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.
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 Contemporary Examples of midwife It means care with a mother-focused doctor or midwife , sometimes in a place other than a hospital.
Later on they came and said something else, but a midwife later told me the same [not to have more children].
Instead, he wound up being the midwife for the Soviet Union's demise.
MacNeal describes the relationship with her midwife —who she says she researched thoroughly—as intimate, and her births, special.
Second funniest, midwife asked me to rate my pain 1-10 periodically and at one point I said 9.
Historical Examples of midwife On the honor of a midwife , I have seldom brought into the world one so pretty.
When the midwife had sipped hers up, she went off; everything was going on nicely, she was not required.
She said she was the daughter of a midwife at Bercy who had failed in business.
Come then to me, who am a midwife , and the son of a midwife , and I will deliver you.
Do you think—does it cost very much to learn to be a midwife ?
British Dictionary definitions for midwife noun plural -wives (-ˌwaɪvz ) a person qualified to deliver babies and to care for women before, during, and after childbirth
Show More
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
Word Origin and History for midwife n. c.1300, "woman assisting," literally "woman who is 'with' " (the mother at birth), from Middle English mid "with" (see mid ) + wif "woman" (see wife ). Cognate with German Beifrau .
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
n. pl. mid•wives (-wīvz′ ) A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth.
Show More
v. To assist in the birth of a baby.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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.
Show More
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
