▪ I. breed, n.
(briːd)
[f. breed v.: the act of breeding; hence, the progeny or race in which this results.]
† 1. breeding, generation, birth; parentage, extraction; natal or racial origin. of breed: of breeding age. Obs.
| ? a 1600 Merch. & Son 34 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 134 Ther was not oon man in all thys londe, that bare a bettyr brede. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 466 Let them be young also, and of breed, Nam melior est ea ætas, quam sequitur spes, quam ea quam sequitur mors. 1610 W. Folkingham Art Surv. i. iv. 8 Fish, and other liuing Creatures doe differ and varie in..peculiar attributes according to their places of Breede. 1632 G. Herbert Temple, Providence xxviii, Nothing useth fire, But man alone, to show his heavenly breed. |
2. Race, lineage, stock, family; strain; a line of descendants from a particular parentage, and distinguished by particular hereditary qualities. (Abstract and concrete.) a. of animals.
| 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 22 Elephantes, of greater stature, and a better broede. 1611 Bible Deut. xxxii. 14 Rammes of the breed of Bashan. 1653 Walton Angler i. 4 To destroy the very breed of those base Otters. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6046/4 A dark brown Mare..betwixt Cart and Saddle Breed. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. vii, Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed. 1814 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. 258 It is necessary from time to time to change, and as it were to cross the breed. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 312 Many breeds, now extinct or rare, both of quadrupeds and birds. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1873) 15 The diversity of the breeds is something astonishing. |
b. of men, etc.: now often contemptuous.
| 1596 Spenser Prothal. 66 They did not seeme To be begot of any earthly seede, But rather angels, or of angels breede. c 1610 Rowlands Terrible Batt. 41 His wife is of a proud and dainty breed. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 52 ¶3 To mend the Breed and rectify the Physiognomy of the Family on both Sides. 1770 Gray Corr. (1843) 102, I never saw such a boy; our breed is not made on this model. 1843 Macaulay Lake Regillus xiii, Titus, the youngest Tarquin, Too good for such a breed. 1855 ― Hist. Eng. III. 368 Warriors of a different breed. |
c. gen. A kind, a species, a set. Now colloq.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 266 Are these the breed of wits so wondered at? 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 73 That measure of rest, and new breed of quickners that have befallen the body in the night. 1881 Folk-Lore Record IV. 106 The word breed is peculiarly used [in Irish folk-lore], as they speak of ‘breeds of cabbages’, ‘breeds of potatoes’, &c. 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xxiii. 228 All the different breeds of rockets. 1964 Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. CXV. 569 The purpose of this paper is not to propose the design and construction of new breeds of computers. 1967 Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. i. 9/3 Development Administrator Edward J. Logue—a new breed of planner. |
† d. Of plants: A race. Obs.
| 1687 Lovell Bergerac's Com. Hist. I. 153 Now the Breed of that Fruit..is lost in your World. |
e. A person of mixed descent; a half-breed. Also attrib. orig. N. Amer.
| 1870 Canadian Illustr. News 26 Feb. 271/3 The ‘breeds’ in their ire said on him they'd fire For him 'twas a regular sell, sell, sell. 1892 Outing (U.S.) Jan. 287/1 A tall, wiry ‘Breed’ hunter, called Dave, or ‘Injun Dave’, according to taste. 1892 Harper's Mag. Feb. 387/2 One-quarter of the number of ‘breeds’ could read and write. 1905 D. Wallace Labrador Wild iii. 47 Eskimos and ‘breeds’, the latter being a comprehensive name for persons whose origin is a mixture in various combinations and proportions of Eskimo, Indian, and European. 1926 J. Black You can't Win xvi. 229, I soon mastered Chinook, practicing on the two ‘breed’ boys. |
† 3. a. Offspring; esp. The young brought forth at the same time viewed collectively; a family, litter. Obs. (or dial.); now replaced by brood. Also fig.
| 1580 Baret Alv. B 1164 The young brede of bees. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 135 Lend it not As to thy friends, for when did friendship take A breede of barraine mettall of his friend? c 1600 ― Sonn. xii, And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 225 Thy Care must now proceed To teeming Females; and the promis'd Breed. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. (1817) 147 The hen..is frightened when her supposititious breed of ducklings take the water. 1863 Atkinson Danby Provinc., Breed, a brood, a litter of young ones. |
† b. at a breed: at a birth. Obs.
