breeding

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹiːdɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -iːdɪŋ

From Middle English breedyng, bredynge (“gestation, incubation, propagation, hatching; engineering, formation, development, growth”), equivalent to breed +‎ -ing.

breeding (countable and uncountable, plural breedings)

1. Propagation of offspring through sexual reproduction.
   • 1950, Gunnar Thorson, “Reproductive and Larval Ecology of Marine Bottom Invertebrates”, in Biological Reviews, volume 25, number 1, pages 1–45:

     In analysing the ecological conditions of an animal population we have above all to focus our attention upon the most sensitive stages within the life cycle of the animal, that is, the period of breeding and larval development.

   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 222:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true.

2. The act of insemination by natural or artificial means.
3. The act of copulation in animals.
4. The good manners regarded as characteristic of the aristocracy and conferred by heredity.
5. Nurture; education; formation of manners.
   • Shakespeare

     She had her breeding at my father's charge.

6. Descent; pedigree; extraction.

   Your dog has good breeding.

   • Shakespeare

     Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding.

7. (gay slang) Ejaculation inside the rectum during bareback anal sex, usually applied to gay pornography.

• inbreeding
• outbreeding

From Middle English bredyng, bredynge, from Old English *brēdende, from Proto-Germanic *brōdijandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *brōdijaną (“to brood; breed”), equivalent to breed +‎ -ing.

breeding (not comparable)

1. Of, relating to or used for breeding.

   Your toothbrush is a breeding ground for bacteria.

• breeding ground

breeding

1. present participle of breed

   Through genetic manipulation and harsh training, I am breeding a species of super-dogs to take over the world.

• beringed, bigender