Birth sb.¹

Forms: 3 burðe(ü) birðe, 3–4 burþe, birþ(e, 4 byrþe, burþ, berþe, (briþ, breth,) 4–5 burth(e, birthe, 4–6 byrth(e, 5 bryth, 6–7 berth, 3– birth. [Early ME. byrþ(e, burð(e, birþ(e, probably, since the form is foreign to OE., a. ON. *byrð(i)r str. fem. (OSw. byrþ, Da. byrd), genit. burðar (on which Icelandic formed a new nominative burðr masc.); = Goth. ga-baurþs:—OTeut. *(ga-)burþi-z, f. the stem of ber-an to BEAR, with suffix -þi- (= Aryan -ti-s, cf. Skr. bhṛtís, OIr. brith). The OTeut. word had shifting stress, and consequently, according to Verner’s law, þ and d interchanged in the inflexion: in ON. and Goth. these were levelled under þ, but in WGer. under d (High G. t), in OS. giburd, OHG. giburt, burt (MHG., mod.G. geburt), OE. ʓebyrd. The latter was prob. the source of ME. BIRDE, burde, ‘race, descent’; but could hardly be that of birth, unless the latter was assimilated to sbs. in -þ, -þe, or influenced by ON. For the final -e of ME. byrþe, cf. ME. derþe a. ON. dyrð, and see -TH.]

  1.  The bearing of offspring. Viewed as an act of the mother: a. Bringing forth, giving birth. Now chiefly in ‘(several young) at a birth.’

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 10575. Quen Anna was cummen to time of birþ, Sco bar þat maiden.

1382.  Wyclif, Gen. xxxv. 17. For the hardnes of birth [1388 childberyng] she biganne to perishe.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. ii. 147. By her he had two children at one birth.

1631.  Milton, Epit. M’chess. Winchester, 67. Who, after years of barrenness The highly-favoured Joseph bore … And at her next birth … Through pangs fled to felicity.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, II. ii. The birth of an heir by his beloved sister.

1787.  Garthshore, in Phil. Trans., LXXVII. 357. The lady … produced at one birth eight perfect children.

1881.  W. Gregor, Folk Lore N. E. Scot., 4. One … wished God speed to the birth.

  † b.  Conception or gestation. Obs.

c. 1375.  Wyclif, Serm., cxxvii. Sel. Wks. II. 7. Boþe in birþe in wombe and in birþe of þe wombe.

  c.  Viewed as a fact pertaining to the offspring: The fact of being born, nativity, beginning of individual existence, coming into the world. To give birth to: to bear, bring forth (offspring).

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. On þe ehteðe dai efter his burþe.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1484. Ðe fader luuede esau wel for firme birðe & swete mel.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 2193. Better es þe day of dede Þan þe day of burthe.

c. 1387.  Chaucer, Mother of God, 74. The birth of Cryst our thraldom putte vs fro.

1595.  Shaks., John, III. i. 51. At thy birth, deere boy, Nature and Fortune ioyn’d to make thee great.

1732.  Pope, Hor. Sat., II. ii. 97. Why had not I in those good times my birth?

1855.  Tennyson, Maud, I. xix. iv. Mine by a right, from birth till death.

  2.  fig. Of things: Origin, origination, commencement of existence, beginning.

[1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 521. When great things labouring perish in their birth.] Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., IV. iv. 80. Not yet on summers death, nor on the birth Of trembling winter.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 267, ¶ 6. Æneas’s Settlement … gave Birth to the Roman Empire.

1789.  Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xvii. § 17. Offences which owe their birth to the joint influence of indolence and pecuniary interest.

1875.  Hamerton, Intell. Life, X. viii. 376. The birth of a powerful idea.

  3.  The product of bearing, that which is born; offspring, child; young (of animals). arch. (Cf. AFTERBIRTH.)

a. 1400.  Cursor M., 10886 (Trin.). For þi of þe beþ born a burþ.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 433/2. The moder shold be delyuerd of hyr byrthe.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. iv. 122. Vnfather’d Heires, and loathly Births of Nature.

1647.  Crashaw, Poems, 129. Saturn … devour’d that birth he fear’d.

1703.  Farquhar, Inconst., III. (1728), 43. The woman’s birth was spirited away.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 120, ¶ 5. Others hatch their Eggs and tend the Birth, ’till it is able to shift for it self.

1883.  W. G. Black, Folk-Med., viii. 128. The next birth will be a boy.

  † b.  That which is borne in the womb; ‘fruit of the womb.’ Obs.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1697. Rachel non birðe ne nam.

1500.  Will of Treffry, Cornwall (Somerset Ho.). I bequeth to the byrth being in the bely of Elyn Danyel.

1535.  Coverdale, Jer. xx. 15. That the byrth might not haue come out, but remayned still in her.

1657.  W. Coles, Adam in Eden, liv. It expelleth the dead Birth.

  † c.  collect. Children, offspring. Obs.

1614.  Chapman, Odyss., VII. 337. When you come To banquet with your wife and birth at home.

  d.  fig. Of things: Product, creation, ‘offspring.’

1625.  Bacon, Innovations, Ess. (Arb.), 526. Innouations, which are the Births of Time.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 196. The fruitful Earth Was free to give her unexacted Birth.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., II. 476. Teaching we learn; and, giving, we retain The births of intellect.

1884.  W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 66. It was a foolish jest, The birth of vacant brains.

  † 4.  A race, a nation. (transl. L. natio.) Obs. rare.

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter lxxviii[ix]. 10. And in berthes unknawen be, Bi-fore oure eghen þat we se. Ibid., cxlix. 7. In birthes wrekes for to do.

  5.  Parentage, lineage, extraction, descent; esp. rank, station, position inherited from parents.

a. 1240.  Wohunge, in Cott. Hom., 269. Noblesce and hehnesse of burðe.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., III. vi. 78. Al þe linage of men þat ben in erþe ben of semblable burþe.

1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 172. She is no equall for his birth.

a. 1687.  Petty, Pol. Arith., x. (1691), 115. To live according to their Birth and Breeding.

1752.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 201, ¶ 9. A young man whose birth and fortune give him a claim to notice.

1839.  Thirlwall, Greece, xii. II. 94. Marriages contracted between parties of unequal birth.

  b.  spec. Good family, noble lineage.

1595.  Shaks., John, II. i. 430. If loue ambitious fought a match of birth.

1752.  Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 96. Birth, titles, & place, must be honoured above industry & riches.

1876.  J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., I. iv. 201. There is nothing men more pride themselves on than birth.

  † c.  transf. One born in such a position. (Cf. 3.)

1602.  Warner, Alb. Eng., XI. lxii. 270. Such Births as she not else must loue, but as they licens’t are.

  † 6.  Nature, kind, sex; natural character. Obs.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 13. Þis mihte … athalt hire burðe i licnesse of heuenliche cunde.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., III. vi. 79. Ȝif he norisse his corage vnto vices and forlete his propre burþe.

1382.  Wyclif, Wisd. xiv. 26. The mischaunging of birthe [1611 changing of kinde, marg. sexe].

1558.  Q. Eliz., in Strype, Ann. Ref., I. II. App. vi. 11. Her highness, beyinge a woman by birthe and nature.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. iii. 20. Nor ought so good, but strain’d from that faire vse, Reuolts from true birth.

  7.  Conditions or relations involved in birth.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, XXXII. 12826. Teucro … Þat was brother of birthe to þe bold Thelamon.

1697.  Dryden, Æneid, VII. 1001. A foe by birth to Troy’s unhappy name.

1816.  J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. iii. 346. By my very birth I am a creature sinful as yourselves.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 31. He was an Athenian by birth, and a Spartan citizen.

  † 8.  First (firme) birth: rights of primogeniture; BIRTHRIGHT. Obs.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1497. Ðat ic ðin firme birðehe gete. Ibid., 1501. Firme birðe was wurði wune ðe fader dede ðe firme sune.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. II. 301. Þe furste burþe [primogenita] were special profiȝtes and worschippes to the eldest sones. Ibid. (1527), II. xi. 69. Jacob … had boughte the firste byrthes and slyly geten his faders blessynge.

  † 9.  Nativity; ‘fortune’ as influenced by the aspect of the planets at the moment of birth. Obs.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 34. A cunning man did calculate my birth, And told me that by Water I should dye.

