'Close breeding' definitions:

Definition of 'Close breeding'

From: GCIDE
  • Breeding \Breed"ing\, n.
  • 1. The act or process of generating or bearing. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. The raising or improving of any kind of domestic animals; as, farmers should pay attention to breeding. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Nurture; education; formation of manners. [1913 Webster]
  • She had her breeding at my father's charge. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Deportment or behavior in the external offices and decorums of social life; manners; knowledge of, or training in, the ceremonies, or polite observances of society. [1913 Webster]
  • Delicacy of breeding, or that polite deference and respect which civility obliges us either to express or counterfeit towards the persons with whom we converse. --Hume. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. Descent; pedigree; extraction. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Close breeding, In and in breeding, breeding from a male and female from the same parentage.
  • Cross breeding, breeding from a male and female of different lineage.
  • Good breeding, politeness; genteel deportment. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: Education; instruction; nurture; training; manners. See Education. [1913 Webster] Breeze

Definition of 'Close breeding'

From: GCIDE
  • Close \Close\ (kl[=o]s), a. [Compar. Closer (kl[=o]"s[~e]r); superl. Closest.] [Of. & F. clos, p. p. of clore. See Close, v. t.]
  • 1. Shut fast; closed; tight; as, a close box. [1913 Webster]
  • From a close bower this dainty music flowed. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Narrow; confined; as, a close alley; close quarters. "A close prison." --Dickens. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Oppressive; without motion or ventilation; causing a feeling of lassitude; -- said of the air, weather, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • If the rooms be low-roofed, or full of windows and doors, the one maketh the air close, . . . and the other maketh it exceeding unequal. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Strictly confined; carefully quarded; as, a close prisoner. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. Out of the way observation; secluded; secret; hidden. "He yet kept himself close because of Saul." --1 Chron. xii. 1 [1913 Webster]
  • "Her close intent." --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. Disposed to keep secrets; secretive; reticent. "For secrecy, no lady closer." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. Having the parts near each other; dense; solid; compact; as applied to bodies; viscous; tenacious; not volatile, as applied to liquids. [1913 Webster]
  • The golden globe being put into a press, . . . the water made itself way through the pores of that very close metal. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
  • 8. Concise; to the point; as, close reasoning. "Where the original is close no version can reach it in the same compass." --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 9. Adjoining; near; either in space; time, or thought; -- often followed by to. [1913 Webster]
  • Plant the spring crocuses close to a wall. --Mortimer. [1913 Webster]
  • The thought of the Man of sorrows seemed a very close thing -- not a faint hearsay. --G. Eliot. [1913 Webster]
  • 10. Short; as, to cut grass or hair close. [1913 Webster]
  • 11. Intimate; familiar; confidential. [1913 Webster]
  • League with you I seek And mutual amity, so strait, so close, That I with you must dwell, or you with me. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 12. Nearly equal; almost evenly balanced; as, a close vote. "A close contest." --Prescott. [1913 Webster]
  • 13. Difficult to obtain; as, money is close. --Bartlett. [1913 Webster]
  • 14. Parsimonious; stingy. "A crusty old fellow, as close as a vise." --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster]
  • 15. Adhering strictly to a standard or original; exact; strict; as, a close translation. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
  • 16. Accurate; careful; precise; also, attentive; undeviating; strict; not wandering; as, a close observer. [1913 Webster]
  • 17. (Phon.) Uttered with a relatively contracted opening of the mouth, as certain sounds of e and o in French, Italian, and German; -- opposed to open. [1913 Webster]
  • Close borough. See under Borough.
  • Close breeding. See under Breeding.
  • Close communion, communion in the Lord's supper, restricted to those who have received baptism by immersion.
  • Close corporation, a body or corporation which fills its own vacancies.
  • Close fertilization. (Bot.) See Fertilization.
  • Close harmony (Mus.), compact harmony, in which the tones composing each chord are not widely distributed over several octaves.
  • Close time, a fixed period during which killing game or catching certain fish is prohibited by law.
  • Close vowel (Pron.), a vowel which is pronounced with a diminished aperture of the lips, or with contraction of the cavity of the mouth.
  • Close to the wind (Naut.), directed as nearly to the point from which the wind blows as it is possible to sail; closehauled; -- said of a vessel. [1913 Webster]