Search results for 'Breed':

breed verb (bred, breeding) 1 intrans said of animals and plants: to reproduce sexually. 2 to make (animals or plants) reproduce sexually, sometimes in order to transmit certain selected characteristics from parents to offspring. 3 to make or produce (usually something bad) • Dirt breeds disease. 4 to train, bring up or educate (children, etc). 5 physics to produce more fissile fuel that is consumed in a nuclear reaction. See also breeder reactor. noun 1 an artificially maintained subdivision within an animal species, especially farm livestock or pet animals, produced by domestication and selective breeding, eg Friesian cattle. 2 a race or lineage. 3 a kind or type • a new breed of salesman. breeder noun 1 someone or something that breeds, especially a person who breeds animals or plants for a living. 2 short for breeder reactor.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon bredan to produce, hatch or cherish offspring.