interbreed, v.
(ɪntəˈbriːd)
[inter- 1 b.]
1. intr. Of animals of different race or species: To breed with each other.
| 1864 Reader No. 86. 235/3 Capable of fertile interbreeding. 1889 A. R. Wallace Darwinism 2 Rooks always produce rooks, and crows produce crows, and they do not inter⁓breed. 1896 Blackw. Mag. May 683 Some interbreeding races. |
2. intr. or absol. To cause animals to interbreed; spec. to practise breeding between the members of two stocks.
| 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. iii. (1872) 55 The good effects of inter-crossing, and the ill effects of close interbreeding..come into play. 1870 A. L. Adams Nile Valley & Malta 47 No doubt the ferocious propensities of the feline race may be overcome by constant interbreeding. 1886 C. Scott Sheep-farming 22 There is much prejudice in many quarters against breeding in-and-in,—that is, inter-breeding too closely between members of the same family. |
3. trans. To breed (offspring) from individuals of different species or races; to cross-breed. Also fig.
| 1865 Masson Rec. Brit. Philos. 62 Effects interbred between them and a particular sentiency in the midst of them. 1889 Pall Mall G. 24 June 2/1 Miserable inhabitants, inter⁓bred from Chinese, Portuguese, Malay, Indian, and unknown human jetsam. |
Hence interˈbreeding vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| [See examples above.] |