half-bred

half-bred

English

Etymology

half- +‎ bred

Adjective

half-bred (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) half-blooded
2. Imperfectly acquainted with the rules of good breeding; not well trained.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Atterbury to this entry?)

Noun

half-bred (plural half-breds)

1. A half-blooded animal.
   • 1869, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases (page 328)

     The Leicesters and half-breds are purchased by farmers who keep no breeding stock: they are well turniped during the winter, and clipped and fattened in the following season.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for half-bred in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)