I. ˈpedəˌgrē noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English pedegru, from Middle French pie de grue crane's foot; from the shape made by the lines of a genealogical chart
1. : a register (as a table or chart) recording a line of ancestors : a genealogical tree : stemma
drawing up a family pedigree
2.
a. : an ancestral line : lineage , descent
the dowager scrutinized his pedigree and background
b.
(1) : the origin and the history (as of the developmental stages or the successive states or owners) of something
the pedigree of a document
pedigrees of ideas or influences — Times Literary Supplement
the pedigree of the house we lived in — Mary A. Allen
(2) : the sequence of owners of a work of art (as a painting)
the condition of the pictures … their pedigree , the subjects represented — Times Literary Supplement
(3) : the history of a collector's coin or stamp including facts about its original issuance, its rarity, and the sales in which it has changed hands
3.
a. : distinguished ancestry
actions spoke louder than pedigrees in the trenches — Dixon Wecter
b. : recorded purity of breed (as of horses or plants strains)
vouch for a horse's pedigree
4. : a long line of succession (as of persons holding an office or continuing a tradition)
the whole pedigree of club presidents
Synonyms: see ancestry
II. adjective
: having a pedigree : purebred
a pedigree cocker spaniel
a four-year-old pedigree Guernsey bull — Veterinary Record
III. transitive verb
( pedigreed ; pedigreed ; pedigreeing ; pedigrees )
: to breed or propagate so that descent is known and can be recorded : provide with a pedigree