birth

plural births

1. uncountableThe 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.
2. countableAn instance of childbirth.

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

   1 more example

   In Greece a child was given its name on the seventh or tenth day after birth.

   1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii

3. countableA beginning or start; a point of origin.

   the birth of an empire

4. uncountableThe circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.

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

   2 more examples

   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

5. countableuncountableThat which is born.

   That poets are far rarer births than kings.

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

   1 more example

   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

1. not comparableA familial relationship established by childbirth.

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

   Synonyms: biological, blood, consanguineous

present singular third person births · participle present birthing · participle past birthed · past birthed

1. transitiveTo bear or give birth to (a child).

   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)

   2 more examples

   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

2. figurativelytransitiveTo produce, give rise to.

   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

plural births

1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of berth.

   [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

   5 more examples

   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

   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