{ } v. i. [ See Degenerate. ] To degenerate. [ Obs. ] “Degendering to hate.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

He degenereth into beastliness. Joye. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, engenders. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Engendered p. pr. & vb. n. Engendering. ] [ F. engender, L. ingenerare; in + generare to beget. See Generate, and cf. Ingenerate. ] 1. To produce by the union of the sexes; to beget. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cause to exist; to bring forth; to produce; to sow the seeds of; as, angry words engender strife. [ 1913 Webster ]

Engendering friendship in all parts of the common wealth. Southey.

Syn. -- To breed; generate; procreate; propagate; occasion; call forth; cause; excite; develop. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To assume form; to come into existence; to be caused or produced. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thick clouds are spread, and storms engender there. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To come together; to meet, as in sexual embrace. “I saw their mouths engender.” Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. genre, gendre (with excrescent d.), F.genre, fr. L. genus, generis, birth, descent, race, kind, gender, fr. the root of genere, gignere, to beget, in pass., to be born, akin to E. kin. See Kin, and cf. Generate, Genre, Gentle, Genus. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Kind; sort. [ Obs. ] “One gender of herbs.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Sex, male or female. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The use of the term gender to refer to the sex of an animal, especially a person, was once common, then fell into disuse as the term became used primarily for the distinction of grammatical declension forms in inflected words. In the late 1900's, the term again became used to refer to the sex of people, as a euphemism for the term sex, especially in discussions of laws and policies on equal treatment of sexes. Objections by prescriptivists that the term should be used only in a grammatical context ignored the earlier uses. [ PJC ]

3. (Gram.) A classification of nouns, primarily according to sex; and secondarily according to some fancied or imputed quality associated with sex. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gender is a grammatical distinction and applies to words only. Sex is natural distinction and applies to living objects. R. Morris. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Adjectives and pronouns are said to vary in gender when the form is varied according to the gender of the words to which they refer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Gendered p. pr. & vb. n. Gendering. ] [ OF. gendrer, fr. L. generare. See Gender, n. ] To beget; to engender. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To copulate; to breed. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no gender. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. See Engender. [ 1913 Webster ]