I. born 1 S1 W2 BrE AmE verb
1 . be born when a person or animal is born, they come out of their mother’s body or out of an egg:
Forty lambs were born this spring.
be born in
Swift was born in 1667.
be born at
Then, most babies were born at home.
be born on
I was born on December 15th, 1973.
be born into/to/of something (=be born in a particular situation, type of family etc)
One third of all children are born into single-parent families.
be born with something (=have a particular disease, type of character etc since birth)
Jenny was born with a small hole in her heart.
I was born and raised (=was born and grew up) in Alabama.
be born blind/deaf etc (=be blind, deaf etc when born)
a newly-born baby
the queen’s firstborn son
be born lucky/unlucky etc (=always be lucky, unlucky etc)
Australian/French etc born (=born in or as a citizen of Australia etc)
► Do not say ‘I born’, ‘I have been born’, or ‘I am born’. Say I was born : I was born in Pakistan.
2 . START EXISTING be born something that is born starts to exist:
the country where the sport of cricket was born
be born (out) of (=as a result of a particular situation)
The alliance was born of necessity in 1941.
Bill spoke with a cynicism born of bitter experience.
3 . born and bred born and having grown up in a particular place and having the typical qualities of someone from that place:
I was born and bred in Liverpool.
4 . be born to do/be something to be very suitable for a particular job, activity etc:
He was born to be a politician.
5 . I wasn’t born yesterday spoken used to tell someone you think is lying to you that you are not stupid enough to believe them
6 . there’s one born every minute spoken used to say that someone has been very stupid or easily deceived
7 . be born under a lucky/unlucky star to always have good or bad luck in your life
8 . be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to be born into a rich family ⇨ ↑ natural-born
II. born 2 BrE AmE adjective [only before noun]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: boren , past participle of beran ; ⇨ ↑ bear 1 ]
1 . born leader/musician/teacher etc someone who has a strong natural ability to lead, play music etc:
the skill of a born actor
2 . born loser someone who always seems to have bad things happen to them
3 . in all your born days old-fashioned used to express surprise or annoyance at something that you have never heard about before