▪ I. engender, v.
(ɛnˈdʒɛndə(r))
Also 4–5 engendre, 5–7 ingender.
[a. F. engendrer, corresp. to Pr. engenrar, It. ingenerare:—L. ingenerāre, f. in + generāre to beget, generate, f. genus, gener-is, breed, race.]
1. trans. Of the male parent: To beget. Const. on, of. Now only rhetorical or fig.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 272 En-gendered on hem Ieauntez with her Iapez ille. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 28 Than schuld he take a yong wif and a fair, On which he might engendre him an hair. c 1400 Mandeville xxi. 223 Of his Sone Chuse, was engendred Nembrother the Geaunt. 1475 Caxton Jason 77 The one espoused that other and engendryd on her a daughter. 1513 Douglas æneis x. Prol. 42 The Fader..His only Son engendris evirmoir. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 625 The sayde Richarde was espoused to Lady Alice..of which woman he engendered Richard, John and George. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxvii. 233 When a man..engenders his like..it is no Miracle. 1796 Jeffrey in Ld. Cockburn Life J. (1853) II. xiii, I haue to seek out some angelic partner, and engender a dozen or two of children. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xxxix. (1870) II. 394 The offspring of experience engendered upon custom. |
† 2. Of the female parent: To conceive, bear.
| 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 587 Ȝe were alle..bred of þat modur Þat..storms engendreþ. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 612 Sexty geauntes be-fore engenderide with fendez. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. iv. xx, Seven doughters..she had well engendred. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. v. iii. 71 O Error soone conceyu'd, Thou..kil'st the Mother that engendred thee. 1683 Brit. Spec. 57 The Father and Mother, and simply those that beget and ingender do..rule over all their Children. |
3. Of both parents, also vaguely of ancestors, and transf. of countries, situations, conditions, etc.: To produce, give existence to (living beings). In pass., to be produced, begotten (const. between, of); to be descended.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xi. 215 A rybaud þei engendrede· and a gome vnryghtful. 1480 Caxton Descr. Irel. (1520) 2/2 Men of relygyon eet barnacles upon fastynge dayes bycause they ben not engendred with flesshe. 1549 Compl. Scot. Ep. Q. Mary 2 Illustir princes, engendrit of magnanime genoligie. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 125 b, Of the shee Asse and the Horse, is engendred the shee moile. 1651 C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. i. 232 For what hath man deserved, why his parents should ingender him such, or such? 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) I. iii. 202 Elevated at some distance from the odious reptiles ingendered in the putrid waters. 1814 Cary Dante's Inf. iii. 97 The human kind, the place, the time, and seed, That did engender them and give them birth. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. (1875) I. i. ii. 16 [Anaximander has been alleged to have taught that] the first imperfect and short⁓lived creatures had been engendered in slime. |
† 4. absol. To copulate, have sexual intercourse. Said of both sexes. Const. with. Also fig. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 7959 Luff ingendreth with ioye, as in a iust sawle. 1547 J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes 213 Thei ingendered with spirites, & brought furth l. Giauntes. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 127 Camel..engendreth..backward, as the Elephantes. 1599 Massinger, etc. Old Law iii. ii, His goodness has gone backward, and engendered With his old sins again. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 794 And in embraces forcible and foule Ingendring with me. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 174 With the wild boar..they are never known to engender. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1828) III. xxxviii. 25 That Insecta engender only once in the course of their lives. |
¶ trans. Misused for: To couple.
| 1791 Paine Rights M. (ed. 4) 80 By engendering the church with the state. |
5. trans. † a. To produce by natural processes, develop, generate (plants, minerals, material substances) (obs.). b. To give rise to, produce (a state of things, a disease, force, quality, feeling, etc.). † c. To contract (a disorder). Obs.
| a. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 4 Of which vertue engendred is the flour. c 1430 Lydg. Chorle & Byrde (1818) 12 Ther is a stone, which callid is a Jagounce Of olde engendrid within myn entraylle. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 6 Golde..is engendred almost in al regions neare vnto the æquinoctial line. 1563 T. Gale Antid. ii. 51 It doeth ingender fleshe on the bones that are bare. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 261 Those brookes..doe ingendre the river Stowre. 1653 Culpepper Eng. Physic. 144 To..clense the Kidnies from Gravel or Stones ingendered in them. 1671 J. Webster Metallogr. xiii. 202 The ground and soil of this Mountain..neither ingenders, nor brings forth any fruit, grass, nor grain. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 237 Others resemble the onyx, being engendered of black and thick humours. |
| b. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1141 Lust and lykyng, that es flesshely Engendres the syn of lychery. 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. in Ashm. (1652) 64 Darknes with hardnes ingendred shall be. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 47 To plucke out all the olde euyll customes that by synne be engendred in vs. 1628 T. Spencer Logick 124 These similitudes..ingender truth. 1646 Recorde, etc. Gr. Artes 167 The quotient will shew you the number that engendreth the Progression. 1692 Dryden St. Euremont's Ess. 296 Immoderate Study engenders a grossness in the Mind. 1752 Hume Pol. Disc. vii. 118 Taxes..when carried too far, destroy industry, by engendring despair. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xlviii. 111 This stupid and useless fashion..has most unfortunately been engendered on these ignorant people. 1863 Tyndall Heat i. §10 The heat engendered by the friction. |
| c. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxxxviii. 575 They answered howe the kyng of longe tyme had engendred the same malady. 1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 192 When Italians..eate any quantity thereof, they presently fall into the bloudy fluse, or else ingender some other pestilentious fever. |
† 6. intr. a. Of living things: To breed, multiply. b. Of inorganic substances: To form, originate, be produced. c. Of maladies, etc.: To originate, develop. Also fig. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 421 He knew the cause of every maladye..And where thei engendrid. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 308 For causes pestilent Engendring there, and wormes violent. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccccviii. 710 Thus ther engendred hatred dayly bytwene Fraunce and Flaunders. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 5 b, The Cristall..engendreth not so much of the waters coldenesse. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lxx. 104 Fleas will not come nor ingender where it [Fleabane] is layed. a 1618 Raleigh Instruct. Sonne ix. (1651) 24 As the worm that engendereth in the Kernel of the Nut. 1651 Howell Venice 195 An illfavourd black cloud began to engender against her in the Levant. 1653 Culpepper Eng. Physic. 62 To cause the stone not to ingender. a 1700 Dryden (J.), Thick clouds are spread, and storms engender there. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 44 a, Damp that may happen to engender or gather under ground. 1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 53 Bats will engender in thy belly. 1865 Draper Intell. Devel. Europe xx. 471 In Italy..a dismal disbelief was silently engendering. |
▪ II. † enˈgender, n. Obs.
Also 6 ingender.
[a. OF. engendre, n. of action f. engendrer: see prec.]
The action of engendering or begetting; concr. that which is engendered; offspring, produce.
| a 1528 Skelton Vox Populi 365 Withe comons and comon ingenders. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xxix. 17 To know his grandam butterflise estate, With all vncles and auntes, of their engender. 1647 Crashaw Poems 129 From th' rising son, obtaining by just suit, A spring's ingender, and an autumn's fruit. |