breed

Plural: breeds

Noun

• a special variety of domesticated animals within a species
  • "he experimented on a particular breed of white rats"
• a special type
  • "Google represents a new breed of entrepreneurs"
• All animals or plants of the same species or subspecies.
• A race or lineage; offspring or issue.
• A group of people with shared characteristics.
• Ellipsis of half-breed.

Verb

Verb Forms: bred, breeding, breeds

• To produce offspring, typically in a controlled environment.
• call forth
• copulate with a female, used especially of horses
• cause to procreate (animals)
  • "She breeds dogs"
• have young (animals) or reproduce (organisms)
  • "pandas rarely breed in captivity"
• To produce offspring sexually; to bear young.
• To give birth to; to be the native place of.
• To mate.
• To keep (animals) and have (them) reproduce in a way that improves the next generation's qualities.
• To arrange the mating of (specific animals).
• To propagate or grow (plants) in an effort to give (them) certain qualities.
• To take care of in infancy and through childhood; to bring up.
• To yield or result in.
• To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated or to grow, like young before birth.
• To educate; to instruct; to bring up.
• To produce or obtain by any natural process.
• To have birth; to be produced, developed, or multiplied.
• To ejaculate inside (a person or a bodily orifice of same); to creampie.

Examples

• a breed of animal
• a breed of tulip
• A northern country breeds stout men.
• A pond breeds fish.
• born and bred
• disaster breeds famine
• familiarity breeds contempt
• He tries to breed blue roses.
• Long hours of study can breed a formidable Words With Friends player.
• People who were taught classical Greek and Latin at school are a dying breed.
• She wanted to breed her cow to the neighbor's registered bull.

Synonyms

cover, engender, multiply, spawn, stock, strain, bring up, cream, creampie, raise, rear

Related Words

breed in the bone

Anagrams of breed