breed
• verb (past and past part. bred) 1 (of animals) mate and then produce offspring. 2 keep (animals) for the purpose of producing young. 3 bring up (someone) to behave in a particular way. 4 produce or lead to. • noun 1 a distinctive type within a species of animals or plants, especially one deliberately developed. 2 a sort or kind. — ORIGIN Old English, related to BROOD.
Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary
About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day
Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names
| 
