I. ˈbərth, ˈbə̄th, ˈbəith noun
( plural births -ths sometimes -thz)
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English birthe, burthe, from Old Norse byrth; akin to Old English ge byrd birth, Old High German gi burt, Gothic ga baurths, Old Norse bera to bear — more at bear
1.
a. : the act of coming forth from the womb : the condition of being born : the emergence of a new individual from the body of its parent ; specifically : the period during which and processes by which the mammalian fetus becomes established as an individual physically independent of its mother's body
several years after the birth of the princess
the birth of the head was delayed
a child sickly from birth
b. : the act or process of bringing forth young from the womb
she had a very hard birth after a prolonged labor
2.
a. : the condition or position that falls to a person as a result of being born especially at a particular time or place or into a particular kinship
a Frenchman by birth
marriage between those unequal in birth and ability is risky
b. : high or noble status dependent on birth
a lady of birth descended from the Kings of Ireland
c. obsolete : nativity 4
3. obsolete : fetus
4.
a. archaic : one that is born : child , offspring , young
b. : a coming into existence : beginning , start
the birth of an idea
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. now chiefly dialect : to bring forth (as a child)
2. : to give rise to : originate , produce
provided the weapons that won the war and … birthed the Atomic Age — Philip Wylie
intransitive verb
dialect : to bring forth a child or young
two women due to birth 'bout the same time — Ralph Ellison
III. adjective
Etymology: birth , noun
: biological herein
spent years searching for her birth parents