Ped″i‐gree (pĕd″ĭ‐grē), 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.] 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.