Definition: birth
Source: WordNet (r) 1.7
birth
n 1: the time when something begins (especially life); "they
divorced after the birth of the child" or "his election
signaled the birth of a new age" [ant: death]
2: the event of being born; "they celebrated the birth of their
first child" [syn: nativity, nascency, nascence]
[ant: death]
3: the process of giving birth [syn: parturition, giving
birth, birthing]
4: the kinship relation of an offspring to the parents [syn: parentage]
v : give birth (to a newborn); "My wife had twins yesterday!"
[syn: give birth, deliver, bear, have]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Berth \Berth\, n. [From the root of bear to produce, like birth
nativity. See Birth.] [Also written birth.]
1. (Naut.)
(a) Convenient sea room.
(b) A room in which a number of the officers or ship's
company mess and reside.
(c) The place where a ship lies when she is at anchor, or
at a wharf.
2. An allotted place; an appointment; situation or
employment. ``He has a good berth.'' --Totten.
3. A place in a ship to sleep in; a long box or shelf on the
side of a cabin or stateroom, or of a railway car, for
sleeping in.
Berth deck, the deck next below the lower gun deck. --Ham.
Nav. Encyc.
To give (the land or any object) a wide berth, to keep at
a distance from it.
Birth \Birth\ (b[~e]rth), n. [OE. burth, birth, AS. beor[edt], gebyrd, fr. beran to bear, bring forth; akin to D. geboorte, OHG. burt, giburt, G. geburt, Icel. bur[eth]r, Skr. bhrti bearing, supporting; cf. Ir. & Gael. beirthe born, brought forth. [root]92. See 1st Bear, and cf. Berth.] 1. The act or fact of coming into life, or of being born; -- generally applied to human beings; as, the birth of a son. 2. Lineage; extraction; descent; sometimes, high birth; noble extraction. Elected without reference to birth, but solely for qualifications. --Prescott. 3. The condition to which a person is born; natural state or position; inherited disposition or tendency. A foe by birth to Troy's unhappy name. --Dryden. 4. The act of bringing forth; as, she had two children at a birth. ``At her next birth.'' --Milton. 5. That which is born; that which is produced, whether animal or vegetable. Poets are far rarer births than kings. --B. Jonson. Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself. --Addison. 6. Origin; beginning; as, the birth of an empire. New birth (Theol.), regeneration, or the commencement of a religious life. Syn: Parentage; extraction; lineage; race; family.
Birth \Birth\, n. See Berth. [Obs.] --De Foe.
Source: THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)
BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Aetna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar.
Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Birth As soon as a child was born it was washed, and rubbed with salt (Ezek. 16:4), and then swathed with bandages (Job 38:9; Luke 2:7, 12). A Hebrew mother remained forty days in seclusion after the birth of a son, and after the birth of a daughter double that number of days. At the close of that period she entered into the tabernacle or temple and offered up a sacrifice of purification (Lev. 12:1-8; Luke 2:22). A son was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, being thereby consecrated to God (Gen. 17:10-12; comp. Rom. 4:11). Seasons of misfortune are likened to the pains of a woman in travail, and seasons of prosperity to the joy that succeeds child-birth (Isa. 13:8; Jer. 4:31; John 16:21, 22). The natural birth is referred to as the emblem of the new birth (John 3:3-8; Gal. 6:15; Titus 3:5, etc.).
