breed
Americanverb (used with object)
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to produce (offspring); procreate; engender.
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to produce by mating; propagate sexually; reproduce.
Ten mice were bred in the laboratory.
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Horticulture.
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to cause to reproduce by controlled pollination.
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to improve by controlled pollination and selection.
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to raise (cattle, sheep, etc.).
He breeds longhorns on the ranch.
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to cause or be the source of; engender; give rise to.
Dirt breeds disease. Stagnant water breeds mosquitoes.
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to develop by training or education; bring up; rear.
He was born and bred a gentleman.
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Energy. to produce more fissile nuclear fuel than is consumed in a reactor.
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to impregnate; mate.
Breed a strong mare with a fast stallion and hope for a Derby winner.
verb (used without object)
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to produce offspring.
Many animals breed in the spring.
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to be engendered or produced; grow; develop.
Bacteria will not breed in alcohol.
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to cause the birth of young, as in raising stock.
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to be pregnant.
noun
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Genetics. a relatively homogenous group of animals within a species, developed and maintained by humans.
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lineage; stock; strain.
She comes from a fine breed of people.
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sort; kind; group.
Scholars are a quiet breed.
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Disparaging and Offensive. half-breed.
verb
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to bear (offspring)
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(tr) to bring up; raise
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to produce or cause to produce by mating; propagate
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to produce and maintain new or improved strains of (domestic animals and plants)
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to produce or be produced; generate
to breed trouble
violence breeds in densely populated areas
noun
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a group of organisms within a species, esp a group of domestic animals, originated and maintained by man and having a clearly defined set of characteristics
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a lineage or race
a breed of Europeans
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a kind, sort, or group
a special breed of hatred
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To produce or reproduce by giving birth or hatching.
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To raise animals or plants, often to produce new or improved types.
Other Word Forms
- breedable adjective
- overbreed verb (used with object)
- rebreed verb
- subbreed noun
Etymology
Origin of breed
before 1000; Middle English breden, Old English brēdan to nourish (cognate with Old High German bruotan, German brüten ); noun use from 16th century
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It's inevitably going to wash away butterfly eggs, remove nesting sites and disrupt underground breeding areas," Hodgson said.
From BBC
The world record for the biggest litter of any dog breed was a Neapolitan mastiff from Cambridgeshire named Tia, who gave birth to 24 pups in 2004.
From BBC
Major rainfall in December and early February created ideal breeding conditions, said Susanne Kluh, general manager for the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District.
From Los Angeles Times
And now he said he would say: "You're wrong, you don't know the human spirit, you don't know racing drivers per se, we are a very rare breed and very determined."
From BBC
The findings indicate that this rare native breed represents an unbroken Irish lineage that stretches back thousands of years.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
