BIRTH Definition & Meaning

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birth

[ burth ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an act or instance of being born:
the day of his birth.
the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring; childbirth; parturition:
a difficult birth.
lineage; extraction; descent:
of Grecian birth.
Synonyms: , , , ,
high or noble lineage:
to be foolishly vain about one's birth.
natural heritage:
a musician by birth.
any coming into existence; origin; beginning:
the birth of Protestantism; the birth of an idea.
Synonyms: , , , ,
Archaic. something that is born.

verb (used with object)

Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S.

to give birth to.
to assist in giving birth; act as midwife for.

birth

/ ��ɜːθ /

noun

the process of bearing young; parturition; childbirth natal
the act or fact of being born; nativity
the coming into existence of something; origin
ancestry; lineage
of high birth
noble ancestry
a man of birth
natural or inherited talent
an artist by birth
archaic.
the offspring or young born at a particular time or of a particular mother
give birth
1. to bear (offspring)
2. to produce, originate, or create (an idea, plan, etc)

verb

to bear or bring forth (a child)

birth

/ ��û��ٳ� /

Noun

The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of its mother, seen in all mammals except monotremes.

Adjective

Present at birth, as a defect in a bodily structure.

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Other 51�Թ� Forms

��ܱ�t��·��ٳ� noun

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of birth¹

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English byrthe, from Scandinavian; compare Old Swedish byrth; cognate with Old English gebyrd, Old High German giburt, Gothic gabaurths; bear ¹( def ), -th ¹( def )

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of birth¹

C12: from Old Norse byrth ; related to Gothic gabaurths , Old Swedish byrdh , Old High German berd child; see bear ¹, bairn

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Idioms and Phrases

give birth to,
1. to bear (a child).
2. to initiate; originate:
  Her hobby gave birth to a successful business.

More idioms and phrases containing birth

see give birth to .

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Then, when Richard was two years old, his mother died from septicaemia after giving birth to a younger brother.

From

She later found out that back in the 1950s, she had been swapped at birth for another baby in a busy NHS maternity ward.

From

In the grip of severe but undiagnosed post-natal depression following the birth of Matthew, she said her reaction had been "I can't do this again".

From

The court heard how she became pregnant in the summer of 1997, while she was suffering from undiagnosed post-natal depression following the birth of Matthew the previous year.

From

An emergency room nurse and online influencer who was the wife of a Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter died after giving birth to their son, her husband shared in a social media post.

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Related 51�Թ�s

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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