to give birth to; to bring a child into the world, and by extension to bring forth crops or a result.
At its heart this word names the mother's side of birth: carrying a child to term and delivering it into the world. That is why it fills the Christmas story, from the angel's promise that Mary "will bear a son" to the night she "gave birth to her firstborn." It covers the whole event, and in the passive it can also be said of the child, who "is born" (as with the king the wise men come to find).
It is worth keeping apart from a close neighbor. This word is the bearing and delivering that a mother does, while γεννάω is the broader "to father, to beget," most often the man's part, and only sometimes the birth itself. When the New Testament wants the labor and the moment of delivery, it reaches for this word.
The same picture stretches naturally beyond childbirth. Ground that soaks up rain and "brings forth" a useful crop is described with it, and so is the grim chain in James where craving, once it takes hold, "gives birth to" sin, and sin in turn brings forth death. In each case the idea is the same: something alive comes out into the open from what was carrying it.