Dictionary

earthbred en · ADJ

Etymology

From earth + bred.

Meanings

1. (obsolete, poetic) Low; grovelling; vulgar.
   • And (flapping his blue wings along) scorch up / All earthbred glory like a sapless reed. 1841, George Stephens, The Hungarian daughter, a dramatic poem, page 227:
   • And bound to earth, their earthbread habits ply 1850, John Antes Latrobe, “The Senses”, in Sacred Lays and Lyrics, page 67:
   • She recollected that even while he still sang, she had felt the keen earthbred eyes search her out, as it were, from all the pressing crowd, and mark her for their own; remembered that once his song finished, she had known neither surprise nor chagrin when Lady Ashleigh had brought him up and presented him to Mrs. Paignton and her niece. 1899, Frances Aymar Mathews, A Married Man: A Novel, page 72:

Forms