couvade

[ koo-vahd; French koo-vad ]

/ kuˈvɑd; French kuˈvad /

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.

Nearby words

Origin of couvade

1860–65; < French (now obsolete), literally, a hatching, sitting on eggs, equivalent to couv(er) to hatch (< Latin cubāre to lie down) + -ade -ade¹; cf. covey

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for couvade

These allusions always refer to the Béarnais, the dialect whence the word “couvade” is borrowed.
Basque Legends|Wentworth Webster
Sir John Lubbock would account for the curious and widely spread custom of the Couvade as a feature of this change.
The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2)|John Fiske.
The custom of the couvade, attributed by Strabo to the Cantabri, is unknown among the modern Basques.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3|Various
Either origin of the Couvade is consistent with early beliefs and customs.
Aucassin and Nicolete|Andrew Lang

I refer to the custom of so-called father-confinement or 'couvade.'
Elements of Folk Psychology|Wilhelm Wundt

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

Medicine 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.