Breeding (&unr_;), n. 1. The act or process of generating or bearing.
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2. The raising or improving of any kind of domestic animals; as, farmers should pay attention to breeding.
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3. Nurture; education; formation of manners.
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She had her breeding at my father's charge. Shak.
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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.
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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.
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5. Descent; pedigree; extraction. [Obs.]
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Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding. Shak.
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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.
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Syn. -- Education; instruction; nurture; training; manners. See Education.
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