birth

«birth» in Mova's school dictionary: the time when a baby or young animal comes out of its… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (birth, births)

meaning for a pupil

1) Birth is the time when a baby or young animal comes out of its mother's body and starts living in the world. tree →

2) Birth is the beginning of something: the birth of a new nation. tree →

3) By birth means by the family or place you were born into: Irish by birth. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, pupils study life cycles: birth, growth, adulthood, reproduction, old age, death; mammals give birth to live young, while birds and reptiles lay eggs. In everyday life: date of birth on forms, birth certificates, birthdays (the day you were born, celebrated every year). In history, «the birth of» the internet or of a country. Phrases: give birth to, at birth, date of birth, birth certificate, birthplace, birth weight.

examples

• The cow gave birth to a calf last night. tree →
• Mammals give birth to live babies. tree →
• Write your date of birth on the form. tree →
• My baby sister weighed 3 kilograms at birth. tree →
• We watched the birth of the lambs on the farm. tree →
• The town is his birthplace. tree →
• The story tells the birth of a new kingdom. tree →
• ‘Of noble birth!’ said the Darning-needle; ‘no indeed, but proud! tree →

note

Usually uncountable for the event («at birth»), countable for counting («many births»). Homophone: «berth» (a bed on a ship or train, or a place for a ship in a harbour) sounds the same. «Give birth to» — not «born to» for the mother: «She gave birth to twins»; «The twins were born.»

In the corpora

• The children of a parent's partner can become your step-siblings: brothers or sisters through marriage, not by birth.
• A midwife is a nurse trained to care for women and babies during pregnancy, birth and the first days after.
• Parents often make a shortlist of names, and the name must be registered officially within a few weeks of the birth.
• Whales are mammals: they breathe air, are warm-blooded, give birth to live young and feed them milk.
• Some sharks and rays lay eggs in leathery cases called mermaid's purses, while other sharks give birth to live pups.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «birth» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.