breeding

Noun · Adjective
Synonyms: genteelnessgentilityeducationtrainingbringing upfosteringfosteragenurtureraisingrearingupbringingreproduction

WordNet 3.0

Noun (5)

  1. elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expressionSynonyms: genteelnessgentility
  2. the result of good upbringing (especially knowledge of correct social behavior)“a woman of breeding and refinement”Synonyms: educationtraining
  3. helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community“they debated whether nature or nurture was more important”Synonyms: bringing upfosteringfosteragenurtureraisingrearingupbringing
  4. the production of animals or plants by inbreeding or hybridization
  5. the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspringSynonyms: reproductionprocreationfacts of life

Adjective (1)

  1. producing offspring or set aside especially for producing offspring“the breeding population”“retained a few bulls for breeding purposes”
Advertisement

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

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]

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

Advertisement