midwife

[ mid-wahyf ]

/ ˈmɪdˌwaɪf /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR midwife ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural mid·wives [mid-wahyvz] /ˈmɪdˌwaɪvz/.

a person trained to assist women in childbirth.

a person or thing that produces or aids in producing something new or different.

verb (used with object), mid·wifed or mid·wived, mid·wif·ing or mid·wiv·ing.

to assist in the birth of (a baby).

to produce or aid in producing (something new): to midwife a new generation of computers.

Nearby words

midweekly, midwest, midwest city, midwestern, midwesterner, midwife, midwife toad, midwifery, midwinter, midyear, mie

Origin of midwife

1250–1300; Middle English midwif, equivalent to mid with, accompanying (Old English; cf. meta-) + wif woman (Old English wīf; see wife)

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

Examples from the Web for midwife

It means care with a mother-focused doctor or midwife, sometimes in a place other than a hospital.
Natural Childbirth Is Not a Cult|Brandy Zadrozny|June 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Later on they came and said something else, but a midwife later told me the same [not to have more children].
The Mom Forced to Have a C-Section|Emily Shire|June 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Instead, he wound up being the midwife for the Soviet Union's demise.
Ex- CIA Chief: Why We Keep Getting Putin Wrong|Eli Lake, Noah Shachtman, Christopher Dickey|March 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
MacNeal describes the relationship with her midwife—who she says she researched thoroughly—as intimate, and her births, special.
The Home-Birth Rebellion|Brandy Zadrozny|February 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Second funniest, midwife asked me to rate my pain 1-10 periodically and at one point I said 9.
Penis Beakers and Constipated Dolls: What Mothers REALLY Want To Know|Tom Sykes|October 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It was the fellow feeling of the midwife for the poor mother that saved Moses.
Advice to Young Men|William Cobbett
On the third day after a child is born the midwife lifts it up for the first time, and it is given a few light blows on the back.
The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India--Volume I (of IV)|R.V. Russell
He could neither get midwife to assist her or nurse to tend her, and two servants which he kept fled both from her.
A Journal of the Plague Year|Daniel Defoe
In the summer of 1896 she returned to this country, qualified as a nurse and midwife.
Emma Goldman|Charles A. Madison
The midwife does what is necessary; and the child is admitted into no division of the tribe.
Folklore of the Santal Parganas|Cecil Henry Bompas

British Dictionary definitions for midwife

midwife

/ (ˈmɪdˌwaɪf) /

noun plural -wives (-ˌwaɪvz)

a person qualified to deliver babies and to care for women before, during, and after childbirth

Word Origin for midwife

C14: from Old English mid with + wif woman

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 midwife

midwife

[ mĭd′wīf′ ]

n. pl. mid•wives (-wīvz′)

A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth.

v.

To assist in the birth of a baby.

Culture definitions for midwife

midwife

A person who serves as an attendant at childbirth but is not a physician. Some midwives (called certified nurse midwives) are trained in university programs, which usually require previous education in nursing; others (called lay midwives) learn their skills through apprenticeship.