HALF-BREED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does half-breed mean? 

• HALF-BREED (noun)
  The noun HALF-BREED has 1 sense:

1. an offensive term for an offspring of parents of different racial group (especially of Caucasian and American Indian ancestry)

  Familiarity information: HALF-BREED used as a noun is very rare.

• HALF-BREED (adjective)
  The adjective HALF-BREED has 1 sense:

1. (of animals) having only one purebred parent

  Familiarity information: HALF-BREED used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HALF-BREED (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An offensive term for an offspring of parents of different racial group (especially of Caucasian and American Indian ancestry)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("half-breed" is a kind of...):

half-caste (an offensive term for the offspring of parents of different racial groups or cultures)

Domain usage:

depreciation; derogation; disparagement (a communication that belittles somebody or something)

• HALF-BREED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of animals) having only one purebred parent

Synonyms:

half-blooded; half-bred; half-breed

Similar:

crossbred (bred from parents of different varieties or species)

Domain category:

animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)

 Context examples 

Had the half-breed simply wrought his vengeance and then escaped, all might have been well with him.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The half-breed tried to drive him away with the whip; but he paid no heed to the stinging lash, and the man had not the heart to strike harder.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Then there was a wonderful cook, he said, a half-breed whom he had picked up in his travels, who could serve an excellent dinner.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were Slavonian hunters, fair-skinned and mighty-muscled; short, squat Finns, with flat noses and round faces; Siberian half-breeds, whose noses were more like eagle-beaks; and lean, slant-eyed men, who bore in their veins the Mongol and Tartar blood as well as the blood of the Slav.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The next, from the farther side of the rocky pinnacle before us a swarthy face, the face of Gomez the half-breed, was slowly protruded.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Scotch half-breed called a halt and took him out of the team, making the next dog, Sol-leks, fast to the sled.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

A man in white clothes, who could only be the surviving half-breed, was running as one does run when Death is the pacemaker.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But she lay there limp and lifeless in the bloody, trampled snow, almost literally torn to pieces, the swart half-breed standing over her and cursing horribly.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Even the hardy, swaggering half-breed seemed cowed.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was afraid that Thornton would pass out of his life as Perrault and François and the Scotch half-breed had passed out.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)