couvade
[ koo-vahd; French koo-vad ]
/ kuˈvɑd; French kuˈvad /
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noun
a practice among some peoples, as the Basques of Spain, in which a man, immediately preceding the birth of his child, takes to his bed in an enactment of the birth experience and subjects himself to various taboos usually associated with pregnancy.
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“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.
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Words nearby couvade
couthie, coutil, couture, couturier, couturière, couvade, couvade syndrome, Couvelaire uterus, couvert, couzin, COV
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for couvade
British Dictionary definitions for couvade
couvade
/ (kuːˈvɑːd, French kuvad) /
noun
anthropol a custom in certain cultures of treating the husband of a woman giving birth as if he were bearing the child
Word Origin for couvade
C19: from French, from couver to hatch, from Latin cubāre to lie down
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Medical definitions for couvade
couvade
[ kōō-väd′ ]
n.
A practice in certain non-Western cultures in which the husband of a woman in labor takes to his bed as though he were bearing the child.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.