Hypertext Webster Gateway: "pedigree"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Pedigree \Ped"i*gree\, n. [Of unknown origin; possibly fr. F.
par degr['e]s by degrees, -- for a pedigree is properly a
genealogical table which records the relationship of families
by degrees; or, perh., fr. F. pied de grue crane's foot, from
the shape of the heraldic genealogical trees.]
1. A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a
register or record of a line of ancestors.
Alterations of surnames . . . have obscured the
truth of our pedigrees. --Camden.
His vanity labored to contrive us a pedigree.
--Milton.
I am no herald to inquire of men's pedigrees. --Sir
P. Sidney.
The Jews preserved the pedigrees of their tribes.
--Atterbury.
2. (Stock Breeding) A record of the lineage or strain of an
animal, as of a horse.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
pedigree
adj : having a list of ancestors as proof of being a purebred
animal [syn: {pedigree(a)}, {pedigreed}, {pureblood}, {pureblooded},
{thoroughbred}]
n 1: the descendants of one individual; "his entire lineage has
been warriors" [syn: {lineage}, {line}, {line of descent},
{descent}, {bloodline}, {blood line}, {blood}, {ancestry},
{origin}, {parentage}, {stock}]
2: line of descent of a pure-bred animal
3: ancestry of a purebred animal [syn: {bloodline}]
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