birth1 (berth)

[Early mod. E. also berth, Had our prince (Jewel of children) seen this hour, he had pair'd Well with this lord; there was not full a month Between their births. Shak ., W. T., v. 1. IMG:content-2097.png:[graphic] 2. By extension, any act or fact of coming into existence; beginning; origination: as, the birth of Protestant ism. After an hour's strict search we discover the cause of the reports. They announce the birth of a creva e. Tyndall , Forms of Water, p. 98. 3. The act of bearing or bringing forth; parturition: as, "at her next birth," Milton, Ep. M. of Win., 1. 67.-4. The condition into which a person is born; lineage; extraction; descent: as, Grecian birth; noble birth: sometimes, absolutely, descent from noble or honorable parents and ancestors: as, a man of birth. He [James] had an obvious interest in inculcating the superstitious notion that birth confers rights anterior to law and unalterable by law. Macaulay . 5. That which is born; that which is produced. Poets are far rarer births than kings. B. Jonson , Epigrams. Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself. Add is on , Spectator, No. 120. Lines, the birth of some chance morning or evening at an Ionian festival, or among the Sabine hills, have lasted generation after generation. J. H. Newman, Gram. of A ent, p. 75. 6t. Nature; kind; sex; natural character. N. E. D.-7t. In astrol ., nativity; fortune. A cunning man did calculate my birth , And told me that by water I should die. Shak ., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 1. New birth, regeneration (which see). birth2, n. See berth2. birth-childt (berth'child), n. A child ascribed to the domain of its birth, or to the ruler of it: as, "Thetis' birth - child " ( Shak., Pericles, iv. 4), that is, one born on the sea, the domain of Thetis. birthday (berth'dā), n. and a. [ME. birthdai, birtheday (cf. AS. gebyrd - dæg ); This is my birth - day , as this very day Was Ca ius born. Shak ., J. C., v. 1. IMG:content-2098.png:[blocks in formation] birthing