twilight sleep

American  

noun

Medicine/Medical.

1. a state of semiconsciousness, usually produced by hypodermic injections of scopolamine and morphine, used chiefly to effect relatively painless childbirth.

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twilight sleep British  

noun

1. med a state of partial anaesthesia in which the patient retains a slight degree of consciousness

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Etymology

Origin of twilight sleep

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Even though she was the mother to nine children, she had given birth unconsciously to my mother and her siblings during the era of twilight sleep.

From Slate • Mar. 9, 2021

"It is no longer considered smart talk at the bridge table to discuss twilight sleep or painless labor," the doctors* say in Psychosomatic Medicine.

From Time Magazine Archive

In Honolulu, pearl fishermen made plans to dope stubborn oysters into yielding up their precious pearls, by a drug said by its sponsor to resemble that used by obstetricians in inducing "twilight sleep."

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week at the A. M. A. convention forward-looking obstetricians reviewec Kr�nig-Gauss twilight sleep and Gwathmey synergy and proposed other combinations of drugs to dull labor's pangs.

From Time Magazine Archive

They call it twilight sleep and a woman don’t feel a thing when the kid comes.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith