half-bred

English

Etymology

From half- ‎ bred.

Adjective

half-bred (not comparable)

1. Imperfectly acquainted with the rules of good breeding; not well trained.
   • 1694 November 7 (Gregorian calendar), Francis Atterbury, “A Scorner Incapable of True Wisdom. A Sermon Preach’d before the Queen at White-hall. October 28. 1694.”, in Fourteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions. […], London: […] E. P. [Edmund Parker?] for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1708, →OCLC, page 154:

     He that is but Half a Philoſopher, is in danger of being an Atheiſt; an Half-Phyſician is apt to turn Empiric; an Half-Bred man is conceited in his Addreſs, and troubleſome in his Converſation.

2. (obsolete) Half-blooded.

Noun

half-bred (plural half-breds)

1. A half-blooded animal.
   • 1869, Sheep: Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases, page 328:

     The Leicesters and half-breds are purchased by farmers who keep no breeding stock: they are well turniped during the winter, and clipped and fattened in the following season.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “half-bred”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)