birth

sq-noun

birth m (plural birthe, definite birthi, definite plural birthat)

birthe (plural)
birthi (definite)
birthat (definite plural)


birth

Diminutive -th lengthening of bir (“son”).


birth

(uncountable) The process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into the environment.

Intersex babies account for roughly one per cent of all births.

the birth of an empire

(countable) A beginning or start; a point of origin.

He was of noble birth, but fortune had not favored him.

without reference to birth, but solely for their qualifications

1843, William H. Prescott, History Of The Conquest Of Mexico And History Of The Conquest Of Peru, The Modern Library, page 42:

Lucy […] had no fortune, which, though a minor evil, was an evil; and she had no birth, in the high-life sense of the word, which was a greater evil.

1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

(uncountable) The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.

That poets are far rarer births than kings.

1692, Ben Jonson, “Epigrams”, in The Works of Ben Jonson, page 288:

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

1761, Joseph Addison, The Works of Joseph Addison, volume 3, John Baskerville, page 49:

en-noun

birth (countable and uncountable, plural births)

ubka

process of childbearing; beginning of life

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-
Proto-Indo-European *-tis
Proto-Indo-European *bʰértisder.
Proto-Germanic *burþiz
Old Norse burðrbor.
Middle English birthe
English birth
From Middle English birthe (1250), from earlier burthe, burde, from Old Norse burðr, byrd (Old Swedish byrth, Swedish börd), replacing Old English ġebyrd (rare variant byrþ), equivalent to bear + -th (thus a piecewise doublet of berth). The Old Norse is from Proto-Germanic *burdiz (compare Old Frisian berde, berd); Old English ġebyrd is from prefixed *gaburþiz (compare Dutch geboorte, German Geburt), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥tis (compare Latin fors (“luck”), Old Irish brith), from *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”). More at bear.


birth

Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.

A familial relationship established by childbirth.


birth

I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!

1939, Sidney Howard, Ben Hecht, Jo Swerling, John Van Druten, Oliver H.P. Garrett, Gone with the Wind (film):

Kelly: Is it true we have a pod containing a baby krogan down in the cargo hold?
Shepard: Not a baby. He's a full-grown super soldier ready for combat.
Kelly: Please be careful if you decide to... err... birth him? His personality is completely unknown.

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:

She cites some recent examples from the papers: “I birthed two babies in rapid succession”; Beyoncé “birthed her twins”; while somewhere else in the same paper a woman proudly proclaimed: “I birthed a calf!”. She ends: “My objection to the American usage is that it seems to stress rather crudely the muscular process of bringing forth a baby, whereas the graceful British English term ‘to give birth to’ is much more dignified!”

2023 March 5, Jonathan Bouquet, “May I have a word about… being stuck in a permacrisis”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(transitive) To bear or give birth to (a child).

Biological evolution created a human mind that enabled cultural evolution, which now outpaces and outclasses the force that birthed it.

2006, R. Bruce Hull, Infinite Nature, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 156:

(transitive, figuratively) To produce, give rise to.

en-verb

birth (third-person singular simple present births, present participle birthing, simple past and past participle birthed)

births (present singular third-person)
birthing (participle present)
birthed (participle past)
birthed (past)

From Middle English birthen, birðen, from the noun (see above).


birth

He vvas a Surgeon, and they called him Doctor; but he vvas not employed in the Sloop as a Surgeon, but vvas going to Berbadoes to get a Birth, as the Sailors call it.

1720, [Daniel Defoe], The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, London: […] J[ohn] Brotherton, […], J[ohn] Graves […], A[nne] Dodd, […], and T[homas] Warner, […], →OCLC, page 186:

And vvhen he had ſhevvn me their birth (as he called it) I vvas filled vvith aſtoniſhment and horror.—VVe deſcended by divers ladders to a ſpace as dark as a dungeon, vvhich I underſtood vvas immerſed ſeveral feet under vvater, being immediately above the hold: I had no ſooner approached this diſmal gulph, than my noſe vvas ſaluted vvith an intolerable ſtench of putrified cheeſe, and rancid butter, […]

1748, [Tobias Smollett], “I am Reduced to Great Misery—Assaulted on Tower-hill by a Press-gang, who Put Me on Board a Tender—My Usage there—My Arrival on Board of the Thunder Man of War, […]”, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 226:

Tho' vve vvere again got near our harbour by three in the afternoon, yet it ſeemed to require a full hour or more, before vve could come to our former place of anchoring, or birth, as the captain called it.

a. 1755 (date written), Henry Fielding, The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1755, →OCLC, page 191:

[Y]ou have got a good vvarm birth here; but vve ſhall beat up your quarters. Here, Lucy, Moll, come to the fire, and dry your trumpery.

1778, [Frances Burney], “Letter XVI. Evelina to the Rev. Mr. Villars.”, in Evelina, or, A Young Lady’s Entrance into the World, volume I, London: […] T[homas] Lowndes, […], →OCLC, page 103:

Passengers their births are clapt in, / Some to grumble, some to spew. / 'Hey day! call you that a cabin? / Why 'tis hardly three feet square; / Not enough to stow Queen Mab in— / Who the deuce can harbour there?'

1809 June 30, Lord Byron, “Letter XXXVI. To Mr. Hodgson.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1830, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 191:

[W]ith worldly wisdom, the first comer hastens to secure the best birth in the coach for himself, and to make the most convenient arrangement for his baggage before the arrival of his competitor.

1816, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 6–7:

"[…] She lays close to the Endymion, between her and the Cleopatra, just to the eastward of the sheer hulk." / "Ha!" cried William, "that's just where I should have put her myself. It's the best birth at Spithead.[…]"

1816 February 19, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park: […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, page 151:

The road was very narrow, with no opportunity of giving the apparent phantom what seamen call a wide birth.

1830, Walter Scott, “Letter X”, in Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 386: