breed
part of speech
noun (a breed, breeds); verb (breed, breeds, bred, breeding)
meaning for a pupil
1) A breed is a particular kind of dog, cat, horse or farm animal, like a Labrador or a poodle. tree →
2) To breed is for animals to mate and have babies. tree →
3) To breed animals or plants is to keep them so they have young, choosing the parents carefully. tree →
4) To breed something, such as a feeling or a problem, is to cause it to grow or happen. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons pupils learn that animals breed to make offspring, and that people bred dogs, cattle and crops for useful features (selective breeding). Pet owners talk about breeds. In nature lessons birds breed in spring. Phrases: breed of dog, cross-breed, breeding season, bred for.
examples
- What breed is your dog? tree →
- A Labrador is a friendly breed. tree →
- Frogs breed in ponds in spring. tree →
- Farmers breed sheep for wool. tree →
- This breed of cat has no fur. tree →
- Rabbits breed very quickly. tree →
- Collies were bred to herd sheep. tree →
- Birds build nests in the breeding season. tree →
- It is quite remarkable how one good action always breeds another. tree →
note
Irregular verb: breed, bred, bred (not «breeded»). Do not confuse «bred» with «bread» — they sound the same. A breed is within one species: all dog breeds are still dogs. Maths problems about rabbits breeding often double or multiply numbers each time.
In the corpora
- Some of the smallest animals here are the rarest of all, and zoos breed them to save kinds that would otherwise disappear.
- Zoos swap animals between countries through planned breeding programmes, called EEPs in Europe and SSPs in North America.
- Zoos sometimes stop breeding an animal when there is no space or no need, and some use birth control to manage numbers.
- Goldfish come from a wild carp in China, bred for their colours over about a thousand years.
- There are around four hundred dog breeds in the world, and mixed-breed dogs are often very healthy.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «breed» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.