breeder definition

English

Etymology

breed +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹiːdə(ɹ)/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdə(ɹ)

Noun

breeder (plural breeders)

1. A person who breeds plants or animals (professionally).
   • 2016, Jayson Lusk, Unnaturally Delicious, →ISBN, page 137:

     Breeders have figured out that if they can take one haploid set of chromosomes from a cross and copy it (or double it creating a double haploid), they will have a pure line almost instantly.

2. (slang, derogatory) A person who has had or who is capable of having children; a person who is focussed on the rearing of their own children.
   • 1729, Jonathan Swift A Modest Proposal

     The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couples who are able to maintain their own children, although I apprehend there cannot be so many, under the present distresses of the kingdom; but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders.

3. (gay slang, derogatory) A heterosexual; i.e. one whose sexual intercourse can lead to breeding.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:heterosexual

   Since the breeders started coming here, you can never tell who likes cock.

   • 1984, Steve Upstill, net.motss, Usenet‎^[1]:

     What is this here natural/unnatural stuff, anyway? Seems like a rationalization to this breeder.

   • 2000, “Now Approaching... The Line”, in Queer as Folk, spoken by Brian Kinney (Gale Harold):

     Hey, you try spending an evening with some back-slapping breeder from out of town, smoking cigars, and talking about pussy.

   • 2010, Walter Lape, Alaska Waters, The Hudson Press (→ISBN)

     My father spoke in a quiet, measured voice that gradually increased in tempo and in volume, “Travis, suppose everyone at this table were gay except you, and I called you a trailer-trash breeder?”

4. Ellipsis of breeder reactor.; a type of nuclear reactor that creates more fissile material than it consumes, often used for the production of atomic weapons.
5. (cellular automata) A pattern that exhibits quadratic growth by generating multiple copies of a secondary pattern, each of which then generates multiple copies of a tertiary pattern.

Derived terms

Related terms

• breed
• breeder reactor
• breeding
• brood
• brooding
• purebred, pure-bred

Translations

Further reading

• breeder on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• breeder reactor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• breeder (cellular automaton) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• rebreed