childbed

American  

[chahyld-bed] / ˈtʃaɪldˌbɛd /

noun

1. the circumstance or situation of a woman giving birth to a child; parturition.

   to lie in childbed.

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childbed British  

/ ˈtʃaɪldˌbɛd /

noun

1. 1. (often preceded by in) the condition of giving birth to a child

   2. ( as modifier )

      childbed fever

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Etymology

Origin of childbed

Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; child, bed

Example Sentences

“The childbed is our battlefield,” the late Queen Aemma noted in the premiere, and “Dragon” remains determined to show as well as tell us this fact.

From New York Times • Sep. 25, 2022

At the top of the episode, an uncomfortably pregnant Queen Aemma foreshadows her fate: “The childbed is our battlefield,” she tells her daughter, Princess Rhaenyra.

From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2022

Faced with a doctor-led maternity ward in which maternal deaths from the dreaded childbed fever were significantly higher than in the midwife-run clinic there, he racked his brain for clues as to why.

From The Guardian • Mar. 18, 2020

In the next five years Marie disburdened herself of two girls and a boy, died in childbed in 1652.

From Time Magazine Archive

Oh, it is sickening; reminds me of lying in childbed.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline