childbed

American

[chahyld-bed] / ˈtʃaɪldˌbɛd /

noun

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

to lie in childbed.

childbed British

/ ˈtʃaɪldˌbɛd /

noun

1. (often preceded by in) the condition of giving birth to a child
2. ( as modifier )
  
  childbed fever

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of childbed

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

“The childbed is our battlefield,” she said, and we saw how that turned out.

From New York Times • Aug. 21, 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

The peril of childbed fever menaces your life!

From Time Magazine Archive

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

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023