  10.  Theol. in phr. New birth: regeneration.

1535.  Coverdale, Tit. iii. 5. He saued vs by the fountayne of the new byrth.

1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. l. § 1 (1611), 289. The Church is to vs that very mother of our new birth, in whose bowels we are all bred, at whose breasts we receyue nourishment.

1678.  R. Barclay, Apol. Quakers, V. § 24 (1701), 175. The New Birth cometh not by the outward Knowledge of Christ.

1875.  H. E. Manning, Mission H. Ghost, i. 16. Baptism confers a new birth.

  11.  (See quot.)

1616.  Surflet & Markh., Countr. Farm, 141. In the paine of the bellie [of a horse], vvhich some call the Birth, you shall take the seeds of vvild Rue, [etc.].

  12.  attrib. = ‘native, natal,’ and in comb.: a. relating to sense 1, as birth-carol, -city, -date, -hour, -land, -note, -pang, -peal, -robe, -song, -spot, -stead (obs.), -struggle, -throe, -town, year, also BIRTHDAY, BIRTHPLACE; birth-brought, -favo(u)ring, -strangled adjs.; b. in sense of ‘belonging to one from birth,’ as birth-blindness, -blot, -mark, name, -poison (= original sin), -sin, tongue, BIRTHRIGHT; c. with astrological reference, as birth-planet, -sign, -star.

1864.  Soc. Sc. Rev., I. 302. A case of *birth blindness.

1589.  Warner, Alb. Eng., VI. xxix. 142. Whose *birth-brought Nature.

1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., iii. 190. That Angelicall *birth-Caroll of our blessed Lord.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 537. Worse than a slavish wipe or *birth-hours blot.

1580.  North, Plutarch (1676), 150. A certain *birth-marke he had upon one of his lips, like a little wart.

1821.  Byron, Sardan., II. i. 66. ’Tis thy natal ruler—thy *birth-planet.

1528.  Tindale, Doctr. Treat. (1848), 301. By the reason of original sin, or *birth-poison, that remaineth in him.

1562.  39 Articles, ix. (title), Of Original or *Birth-sin.

1842.  H. E. Manning, Serm. (1848), I. 8. All that lies wrapped up in his birth-sin.

1566.  Drant, Horace Sat., I. vii. E b. What unstable starres, what *byrthe-sygnes once he had.

1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., ii. 140. [Homer] whom nine Cities strove about, which should be his *birth-spot.

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 64. Neither fate, destonie, *birthstar, signe or planet.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 22092. Right sua sal þe feind … ches him a *birth-sted i-wiss.

1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. i. 30. Finger of *Birth-strangled Babe.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. IV. iv. 164. And so, with death-throes and *birth-throes, a new one is to be born.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden, in Craik, Lit. & Learn. Eng. (1844), 109. This apayringe of the *birthe tonge is by cause of twey thinges.

  13.  Special comb.: † birth-bearing, parturition; † birth-brief, a genealogical table, a family tree; † birth-child, child by birth (in a place), native; † birth-cord, the umbilical cord; † birth-gazer, † birth-lotter, a calculator or caster of nativities; birth-puffed a., proud of one’s descent; birth-roll, a list of persons born in one place; birth-root, the Trillium erectum or Indian Balm; birth-state, condition by birth; birth-stool, a stool for assisting in parturition; † birth-tide = BIRTH-TIME.

a. 1300.  Pains of Hell, 135, in O. E. Misc., 215. Slowyn here childer in *burþberyng.

1708.  J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., II. II. iv. (1743), 374. All … Legitimations, *Birthbrieves, Presentations, [etc.].

1608.  Shaks., Per., IV. iv. 41. The earth Hath Thetis *birth-child on the heavens bestow’d.

c. 1630.  Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 104. (1810). 99. Very notable hath this town been for her birthchild Winefride.

1586.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1594), 40, marg. Sorcerers, magitians, and *birth gazers.

1549.  Chaloner, Erasm. Moriæ Enc., A jv. An evident argument and token of good lucke, as these *byrthlotters saie.

1861.  Maine, Anc. Law, iv. (1876), 94. The current language concerning the *birth-state of men.

1627.  Drayton, Agincourt, etc., 154. Bring forth the *Birth-stoole.

a. 1240.  Wohunge, in Cott. Hom., 277. I þi *burðtid.

a. 1631.  Drayton, Dudley to Lady J. Gray, Wks. 1753, I. 380 (R.).