breast-feed

American

[brest-feed] / ˈbrɛstˌfid /

verb (used with object)

breast-fed, breast-feeding

to nurse (a baby) at the breast; suckle.

verb (used without object)

breast-fed, breast-feeding

(of a baby) to nurse.
to nurse a baby.

breast-feed British

verb

to feed (a baby) with milk from the breast; suckle

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

breast-fed adjective
breast-feeding noun

Etymology

Origin of breast-feed

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She plans to breast-feed as long as she can, aiming for a year.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025

The picture has improved a bit since then—babies now breast-feed a little longer—but the over-all pattern holds.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 18, 2019

The study’s authors said that the woman was able to exclusively breast-feed the infant for six weeks.

From New York Times • Feb. 15, 2018

The pope encouraged women to breast-feed their child if needed in the Sistine Chapel:

From Washington Post • Jan. 8, 2018

Another problem was that I refused to breast-feed.

From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023