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.
Yet every mother breeds not sons alike. --Shak.
If the sun breed maggots in a dead dog. --Shak.
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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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