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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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QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!
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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.
Words nearby couvade
couthie, coutil, couture, couturier, couturière, couvade, couvade syndrome, Couvelaire uterus, couvert, couzin, COV
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use couvade in a sentence
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
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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.