breed

• breede (archaic)

From Middle English breden, from Old English brēdan, from Proto-Germanic *brōdijaną (“to brood”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁- (“warm”). Cognate with Scots brede, breid, Saterland Frisian briede, West Frisian briede, Dutch broeden, German Low German bröden, German brüten.

• IPA^(key): /bɹiːd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːd

breed (third-person singular simple present breeds, present participle breeding, simple past and past participle bred)

1. To produce offspring sexually; to bear young.
   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

2. (transitive) To give birth to; to be the native place of.

   a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds stout men

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Yet every mother breeds not sons alike.

3. Of animals, to mate.
4. To keep animals and have them reproduce in a way that improves the next generation’s qualities.
5. To arrange the mating of specific animals.

   She wanted to breed her cow to the neighbor's registered bull.

6. To propagate or grow plants trying to give them certain qualities.

   He tries to breed blue roses.

7. To take care of in infancy and through childhood; to bring up.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden

     to bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed

   • (Can we date this quote?) Everett

     born and bred on the verge of the wilderness

8. To yield or result in.

   disaster breeds famine;  familiarity breeds contempt

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     Lest the place / And my quaint habits breed astonishment.

9. (obsolete, intransitive) To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated, or to grow, like young before birth.
10. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; to train; sometimes followed by up.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Bishop Burnet

      No care was taken to breed him a Protestant.

    • (Can we date this quote?) John Locke

      His farm may not remove his children too far from him, or the trade he breeds them up in.

11. To produce or obtain by any natural process.
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Locke

      Children would breed their teeth with less danger.

12. (intransitive) To have birth; to be produced, developed or multiplied.
    • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III Scene 1

      Fair encounter

      Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace

      On that which breed between 'em!

13. (transitive) to ejaculate inside someone's ass
    • 2018, Cassandra Dee, Paying My Boyfriend's Debt: A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance, Cassandra Dee Romance via PublishDrive

      “God, I love your ass,” he says, his voice almost a growl. “I'm gonna breed this ass tonight.”

    • 2015, David Holly, The Heart's Eternal Desire, Bold Strokes Books Inc (→ISBN)

      “ Yes,” I said. “You want to fuck me, and I submit to you. My body is yours. Stuff me. Fill me. Breed my ass. Seed me, my love.

    • year unknown, Tymber Dalton, Disorder in the House [Suncoast Society], Siren-BookStrand (→ISBN), page 32:

      “Then...you get...bred.”

    • 2017, Casper Graham, Same Script, Different Cast [Scripts & Lyrics Trilogy], Siren-BookStrand (→ISBN), page 41:

      “I can't...can't last, baby.” / “I don't care. Come inside me. Breed me.”

    • 2017, Casper Graham, Nothing Short of a Miracle [Scripts & Lyrics Trilogy], Siren-BookStrand (→ISBN), page 19:

      "Are you clean?" he asked. / "Yeah, I get tested recently." / "Perfect. Breed me.”

• (take care of in infancy and through childhood): raise, bring up, rear

• breed in the bone

breed (plural breeds)

1. All animals or plants of the same species or subspecies.

   a breed of tulip

   a breed of animal

2. A race or lineage; offspring or issue.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 12:

     And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence

     Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

3. (informal) A group of people with shared characteristics.

   People who were taught classical Greek and Latin at school are a dying breed.

• berde, brede, rebed

From Dutch breed

• IPA^(key): /brɪə̯t/, [breət]

breed (attributive breë, comparative breër, superlative breedste)

1. broad

From Middle Dutch brêet, from Old Dutch brēt, from Proto-Germanic *braidaz.

• IPA^(key): [breːt]

• audio

  (file)

breed (comparative breder, superlative breedst)

1. broad, wide

• breedte

• brede

Borrowed from Dutch breed, displacing older brie.

breed

1. broad, wide

• breedteken

• “breed”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

breed

1. bread

• J. Poole W. Barnes, A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy (1867)