v. bred (brĕd), breed·ing, breeds v.tr. 1. To produce (offspring); give birth to or hatch. 2. To bring about; engender: "Admission of guilt tends to breed public sympathy" (Jonathan Alter). 3. 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. 4. To rear or train; bring up: a writer who was bred in a seafaring culture. 5. To be the place of origin of: Austria breeds great skiers. 6. To produce (fissionable material) in a breeder reactor. v.intr. 1. To produce offspring. 2. To copulate; mate. 3. To originate and develop: Mischief breeds in bored minds. n. Idioms: 1. 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. 2. A kind; a sort: a new breed of politician; a new breed of computer. 3. Offensive A person of mixed racial descent; a half-breed. breed a scab/scabs on (one's) nose Regional To stir up trouble for oneself. breed up a storm New England To become cloudy. [Middle English breden, from Old English brēdan; see bhreu- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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