couvade

[koo-vahd; French koo-vad]

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.

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. 2018

Examples from the Web for couvade

Historical Examples of couvade

I refer to the custom of so-called father-confinement or 'couvade.'
Elements of Folk Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt
Couvade, the, among the Indians of South America, 152 et seq.
Up the Orinoco and down the Magdalena
H. J. Mozans
Either origin of the Couvade is consistent with early beliefs and customs.
Aucassin and Nicolete
Andrew Lang
It is curious that in India itself so few actual instances of the Couvade have been discovered.
The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, Vol. I (of 2)
W. Crooke
Those who would know more may consult an Encyclopaedia, under the heading ‘Couvade.’
The Woodlands Orchids
Frederick Boyle

British Dictionary definitions for couvade

couvade

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

couvade in Medicine

couvade

[kōō-väd′]

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.