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Webster 1913 Edition


Breed

Breed

,
Verb.
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
.]
1.
To produce as offspring; to bring forth; to bear; to procreate; to generate; to beget; to hatch.
Yet every mother
breeds
not sons alike.
Shakespeare
If the sun
breed
maggots in a dead dog.
Shakespeare
2.
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
.
Dryden.
Born and
bred
on the verge of the wilderness.
Everett.
3.
To educate; to instruct; to form by education; to train; – sometimes followed by up.
But no care was taken to
breed
him a Protestant.
Bp. Burnet.
His farm may not remove his children too far from him, or the trade he
breeds
them up in.
Locke.
4.
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.
Milton.
5.
To give birth to; to be the native place of;
as, a pond
breeds
fish; a northern country
breeds
stout men
.
6.
To raise, as any kind of stock.
7.
To produce or obtain by any natural process.
[Obs.]
Children would
breed
their teeth with less danger.
Locke.
Syn. – To engender; generate; beget; produce; hatch; originate; bring up; nourish; train; instruct.

Breed

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

Breed

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

Webster 1828 Edition


Breed

BREED

,
Verb.
T.
pret. and pp. bred.
1.
To generate; to engender; to hatch; to produce the young of any species of animals. I think it is never used of plants, and in animals is always applied to the mother or dam.
2.
To produce within or upon the body; as, to breed teeth; to breed worms.
3.
To cause; to occasion; to produce; to originate.
Intemperance and lust breed infirmities.
Ambition breeds factions.
4.
To contrive; to hatch; to produce by plotting.
Had he a heart and a brain to breed it in?
5.
To give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds a race of stout men.
6. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; often, but unnecessarily, followed by up; as, to breed a son to an occupation; a man bred at a university. To breed up is vulgar.
7.
To bring up; to nurse and foster; to take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth; to provide for, train and conduct; to instruct the mind and form the manners in youth.
To bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed.

BREED

,
Verb.
I.
To produce, as a fetus; to bear and nourish, as in pregnancy; as, a female breeds with pain.
1.
To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated, or to grow, as young before birth; as,children or young breed in the matrix.
2.
To have birth; to be produced; as, fish breed in rivers.
3.
To be increased by a new production.
But could youth last and love still breed.
4.
To raise a breed; as, to choose the best species of swine to breed from.

BREED

,
Noun.
A race or progeny from the same parents or stock.
1.
A cast; a kind; a race of men or other animals, which have an alliance by nativity, or some distinctive qualities in common; as a breed of men in a particular country; a breed of horses or sheep. Applied to men, it is not elegant. We use race.
2.
Progeny; offspring; applied to other things than animals.
3.
A number produced at once, a hatch; a brood; but for this, brood is generally used.