Definition of "birth" []

• The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of the mother. (noun)
• The act or process of bearing young; parturition: the mare's second birth. (noun)
• The circumstances or conditions relating to this event, as its time or location: an incident that took place before my birth; a Bostonian by birth. (noun)
• The set of characteristics or circumstances received from one's ancestors; inheritance: strong-willed by birth; acquired their wealth through birth. (noun)
• Origin; extraction: of Swedish birth; of humble birth. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Another objection was her birth: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" but as it was _birth merely and solely_, {p. 254} this has been abandoned."
• "V. i.214 (376, 4) [Your choice is not so rich in worth as beauty] [W. in birth] _Worth_ is as proper as _birth."
• "WARBURTON.] _Native_ is here not natural birth, but _natural parent_, or _cause of birth_."