midwife

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English midwif, corresponding to mid (“with”) wif (“woman, wife, female”). It appears not to be entirely clear whether the original understanding was “with-woman” in the sense of “attending/assisting woman”, or “they who are with the woman” (namely the mother).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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midwife (plural midwives)

  2. (obstetrics) A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth, but who is not a physician.
    A hundred years ago, a midwife would bring the baby into the world - going to a hospital to deliver a baby was either impossible or unheard of.
    • 2009, Jennifer Worth, Farewell to the East End, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, page 235:
      The senior midwife confirmed that […] occasionally a multigravid woman could feel little more than slight abdominal discomfort.
    • 2017, Caroline Bicks, Midwiving Subjects in Shakespeare’s England, page 123:
      Despite Richard's efforts to midwive his own narrative of legitimacy, the source of this legendary one cannot be controlled because it has moved from the mouths of nurses, midwives and gossips into the public domain.
  3. (rare, figuratively) Someone who assists in bringing about some result or project.

Usage notes

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  • The term is applicable to both males and females. Despite this, the term midhusband is also sometimes used (usually in nonserious contexts).

Synonyms

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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midwife (third-person singular simple present midwifes, present participle midwifing, simple past and past participle midwifed)

  1. (transitive) To act as a midwife.
  2. (transitive, figuratively) To facilitate the emergence of.
    • 2010 April 13, Thomas L. Friedman, “Attention: Baby on Board.”, in The New York Times:
      But the bigger objective was to help Iraqis midwife a democratic model that could inspire reform across the Arab-Muslim world and give the youth there a chance at a better future.
    • 2013, Jon Carlson, William Knaus, Albert Ellis Revisited, →ISBN, page 288:
      In the mid-1960s, Reichism was midwifed into reexistence by such stalwarts as William Schutz, Bernard Gunther, Charlotte Selver, Alexander Lowen, Ida Rolf, and many other exponents of human knead needs.

Usage notes

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  • The earliest forms of the verb used v in place of f (see to midwive); however, forms with f (to midwife) are now just as common if not more commonly seen.

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎[1], volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 7.32, page 214.
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