lying-in

American  

[lahy-ing-in] / ˈlaɪ ɪŋˈɪn /

noun

plural

lyings-in, lying-ins

1. the state of being in childbed; confinement.

---

adjective

1. pertaining to or providing facilities for childbirth.

   a lying-in hospital.

lying-in British  

noun

1. 1. confinement in childbirth

   2. ( as modifier )

      a lying-in hospital

---

Etymology

Origin of lying-in

First recorded in 1400–50, lying-in is from late Middle English lyynge in. See lie ², -ing ¹, in

Example Sentences

Columbia Women’s opened for business inside a former mansion as a “hospital and dispensary for the treatment of diseases peculiar to women, and a lying-in asylum,” according to its congressional charter.

From Washington Post • Aug. 17, 2019

Reporters dashed through the open door, heard the majority of the scientists declare that the babies had been properly labeled at the lying-in hospital† but somehow switched as the mothers returned to their homes.

From Time Magazine Archive

His mother, during her lying-in period in the year 1812, was reading a popular novel, The Three Spaniards, that had as its hero a derring-do lad named Fernando.

From Time Magazine Archive

"As a result, it occasionally occurred that an otherwise healthy young woman dropped dead of a pulmonary embolism as she was getting into a taxi with her baby to leave the lying-in hospital."

From Time Magazine Archive

A lawful wife was churched, after her lying-in; which ceremony was performed in the choir, near the elevated part.

From Lachesis Lapponica A Tour in Lapland by Linn?, Carl von