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breed
The definition of a breed is a group of animals that has a specific characteristic or trait.
(noun)The beagle is an example of a dog breed.
To breed is to cause reproduction by controlled mating to achieve a desired trait, or to cause something to happen over time.
(verb)- When you mate two dogs together in order to create a pure bred dog, this is an example of a situation where you breed dogs.
- When you foster resentment over time by constantly complaining, this is an example of a situation where you breed resentment.
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See breed in Webster's New World College Dictionary
transitive verb bred, breeding
- to bring forth (offspring) from the womb or hatch (young) from the egg
- to be the source of; produce: ignorance breeds prejudice
- to cause to reproduce; raise, esp. by controlled mating: to breed dogs
- to produce (plants) by selective pollination
- to mate with
- to develop (a stock or certain characteristics in it) by such mating or pollination
- to bring up, train, or educate: he was bred to be a gentleman
- to produce (fissile material) in a breeder reactor
Origin: ME breden < OE bredan < brod, fetus, hatching: see brood
intransitive verb
- to be produced; originate: crime breeds in slums
- to bring forth offspring; reproduce
noun
- a group, or stock, of animals or plants descended from common ancestors and having similar characteristics, esp. such a group cultivated by humans
- a kind; sort; type: men of the same breed
See breed in American Heritage Dictionary 4
verb bred bred (brĕd), breed·ing, breeds verb, transitive
- To produce (offspring); give birth to or hatch.
- To bring about; engender: “Admission of guilt tends to breed public sympathy” (Jonathan Alter).
- a. To cause to reproduce, especially by controlled mating and selection: breed cattle.b. To develop new or improved strains in (organisms), chiefly through controlled mating and selection of offspring for desirable traits.c. To inseminate or impregnate; mate with.
- To rear or train; bring up: a writer who was bred in a seafaring culture.
- To be the place of origin of: Austria breeds great skiers.
- To produce (fissionable material) in a breeder reactor.
- To produce offspring.
- To copulate; mate.
- To originate and develop: Mischief breeds in bored minds.
- A group of organisms having common ancestors and certain distinguishable characteristics, especially a group within a species developed by artificial selection and maintained by controlled propagation.
- A kind; a sort: a new breed of politician; a new breed of computer.
- Offensive A person of mixed racial descent; a half-breed.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English breden
Origin: , from Old English brēdan; see bhreu- in Indo-European roots
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