birth Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the time when something begins (especially life)
    • they divorced after the birth of the child
    • his election signaled the birth of a new age
  2. noun the event of being born
    nativity; nascency; nascence.
    • they celebrated the birth of their first child
  3. noun the process of giving birth
    giving birth; parturition; birthing.
  4. noun the kinship relation of an offspring to the parents
    parentage.
  5. noun a baby born; an offspring
    • the overall rate of incidence of Down's syndrome is one in every 800 births
  6. verb cause to be born
    have; deliver; bear; give birth.
    • My wife had twins yesterday!

WordNet

Birth noun
Etymology
OE. burth, birth, AS. beor, gebyrd, fr. beran to bear, bring forth; akin to D. geboorate, OHG. burt, giburt, G. geburt, Icel. burr, Skr. bhrti bearing, supporting; cf. Ir. & Gael. beirthe born, brought forth. 92. See 1st Bear, and cf. Berth.
Definitions
  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 that 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. Syn. -- Parentage; extraction; lineage; race; family.
Birth noun
Definitions
  1. See Berth. Obs. De Foe.

Webster 1913