| a 1711 Grew (J.) She lays them in the sand..sometimes above an hundred at a breed. |
† c. Applied to single progeny or offspring; young one, child, bairn. Obs.
| 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. i. ii. 4 Cybell [had] brought to light Her second breede, a smiling boy. Ibid. x. lv. 253 When Junos Breed on farther bankes his passenger had set. |
† d. transf. Those bred in (a place): brood.
| 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 75 The Sea—so render'd more salutary for the maintenance of its Breed. |
4. Comb. breed-cup, breed-prize, a prize at a show, etc., given to the best animal of a particular breed; † breed-goose, -mother, -ram, a goose, etc. for breeding; † breed-reserved a., reserved for breeding; breed-society, a society which is concerned with the production of a particular breed of animal. See also half-breed.
| 1465 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 296 A gander, iiij. bredegese, and v. goslynges. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. v. iii. 11 The breed-reserued creatures saued in the floting Arke. 1662 Fuller Worthies i. 127 To give ten pound or more for a Breed-ram. 1668 Markham Way to Wealth vi. 49 No good House-wife will breed of a young, but of an old breed-mother. |
| 1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 10 Dec. 8/2 There are seven silver breed cups for the cattle classes. |
| 1892 Daily News 14 Sept. 5/5 The future of stock fairs will be in some degree affected by the breed-societies. |
| 1896 Ibid. 8 Dec. 5/1 The Breed Cup for shorthorns was taken by the Earl of Rosebery's ‘Proud Madam’. Ibid. 4 Mar. 8/6 Mr. G. Jackson, of Birmingham, has the breed prize. |
▪ II. breed, v.
(briːd)
Pa. tense and pa. pple. bred. Forms: inf. 3–6 brede, 6–7 breede, 6– breed; pa. tense and pa. pple. 4 breed, 4–5 bredde, 7 bread, 4– bred. (Also 6 pa. tense breded, pa. pple. breden.)
[OE. brédan (:—bróedan) = OHG. bruotan (MHG. brüeten, mod.G. brüten):—OTeut. type *brôdjan, f. brôdâ- ‘warmth, fostering heat, hatching, brood’. Brood, breed, are analogous to food, feed, blood, bleed.]
I. trans. (and absol.).
1. a. trans. Said of a female parent: To cherish (brood) in the womb or egg; to bring (offspring) forward from the germ to the birth; to hatch (young birds) from the egg; to produce (offspring, children).
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 10 Þæt sind beon..of ðam huniᵹe hi bredað heora brod. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1633 Ich not to hwan þu bredst..þi brod. a 1300 Cursor M. 3895 Lya bred child, and hadd a sun. Ibid. 12223 Quat wamb him bare or brede. 1530 Palsgr. 463/2, I..brede yonge, as a woman or any other suche beest dothe. 1587 Golding De Mornay i. 7 Neither thou in begetting him, nor his mother in breeding him, did once thinke vpon the fashioning of him in hir wombe. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 146. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom xviii. 184 A man kept me to breed chil'en for market. |
† b. To generate. Obs.
| 1513 Douglas æneis x. Prol. 52 The Fader..ever bredis His Son, his word and wysdom eternall. |
† c. fig. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 75 We conceyue our owne sorowe, and breed therof..vnryghteousnes. 1595 Spenser Sonn. ii, Unquiet thought! whom at the first I bred..And sithens have with sighes and sorrowes fed. |
2. absol. To be pregnant, to be with young or with child. (Now chiefly dial.)
