From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Breed \Breed\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bred; p. pr. & vb. n.
Breeding.] [OE. breden, AS. br[=e]dan to nourish, cherish,
keep warm, from br[=o]d brood; akin to D. broeden to brood,
OHG. bruoten, G. br["u]ten. See Brood.]
1. To produce as offspring; to bring forth; to bear; to
procreate; to generate; to beget; to hatch.
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Yet every mother breeds not sons alike. --Shak.
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If the sun breed maggots in a dead dog. --Shak.
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2. To take care of in infancy, and through the age of youth;
to bring up; to nurse and foster.
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To bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed.
--Dryden.
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Born and bred on the verge of the wilderness.
--Everett.
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3. To educate; to instruct; to form by education; to train;
-- sometimes followed by up.
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But no care was taken to breed him a Protestant.
--Bp. Burnet.
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His farm may not remove his children too far from
him, or the trade he breeds them up in. --Locke.
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4. To engender; to cause; to occasion; to originate; to
produce; as, to breed a storm; to breed disease.
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Lest the place
And my quaint habits breed astonishment. --Milton.
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5. To give birth to; to be the native place of; as, a pond
breeds fish; a northern country breeds stout men.
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6. To raise, as any kind of stock.
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7. To produce or obtain by any natural process. [Obs.]
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Children would breed their teeth with less danger.
--Locke.
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Syn: To engender; generate; beget; produce; hatch; originate;
bring up; nourish; train; instruct.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Breeding \Breed"ing\, n.
1. The act or process of generating or bearing.
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2. The raising or improving of any kind of domestic animals;
as, farmers should pay attention to breeding.
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3. Nurture; education; formation of manners.
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She had her breeding at my father's charge. --Shak.
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4. Deportment or behavior in the external offices and
decorums of social life; manners; knowledge of, or
training in, the ceremonies, or polite observances of
society.
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Delicacy of breeding, or that polite deference and
respect which civility obliges us either to express
or counterfeit towards the persons with whom we
converse. --Hume.
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5. Descent; pedigree; extraction. [Obs.]
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Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding. --Shak.
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Close breeding, In and in breeding, breeding from a male
and female from the same parentage.
Cross breeding, breeding from a male and female of
different lineage.
Good breeding, politeness; genteel deportment.
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Syn: Education; instruction; nurture; training; manners. See
Education.
[1913 Webster] Breeze
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
breeding
adj 1: producing offspring or set aside especially for producing
offspring; "the breeding population"; "retained a few
bulls for breeding purposes"
n 1: elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression
[syn: breeding, genteelness, gentility]
2: the result of good upbringing (especially knowledge of
correct social behavior); "a woman of breeding and
refinement" [syn: education, training, breeding]
3: helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the
community; "they debated whether nature or nurture was more
important" [syn: breeding, bringing up, fostering,
fosterage, nurture, raising, rearing, upbringing]
4: the production of animals or plants by inbreeding or
hybridization
5: the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspring [syn:
reproduction, procreation, breeding, facts of life]