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breed

Pronunciation: /briːd/
Translate breed | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of breed

verb (past and past participle bred /brɛd/)

[no object]
  • (of animals) mate and then produce offspring:toads are said to return to the pond of their birth to breed
  • [with object] cause (an animal) to produce offspring, especially in a controlled and organized way:bitches may not be bred from more than once a year
  • [with object] develop (a variety of animal or plant) for a particular purpose or quality:these horses are bred for this sport
  • [with object] rear and train (someone) to behave in a particular way:Theodora had been beautifully bred
  • [with object] produce or lead to (something) over a period of time:success had bred a certain arrogance
  • [with object] Physics create (fissile material) by nuclear reaction.

noun

  • a stock of animals or plants within a species having a distinctive appearance and typically having been developed by deliberate selection: the big continental breeds are eagerly being imported by British farmers
  • a sort or kind of person or thing:a new breed of entrepreneurs was brought into being

Phrases

a breed apart

a kind of person that is very different from the norm:health-service staff are a breed apart with their dedication to duty

a dying breed

a kind of person that is slowly disappearing:the country’s dying breed of elder statesmen

what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh (or blood)

see bone.

Origin:

Old English brēdan 'produce (offspring), bear (a child)', of Germanic origin; related to German brüten, also to brood

breed in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of breed in the US English dictionary

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