| 1629 Gaule Pract. The. 85 So breeds the Virgin by her owne, and vnusual Seed. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 352 Women breeding or with child. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 430 ¶3 Lucina..was breeding, and she did nothing but entertain the Company with a Discourse upon the Difficulty of Reckoning to a Day. 1723 Swift Stella at Woodp. Wks. 1755 IV. i. 38 Like a lady breeding. 1885 Stevenson Dynamiter Ded., Yours is the side of the child, of the breeding woman, of individual pity and public trust. |
3. absol. Of animal species: To produce brood or young; to have offspring; to propagate their species.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 101 That other ȝer a faukun bredde. 1297 R. Glouc. 177 In eche roche þer ys..an ernes nest, þat hii bredeþ in ywys. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 49 Bredyn or hetchyn, as byrdys, pullifico. 1532–3 Act 24 Hen. VIII, x, Rookes..do daily brede and increase throughout this realm. 1653 Walton Angler 167 Most fish breed after this manner. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. (1817) 240 Mankind will in every country breed up to a certain point of distress. 1836–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. II. 468/2 A mare has bred with an ass and has had a mule foal. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1873) 7 Carnivorous animals..breed in this country pretty freely under confinement. |
b. fig.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. iii. 4 There is no measure in the occasion that breeds, therefore the sadnesse is without limit. 1603 ― Meas. for M. ii. ii. 142 Shee speakes, and 'tis such sence That my Sence breeds with it. 1612–5 Bp. Hall Contempl. O.T. (1837) II. xix. i. 5 Kindnesses breed on themselves. 1866 Argyll Reign Law i. (ed. 4) 2 Half the perplexities of men are traceable to obscurity of thought hiding and breeding under obscurity of language. |
4. trans. Said of countries, situations, or conditions, engendering living things; also, in the pass., of animals being engendered or brought into existence (without reference to parental action).
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 1722 Theȝ heo nere i-bred a wolde, Ho was i-toȝen among mankunne. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 143 Efte busched to þe abyme þat breed fyssches. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. ii. (1483) 58 In these pepyns was bredde a worme. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1164 Rotten timber breedeth wormes. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 9 Women are vniuersally mala necessaria, wheresoeuer they be eyther bred or brought vp. 1653 Walton Angler 85 There be certaine waters that breed Trouts. 1675 Hobbes Odyss. ix. 30 Rocky is Ithaca..But breedeth able men. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 122 This insect..is bred and nourished in bacon. 1883 Eng. Illust. Mag. Nov. 72 A hard place..to live in, and fit to breed a hardy race. |
5. a. Of the natural production of things inanimate: now esp. in ‘to breed fever’ and the like; also fig. ‘to breed bad blood’ (see blood), etc.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 257 Hit was þe forme-foster þat þe folde bred. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xxviii. (1495) 339 Oores of metall ben gendred and bred depe wythin the erthe. Ibid. xv. xlii. 503 Creta bredyth precyous stones. 1598 W. Phillips Linschoten's Trav. in Arb. Garner III. 30 The great number of the men in the ship was the cause of breeding the same [plague]. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 496 To suck all [the milk] that their dams can breed. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 84 Figs are said to..breed store of blood. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. (1675) 68 Green Fruit breeds Sickness in the Body. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. i. 1 What is bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh. 1863 Kingsley Water-bab. v. (1875) 225 Dirt breeds fever. |
† b. To develop (teeth, wings, or the like). Obs.
| 1544 Phaër Regim. Lyfe (1560) S v b, About the seventh moneth..after y⊇ byrthe, it is natural for a childe for to breede teeth. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1010 Divinitie within them breeding wings. 1738 Shaw Barbary in Pinkerton Coll. Trav. XIV. 622 When the little ones [lion cubs] breed their teeth. |
† c. To produce (products of human art). Obs.
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 40/1 His pen..is dailie breeding of such learned bookes. 1699 Pomfret Reason 52 Those books that modern times have bred. |
6. a. To give rise to, engender, develop, produce, create, cause, be the source of.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 55 Estmetes þe bredeð sinnes. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. civ. (1495) 669 The smell of the apples of mandragora..bredyth slepe. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 278 It breded & areised greate enuie and grutchyng against Caesar. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 20 Noght breeds theym coomfort. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iv. i. 120 Warres may breed pouertie, and pouertie breedeth peace. 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 140 Shee is young, wise, faire..And these breed honour. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. ii. 6 Lying cold breedeth Dreams of Feare. 1878 Morley Diderot II. 184 An iniquitous government breeds despair in men's souls. |
b. Rarely with forth (obs.), up.
| 1570 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 42 Our reasons serue onelie to breede forth talke. 1605 Verstegan's Dec. Intell. (1628) Pref. Verses, The beautious light Bred foorth of Phebus bright arising rays. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. i. 10 Acts which tended to breed up causes of quarrel. |
c. Nuclear Engin. To produce (fissile material) in a breeder reactor.
| 1948 Nature 28 Aug. 318/1 Uranium 235..must be made to breed ‘secondary’ fuel from more abundant materials. 1955 Times 5 Aug. 9/7 The more spectacular third-stage reactor, in which nuclear fuel is ‘bred’. |
† 7. with compl. To cause to become; to make, cause, bring (into a state, or to do something). Obs.
