bred
- simple past tense and past participle of breed.
breed
- to produce (offspring); procreate; engender.
- to produce by mating; propagate sexually; reproduce: Ten mice were bred in the laboratory.
- Horticulture.
- to cause to reproduce by controlled pollination.
- to improve by controlled pollination and selection.
- to raise (cattle, sheep, etc.): He breeds longhorns on the ranch.
- to cause or be the source of; engender; give rise to: Dirt breeds disease. Stagnant water breeds mosquitoes.
- to develop by training or education; bring up; rear: He was born and bred a gentleman.
- Energy. to produce more fissile nuclear fuel than is consumed in a reactor.
- to impregnate; mate: Breed a strong mare with a fast stallion and hope for a Derby winner.
- to produce offspring: Many animals breed in the spring.
- to be engendered or produced; grow; develop: Bacteria will not breed in alcohol.
- to cause the birth of young, as in raising stock.
- to be pregnant.
- Genetics. a relatively homogenous group of animals within a species, developed and maintained by humans.
- lineage; stock; strain: She comes from a fine breed of people.
- sort; kind; group: Scholars are a quiet breed.
- Disparaging and Offensive. half-breed(def 1).
Origin of breed
Synonyms for breed
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for bred
produced, raised, cultured, trained, cultivated, refined, educated, propagated, rearedExamples from the Web for bred
Contemporary Examples of bred
Secondly, what's with choosing Swift, a 24-year-old born in Pennsylvania and bred in Nashville, to represent NYC?
Darci Brown, owner of a car dealership in Greenfield, Mass., has bred dogs as a hobby for 30 years.
These exotic animals are kept in small cages and bred over and over again.
Even when bred in captivity, Leahy said breeding facilities are often horrendous, resembling factory farming.
The modern world has strayed somewhat from fostering the same sense of adventure that bred his youthful imagination.
Discovering Underground Labyrinths, Remote Cities, and More of the World’s Lost PlacesNina Strochlic
July 8, 2014
Historical Examples of bred
Mr. Malbone would hardly imagine you had been bred in a Christian land.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
It is the result of apprehension and misapprehension, and bred of race-fear.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
"So I've a right to do, being born and bred to the bar," says Sir Condy.
Tales And Novels, Volume 4 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
All the wicked fellows whom I remember at the university were bred at them.
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2Henry Fielding
There was a neighbour of mine, a farmer, who had two sons whom he bred up to the business.
Joseph Andrews, Vol. 2Henry Fielding
bred
- the past tense and past participle of breed
- Australian derogatory, slang a person who lives in a small remote place
Word Origin for bred
breed
- to bear (offspring)
- (tr) to bring up; raise
- to produce or cause to produce by mating; propagate
- to produce and maintain new or improved strains of (domestic animals and plants)
- to produce or be produced; generateto breed trouble; violence breeds in densely populated areas
- a group of organisms within a species, esp a group of domestic animals, originated and maintained by man and having a clearly defined set of characteristics
- a lineage or racea breed of Europeans
- a kind, sort, or groupa special breed of hatred
Word Origin for breed
Word Origin and History for bred
past tense and past participle of breed (v.).
breed
Old English bredan "bring young to birth, carry," also "cherish, keep warm," from West Germanic *brodjan (cf. Old High German bruoten, German brüten "to brood, hatch"), from *brod- "fetus, hatchling," from PIE *bhreue- "burn, heat" (see brood (n.)). Original notion of the word was incubation, warming to hatch. Sense of "grow up, be reared" (in a clan, etc.) is late 14c. Related: Bred; breeding.
breed
"race, lineage, stock" (originally of animals), 1550s, from breed (v.). Of persons, from 1590s. Meaning "kind, species" is from 1580s.
breed
- To produce or reproduce by giving birth or hatching.
- To raise animals or plants, often to produce new or improved types.
- A group of organisms having common ancestors and sharing certain traits that are not shared with other members of the same species. Breeds are usually produced by mating selected parents.
Idioms and Phrases with bred
bred
see born and bred. Also see under breed.
breed
see familiarity breeds contempt.