couvade
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
1Words Nearby couvade
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use couvade in a sentence
Those who would know more may consult an Encyclopaedia, under the heading ‘couvade.’
The Woodlands Orchids | Frederick BoyleThe custom of the couvade, attributed by Strabo to the Cantabri, is unknown among the modern Basques.
These allusions always refer to the Béarnais, the dialect whence the word “couvade” is borrowed.
Basque Legends | Wentworth WebsterThe custom of the couvade may therefore perhaps be assigned to the early patriarchal stage.
The practice of couvade is said to exist among the Nicobarese, but we heard nothing of it during our visit.
In the Andamans and Nicobars | C. Boden Kloss
British Dictionary definitions for couvade
/ (kuːˈvɑːd, French kuvad) /
anthropol a custom in certain cultures of treating the husband of a woman giving birth as if he were bearing the child
Origin of couvade
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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