| c 1460 Launfal 704 Sche ley doun yn hyr bedde, For wrethe syk sche hyr bredde. c 1465 Plumpton Corr. 14 God bred her to be delivered of her son Nicholas on Tewsday. 1625 Bacon Greatness of Kingd., Ess. (Arb.) 477 Such a Proportion of Land..as may breed a Subiect, to liue in Conuenient Plenty. |
† 8. To cherish, foster. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 200 Þe þet bret þesne kundel, in hire breoste al is attri to Gode. Ibid. 222 Moni..bredeð in hire breoste sum liunes hweolp. |
9. a. To take charge of or promote the engendering of (animals); to ‘raise’ (cattle).
| c 1400 Gamelyn 359 Þe bestis þou hast forþ bredde. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §8 For to rere and brede catell or shepe. 1676 Ray Corr. (1848) 121 The manner of breeding Canary-birds. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 21 A great number of small cattle are bred in this province. 1859 Jephson Brittany iii. 28 A Frenchman cannot breed a foal without the assistance of the paternal government. |
b. absol.
| 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1873) 24 Hardly any one is so careless as to breed from his worst animals. |
c. To put (an animal) to (another) for breeding.
| 1886 C. Scott Sheep-farming 161 The ewes to which he is bred. 1955 W. W. Denlinger Complete Boston 57 Half of the top bitches in the entire country may have been bred to him upon the strength of his winning record. |
10. To train up to a state of physical or mental development. [This sense is evidently transferred from 1; the young creature being viewed as a rude germ to be developed by nurture.] a. To rear (animals) so as to develop their physical qualities or intelligence.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §120 A horse mayster is he, that bieth wylde horses, or coltes, and bredeth theym. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 85 The Generous Youth, who..to the Plough the sturdy Bullock breeds. Ibid. iii. 186 To chuse a Youthful Steed..To breed him, break him, back him. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. i. ii. 259 The wild ass is even more asinine..than that bred in a state of..servitude. |
b. To train up (young persons) in the arts of life; to educate, tutor, bring up. Also with complemental object, as ‘to breed him a scholar, a papist’, and with to, ‘to breed him to a profession, to the law’, etc. (Bring up is the ordinary modern equivalent in all shades of meaning.)
† (a) To train by education, educate, teach. Obs.
| 1570 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 73 One of the best Scholers that euer S. Johns Colledge bred. 1615 Sir R. Boyle in Lismore P. (1886) II. 101, I sent my eldest son..into England to be bred there. 1627 Donne Serm. 47 Breed them not in an opinion that such a Faith is enough. 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. 130 Sir John Mason..was..bred in All Souls in Oxford. 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer i. i. (1678) 9 She lodges in one of the Inns of Chancery, where she breeds her Son, and is her self his Tutoress in Law-French. 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4220/3 Restraining them from taking and breeding Apprentices. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 180 ¶1 A wealthy trader..having the ambition to breed his son a scholar, carried him to an university. 1774 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry Diss. ii. 125 The universal ardour..of breeding almost all persons to letters. 1796 Southey Hymn to Penates Wks. II. 279 We grew up Together, and in the same school were bred. 1834–43 ― Doctor xxvi, He did not determine upon breeding him either to the Church or the Law. |
(b) To bring up from childhood, including all the circumstances which go to form the religious persuasion, manners, position in life, and trade.
| 1650 Baxter Saint's R. ii. (ed. 5) 247 David, who was bred a Shepherd. 1697 Dryden Virg. Eclog. viii. 60 In Desarts thou wert bred. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. ii. i. (1841) I. 176 Thou talkest as if thou hadst been bred a heathen. 1771 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 5 Thomas was bred a smith under his father. 1813 Scott Rokeby iv. viii, He bids thee breed him as thy son. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 239 Most of these functionaries had been bred Churchmen. 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. vii. 341 The old traditions in which they had been bred. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. vii, I bred him to the joiner's trade, sir. |
† (c) Also to breed up. arch. or Obs.
