed, strain, stock]
noun
A special type; "Google represents a new breed of entrepreneurs"
verb
Call forth [syn: engender, breed, spawn]
verb
Copulate with a female, used especially of horses; "The horse covers the mare" [syn: breed, cover]
verb
Cause to procreate (animals); "She breeds dogs"
verb
Have young (animals) or reproduce (organisms); "pandas rarely breed in captivity"; "These bacteria reproduce" [syn: breed, multiply]

Definition of 'Breed'

From: GCIDE
  • Breed \Breed\, n.
  • 1. A race or variety of men or other animals (or of plants), perpetuating its special or distinctive characteristics by inheritance. [1913 Webster]
  • Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Greyhounds of the best breed. --Carpenter. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Class; sort; kind; -- of men, things, or qualities. [1913 Webster]
  • Are these the breed of wits so wondered at? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • This courtesy is not of the right breed. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. A number produced at once; a brood. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Note: Breed is usually applied to domestic animals; species or variety to wild animals and to plants; and race to men. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Breed'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Definition of 'Breed'

From: GCIDE
  • Breed \Breed\, v. i.
  • 1. To bear and nourish young; to reproduce or multiply itself; to be pregnant. [1913 Webster]
  • That they breed abundantly in the earth. --Gen. viii. 17. [1913 Webster]
  • The mother had never bred before. --Carpenter. [1913 Webster]
  • Ant. Is your gold and silver ewes and rams? Shy. I can not tell. I make it breed as fast. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated, or to grow, as young before birth. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To have birth; to be produced or multiplied. [1913 Webster]
  • Heavens rain grace On that which breeds between them. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To raise a breed; to get progeny. [1913 Webster]
  • The kind of animal which you wish to breed from. --Gardner. [1913 Webster]
  • To breed in and in, to breed from animals of the same stock that are closely related. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'breed'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Breed'