pedigree, n. [Of unknown origin; possibly fr. F. par degrés 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.].

A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a register or record of a line of ancestors. [1913 Webster]
"Alterations of surnames . . . have obscured the truth of our pedigrees." [1913 Webster]

"His vanity labored to contrive us a pedigree." [1913 Webster]

"I am no herald to inquire of men's pedigrees." [1913 Webster]

"The Jews preserved the pedigrees of their tribes." [1913 Webster]
A record of the lineage or strain of an animal, as of a horse. [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

pedigree, n.
1 (often attrib.) a recorded line of descent of a person or esp. a pure-bred domestic or pet animal.
2 the derivation of a word.
3 a genealogical table.
4 colloq. the 'life history' of a person, thing, idea, etc.

Derivative

pedigreed adj.

Etymology

ME pedegru etc. f. AF f. OF pie de grue (unrecorded) crane's foot, a mark denoting succession in pedigrees

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DEVIL DICTIONARY

pedigree

n. The known part of the route from an arboreal ancestor with a swim bladder to an urban descendant with a cigarette.

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THESAURUS

pedigree

Almanach de Gotha, Red Book, Royal Kalendar, Social Register, Stammbaum, ancestry, birth, blood, bloodline, blue book, derivation, descent, directory, extraction, family, family tree, full-blooded, genealogical tree, genealogy, heritage, line, line of descent, lineage, origin, parentage, pedigreed, roots, stemma, stock, strain, studbook, thoroughbred, tree

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ROGET THESAURUS

pedigree

Continuity

N continuity, consecution, consecutiveness, succession, round, suite, progression, series, train chain, catenation, concatenation, scale, gradation, course, ceaselessness, constant flow, unbroken extent, procession, column, retinue, cortege, cavalcade, rank and file, line of battle, array, pedigree, genealogy, lineage, race, ancestry, descent, family, house, line, line of ancestors, strain, rank, file, line, row, range, tier, string, thread, team, suit, colonnade, continuous, continued, consecutive, progressive, gradual, serial, successive, immediate, unbroken, entire, linear, in a line, in a row, uninterrupted, unintermitting, unremitting, unrelenting (perseverence), perennial, evergreen, constant, continuously, seriatim, in a line, in succession, in turn, running, gradually, step by step, gradatim, at a stretch, in file, in column, in single file, in Indian file.

Attribution

N attribution, theory, etiology, ascription, reference to, rationale, accounting for, palaetiology, imputation, derivation from, filiation, affiliation, pedigree, explanation, reason why, attributed, attributable, referable to, referrible to, due to, derivable from, owing to, putative, ecbatic, hence, thence, therefore, for, since, on account of, because, owing to, on that account, from this cause, from that cause, thanks to, forasmuch as, whence, propter hoc, why? wherefore? whence? how comes it, how is it, how happens it? how does it happen? in some way, in some such way, somehow, somehow or other, that is why, hinc illae lachrymae.

Paternity

N paternity, parentage, consanguinity, parent, father, sire, dad, papa, paterfamilias, abba, genitor, progenitor, procreator, ancestor, grandsire, grandfather, great- grandfather, fathership, fatherhood, mabap, house, stem, trunk, tree, stock, stirps, pedigree, lineage, line, family, tribe, sept, race, clan, genealogy, descent, extraction, birth, ancestry, forefathers, forbears, patriarchs, motherhood, maternity, mother, dam, mamma, materfamilias, grandmother, paternal, parental, maternal, family, ancestral, linear, patriarchal, avi numerantur avorum, happy he with such a mother, hombre bueno no le busquen abolengo, philosophia stemma non inspicit.

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