birth

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

• n. The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of the mother.
• n. The act or process of bearing young; parturition: the mare's second birth.
• n. 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.
• n. The set of characteristics or circumstances received from one's ancestors; inheritance: strong-willed by birth; acquired their wealth through birth.
• n. Origin; extraction: of Swedish birth; of humble birth.
• n. Noble or high status: persons of birth.
• n. A beginning or commencement. See Synonyms at beginning.
• transitive v. Chiefly Southern U.S. To deliver (a baby).
• transitive v. Chiefly Southern U.S. To bear (a child).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

• n. The process of childbearing.
• n. An instance of childbirth.
• n. A beginning or start; a point of origin.
• n. The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.
• adj. A familial relationship established by childbirth.
• v. To bear or give birth to (a child).
• v. To produce, give rise to.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

• n. The act or fact of coming into life, or of being born; -- generally applied to human beings.
• n. Lineage; extraction; descent; sometimes, high birth; noble extraction.
• n. The condition to which a person is born; natural state or position; inherited disposition or tendency.
• n. The act of bringing forth.
• n. That which is born; that which is produced, whether animal or vegetable.
• n. Origin; beginning.
• n. See berth.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

• n. The fact of being born; nativity.
• n. By extension, any act or fact of coming into existence; beginning; origination: as, the birth of Protestantism.
• n. The act of bearing or bringing forth; parturition: as, “at her next birth,”
• n. 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.
• n. That which is born; that which is produced.
• n. Nature; kind; sex; natural character.
• n. In astrology, nativity; fortune.
• n. See berth.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• v. cause to be born
• n. the process of giving birth
• n. the time when something begins (especially life)
• n. the kinship relation of an offspring to the parents
• n. a baby born; an offspring
• n. the event of being born