Verb

To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly, to flourish.

:* 1819' (though spoken by a character in the 12-century): “It seems to me, reverend father,” said the knight, “that the small morsels which you eat, together with this holy, but somewhat thin beverage, have '''thriven with you marvellously.” — Walter Scott, ''Ivanhoe

To increase in wealth or success; to prosper, be profitable.

Since expanding in June, the business has really thrived .

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=April 29 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992) citation , page= , passage=Though they obviously realized that these episodes were part of something wonderful and important and lasting, the writers and producers couldn’t have imagined that 20 years later “Treehouse Of Horror” wouldn’t just survive; it’d thrive as one of the most talked-about and watched episodes of every season of The Simpsons.}}

Verb

To produce offspring sexually; to bear young.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan

, title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.

To give birth to; to be the native place of.

a pond breeds''' fish; a northern country '''breeds stout men

* Shakespeare

Yet every mother breeds not sons alike.

Of animals, to mate.

To keep animals and have them reproduce in a way that improves the next generation’s qualities.

To arrange the mating of specific animals.

To propagate or grow plants trying to give them certain qualities.

To take care of in infancy and through childhood; to bring up.

* Dryden

to bring thee forth with pain, with care to breed

* Everett

born and bred on the verge of the wilderness

To yield or result in.

* Milton

Lest the place / And my quaint habits breed astonishment.

(obsolete) To be formed in the parent or dam; to be generated, or to grow, like young before birth.

To educate; to instruct; to form by education; to train; sometimes followed by up .

* Bishop Burnet

No care was taken to breed him a Protestant.

* John Locke

His farm may not remove his children too far from him, or the trade he breeds them up in.

To produce or obtain by any natural process.

* John Locke

Children would breed their teeth with less danger.

To have birth; to be produced or multiplied.

* Shakespeare

Heavens rain grace / On that which breeds between them.