All animals or plants of the same species or subspecies.
"Farmers carefully select a pure breed of cattle to ensure they produce milk consistently."
In plain English: A breed is a specific type of animal that has been developed to have certain traits, such as different looks or behaviors.
"The shelter has many different breeds of dogs available for adoption."
To produce offspring sexually; to bear young.
"After years of careful selection, the farm finally succeeded in breeding a new line of disease-resistant cattle."
In plain English: To breed means to produce offspring by mating animals together for specific traits.
"The dog owner wanted to breed his puppy with another from the same litter."
Usage: Use "breed" as an intransitive verb when describing how a specific animal produces its own kind, such as dogs breeding with other dogs. Avoid using it transitively for general reproduction unless you are specifying the exact partner or group involved in mating.
A surname.
"The Breeds have lived in that valley since the nineteenth century."
The word "breed" comes from Old English brēdan, which originally meant "to brood." Its ultimate roots trace back to a Proto-Indo-European term for "warm."