1. To generate; to engender; to hatch; to produce the young of any species of animals. I think it is never used of plants, and in animals is always applied to the mother or dam.

2. To produce within or upon the body; as, to breed teeth; to breed worms.

3. To cause; to occasion; to produce; to originate.

Intemperance and lust breed infirmities.

Ambition breeds factions.

4. To contrive; to hatch; to produce by plotting.

Had he a heart and a brain to breed it in?

5. To give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond breeds fish; a northern country breeds a race of stout men.

6. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; often, but unnecessarily, followed by up; as, to breed a son to an occupation; a man bred at a university. To breed up is vulgar.

7. To bring up; to nurse and foster; to take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth; to provide for, train and conduct; to instruct the mind and form the manners in youth.

To bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed.

, n. A race or progeny from the same parents or stock.

1. A cast; a kind; a race of men or other animals, which have an alliance by nativity, or some distinctive qualities in common; as a breed of men in a particular country; a breed of horses or sheep. Applied to men, it is not elegant. We use race.

2. Progeny; offspring; applied to other things than animals.

3. A number produced at once, a hatch; a brood; but for this, brood is generally used.