bred

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of breed.

   The ranch bred champion horses for three decades.

   Many of these plants were bred for their bright flowers.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty: the ranch bred horses (simple past), and the horses were bred there (past participle, after be or have). The passive often carries for and the quality aimed at, as in plants bred for their flowers or cattle bred for size, because breeding in its controlled sense works toward a goal. Despite the identical spelling, the dialect word for a plank is a different word.

2. 2
   noundialectal

   Alternative form of braid (a board, shelf, or plank).

   A row of pewter mugs stood along the oak bred by the door.

   The farmhand nailed a new bred across the gap in the stall.

   Note

   A dialect descendant of Old English bred, which meant a board, plank, tablet or even a table. The braid it stands in for is that board word, not the familiar braid of woven hair or twisted wire. Outside regional speech it will puzzle most readers, so it belongs in dialogue or local description rather than general prose. Its plural is simply breds.

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