breed

Universal Words verb, noun verb (bred, bred ) 1 [V] (of animals) to have sex and produce young: Many animals breed only at certain times of the year. seealsoINTERBREED 2 [VN] ~ sth (for / as sth) to keep animals or plants in order to produce young ones in a controlled way: The rabbits are bred for their long coats. * Greyhounds were originally bred as hunting dogs. * the first panda to be bred in captivity seealsoCROSS-BREED, PURE-BRED, THOROUGHBRED 3 [VN] to be the cause of sth: Nothing breeds success like success. 4 [VN] [usuallypassive] ~ sth into sb to educate sb in a particular way as they are growing up: Fear of failure was bred into him at an early age. seealsoWELLBRED IDIOMS see BORNv., FAMILIARITY noun 1 a particular type of animal that has been developed by people in a controlled way, especially a type of dog, cat or farm animal: Labradors and other large breeds of dog * a breed of cattle / sheep 2 [usuallysing.] a type of person: He represents a new breed of politician. * Players as skilful as this are a rare breed.