| 1611 Bible Pref. 3 Boyes that are bred up in the Scriptures. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen iv. 14 Very few Gentlemen..will bee at the cost to breed up two [sons] in the University. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. i. §6 Suppose that I am bred up..in the Church of England. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind (1801) 4 Arithmo had been bred up to accounts all his life. 1736 Pendarves in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 229 The poor duchess is often reproached with her being bred up in Burr-street, Wapping. 1801 M. Edgeworth Contrast (1832) 108 Care to breed up their children well. 1836 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. II. ix. (ed 2) 115 He was bred up in a human school. |
11. to be born and bred, or bred and born: an alliterative phrase in which bred has usually sense 9, though formerly sense 1.
| a 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4209 In þe first he sal be born and bredde, And in þe secunde be nuryst. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 113 a, Where he was born and breden. Ibid. 133 b, In the same Isle born, breden, and brought vp. 1580 Baret Alv. B 1165 We are so borne and bredde of nature. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. ii. 22, I was bred and borne Not three houres trauaile from this very place. 1732 Law Serious C. xviii. (ed. 2) 326 Born and bred in families that have no Religion. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 288 He was born and bred in your house. |
II. intr. (for refl.).
12. a. To come into being or existence, as a continued process; hence, to be engendered or produced.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 165 Wuremes breden in wilderne. a 1300 Cursor M. 16410 His blod on vs be, and on þaim þat of vs sal brede. c 1320 Anticrist 32 Nu sal yee her..Hu þat anticrist sal brede. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 4 Heil crowned queene..Heil þat alle oure blis in bradde! c 1440 York Myst. xxxii. 130 Woo worthe þe wombe þat I bredde ynne. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 46 The worme that breeds within it. c 1600 Lyrics for Lutenists (Collier) 14 It is a sweete delicious morne, Where day is breeding, never borne. 1626 Bacon Sylva §696 Fleas breed principally of Straw or Mats, where there hath been a little moisture. |
† b. Of eggs: To be hatched.
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 108 They lay egges, which breed. |
† c. Of vegetables, animal structures, growth, etc.: To come forth, spring, grow. Obs.
| a 1300 in Wright Lyric P. xiv. 45 Blosmes bredeth on the bowes. 1375 Barbour Bruce xvi. 68 Lewis on the branchis spredis, And blomys bricht besyd thame bredis. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., Fro whens bredeth the synewes? 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. iii. xi. 153 Certain strong band, breeding from without, and creeping to the Cheek-bone. |
† d. Of mineral products: To be formed naturally, be produced. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. (Tollemache MS.) xvi. iii, That stone [alabaster] þat bredeþ [nascitur] aboute Thebe. Ibid. xix. xxiii. (1495) 877 Some colour bredeth in veynes of the erthe, as Sinopis Rubrica. |
13. fig. To arise, originate, spring forth, make their appearance.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1156 Of which ther gan to bredyn swich a fyer. 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. i. iii. 10 His high exploits, whereof such wonder bread. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India I. iii. iv. 585 [He] allowed..discontents & jealousies to breed in the army. |
† 14. with compl. To grow or become (something). Obs.
| c 1325 Poem temp. Edw. II, lxiii, Thei..bredeth wode for wele. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1558 Þenne þe bolde Baltazar bred ner wode. |
† 15. ? To nestle, to hive; to dwell. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 415 He Corounde me quene in blysse to brede. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 21 Quen þis Bretayn watz bigged..Bolde bredden þerinne. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1782 To sum wildernesse where as þei bredde. |
III. Phrases. to breed out: to exhaust the breed, degenerate (obs.); also, to eliminate (a characteristic) by (controlled) breeding; to breed in and in: to breed always with near relatives; the opposite being to breed out and out.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. v. 29 Our madames mock at vs, and plainely say Our Mettell is bred out. 1607 ― Timon i. i. 259 The straine of mans bred out into Baboon and Monkey. 1819 Byron Juan i. lvii, In that point so precise in each degree That they bred in and in..Marrying their cousins—nay, their aunts and nieces. 1922 R. Leighton Complete Bk. of Dog xii. 178 Most Irish water spaniels have bad, straight shoulders, a defect which should be bred out. 1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man xv. 299 We could theoretically breed out much of human variety. |
IV. Comb. formed on the verb-stem: † breed-sleep a., sleep-breeding, soporific; † breed-young a., having young, suckling.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneid iv. (Arb.) 112 Hoonnie liquid sprinckling and breede sleepe wild popye strawing. 1603 Florio Montaigne (1632) Swifter then breed-yong Tiger. |
▪ III. breed(e
obs. form of bread, brede n.2 and n.3.