Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Breeding
Breed′ing
,Noun.
1.
The act or process of generating or bearing.
2.
The raising or improving of any kind of domestic animals;
as, farmers should pay attention to
. breeding
3.
Nurture; education; formation of manners.
She had her
breeding
at my father’s charge. Shakespeare
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.
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.
5.
Descent; pedigree; extraction.
[Obs.]
Honest gentlemen, I know not your
breeding
. Shakespeare
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.
Syn. – Education; instruction; nurture; training; manners. See
Education
. Webster 1828 Edition
Breeding
BREE'DING
,ppr.
BREE'DING
,Noun.
1.
The raising of a breed or breeds; as, the farmer attends to the breeding of sheep.2.
Nurture; education; instruction; formation of manners.She had her breeding at my father's charge.
3.
By way of eminence, manners; knowledge of ceremony; deportment or behavior in the external offices and decorums of social life. Hence good breeding is politeness, or the qualifications which constitute genteel deportment.