Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Birth

Birth (bẽrth), n. [OE. burth, birth, AS. beor?, gebyrd, fr. beran to bear, bring forth; akin to D. geboorte, OHG. burt, giburt, G. geburt, Icel. burðr, Skr. bhrti bearing, supporting; cf. Ir. & Gael. beirthe born, brought forth. √92. See 1st Bear, and cf. Berth.] 1. The act or fact of coming into life, or of being born; — generally applied to human beings; as, the birth of a son.

2. Lineage; extraction; descent; sometimes, high birth; noble extraction.

Elected without reference to birth, but solely for qualifications. Prescott.

3. The condition to which a person is born; natural state or position; inherited disposition or tendency.

A foe by birth to Troy's unhappy name. Dryden.

4. The act of bringing forth; as, she had two children at a birth. "At her next birth." Milton.

5. That which is born; that which is produced, whether animal or vegetable.

Poets are far rarer births than kings. B. Jonson.

Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself. Addison.

6. Origin; beginning; as, the birth of an empire.

New birth (Theol.), regeneration, or the commencement of a religious life.

Syn. — Parentage; extraction; lineage; race; family.

Birth, n. See Berth. [Obs.] De Foe.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.