Breed"ing (&?;), n. 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.
Shak.
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.
Shak.
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.