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]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

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

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

115 Moby Thesaurus words for "breeding": alpha decay, animal husbandry, animal rearing, apprenticeship, atom-chipping, atom-smashing, atomic disintegration, atomic reaction, atomization, basic training, bee culture, beekeeping, begetting, beta decay, bombardment, breaking, bullet, cattle-ranching, chain reaction, chicken-farming, civility, cleavage, conditioning, courtesy, crossbreeding, cultivation, culture, dairy-farming, development, discipline, disintegration series, dissociation, dissogeny, dressage, drill, drilling, elegance, endogamy, engenderment, exchange reaction, exercise, fetching-up, fission, fission reaction, fostering, gamma decay, generation, genteelness, gentility, gentlemanlikeness, gentlemanliness, gentleness, gnotobiotics, good behavior, good breeding, good manners, grace, grazing, grooming, herding, horse training, horsemanship, housebreaking, improvement, in-service training, inbreeding, ionization, ladylikeness, linebreeding, manual training, military training, mink-ranching, multiplication, neutron reaction, nonreversible reaction, nuclear fission, nucleization, nurture, nurturing, on-the-job training, outbreeding, photodisintegration, pig-keeping, polish, politeness, politesse, practice, preparation, procreation, proliferation, propagation, proton gun, proton reaction, raising, readying, rearing, refinement, rehearsal, reversible reaction, sheepherding, sloyd, splitting the atom, stimulation, stock raising, stockbreeding, target, thermonuclear reaction, thremmatology, training, upbringing, vocational education, vocational training, xenogamy, zootechnics, zootechny

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

breeding adj : producing offspring or set aside especially for producing offspring; "the breeding population"; "retained a few bulls for breeding purposes"

noun

1: elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression [syn: genteelness, gentility]
2: the result of good upbringing (especially knowledge of correct social behavior); "a woman of breeding and refinement" [syn: education, training]
3: raising someone to be an accepted member of the community; "they debated whether nature or nurture was more important" [syn: bringing up, fostering, fosterage, nurture, raising, rearing, upbringing]
4: the production of animals or plants by inbreeding or hybridization
5: the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspring [syn: reproduction, procreation, facts of life]

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

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)
 

Breeding \Breed"ing\, n.

1. The act or process of generating or bearing.

2. The raising or improving of any kind of domestic animals; as, farmers should pay attention to breeding.

3. Nurture; education; formation of manners.

She had her breeding at my father's charge. --Shak.

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.

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.

5. Descent; pedigree; extraction. [Obs.]

Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding. --Shak.

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.

Syn: Education; instruction; nurture; training; manners. See Education.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)