birth
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /bɜːθ/
ipa: /bɜːð/
enpr: bûrth
ipa: /bɜɹθ/
ipa: /bɝð/
ipa: /bɪɹθ/
ipa: /bɪɹð/
ipa: /bøːθ/
ipa: /bøːð/
note: Liverpool, fair–fur merger
ipa: /beːθ/
ipa: /beːð/
note: Liverpool, fair–fur merger
note: Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
ipa: /bɛːθ/
ipa: /bɛːð/
note: Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
homophone: berth (fern–fir–fur merger)
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θ
Forms: form: births
Etymology: See berth.
Senses: examples: text: He vvas a Surgeon, and they called him Doctor; but he vvas not employed in the Sloop as a Surgeon, but vvas going to Berbadoes to get a Birth, as the Sailors call it.
ref: 1720, [Daniel Defoe], The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, London: […] J[ohn] Brotherton, […], J[ohn] Graves […], A[nne] Dodd, […], and T[homas] Warner, […], →OCLC, page 186:
text: And vvhen he had ſhevvn me their birth (as he called it) I vvas filled vvith aſtoniſhment and horror.—VVe deſcended by divers ladders to a ſpace as dark as a dungeon, vvhich I underſtood vvas immerſed ſeveral feet under vvater, being immediately above the hold: I had no ſooner approached this diſmal gulph, than my noſe vvas ſaluted vvith an intolerable ſtench of putrified cheeſe, and rancid butter, […]
ref: 1748, [Tobias Smollett], “I am Reduced to Great Misery—Assaulted on Tower-hill by a Press-gang, who Put Me on Board a Tender—My Usage there—My Arrival on Board of the Thunder Man of War, […]”, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 226:
text: Tho' vve vvere again got near our harbour by three in the afternoon, yet it ſeemed to require a full hour or more, before vve could come to our former place of anchoring, or birth, as the captain called it.
ref: a. 1755 (date written), Henry Fielding, The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1755, →OCLC, page 191:
text: [Y]ou have got a good vvarm birth here; but vve ſhall beat up your quarters. Here, Lucy, Moll, come to the fire, and dry your trumpery.
ref: 1778, [Frances Burney], “Letter XVI. Evelina to the Rev. Mr. Villars.”, in Evelina, or, A Young Lady’s Entrance into the World, volume I, London: […] T[homas] Lowndes, […], →OCLC, page 103:
text: Passengers their births are clapt in, / Some to grumble, some to spew. / 'Hey day! call you that a cabin? / Why 'tis hardly three feet square; / Not enough to stow Queen Mab in— / Who the deuce can harbour there?'
ref: 1809 June 30, Lord Byron, “Letter XXXVI. To Mr. Hodgson.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1830, →OCLC, stanza 3, page 191:
text: [W]ith worldly wisdom, the first comer hastens to secure the best birth in the coach for himself, and to make the most convenient arrangement for his baggage before the arrival of his competitor.
ref: 1816, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 6–7:
text: "[…] She lays close to the Endymion, between her and the Cleopatra, just to the eastward of the sheer hulk." / "Ha!" cried William, "that's just where I should have put her myself. It's the best birth at Spithead.[…]"
ref: 1816 February 19, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park: […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, page 151:
text: The road was very narrow, with no opportunity of giving the apparent phantom what seamen call a wide birth.
ref: 1830, Walter Scott, “Letter X”, in Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 386:
glosses: Obsolete spelling of berth.