midwifen.

Brit.

/ˈmɪdwʌɪf/, U.S.

/ˈmɪdˌwaɪf/

Inflections: Plural midwives.

Forms: Middle English medewife, Middle English medewiffe, Middle English medewijf, Middle English medewyf, Middle English medewyve, Middle English medwif, Middle English medwife, Middle English medwyf, Middle English meedwijf, Middle English midewyf, Middle English midewyve, Middle English midwif, Middle English midwiif, Middle English midwyf, Middle English myddewyfe, Middle English myddewyffe, Middle English mydewife, Middle English mydewyf, Middle English mydwif, Middle English mydwijf, Middle English mydwyff, Middle English mydwyffe, Middle English–1500s medwyf, Middle English–1500s medwyfe, Middle English–1500s midwyfe, Middle English–1500s mydwife, Middle English–1500s mydwyf, Middle English–1500s mydwyfe, Middle English– midwife; Scottish pre-1700 madwyffe, pre-1700 maidwiff, pre-1700 maidwyfe, pre-1700 maidwyffe, pre-1700 maidwyiff, pre-1700 meadwyf, pre-1700 meadwyfe, pre-1700 medewif, pre-1700 medvyff, pre-1700 medwyf, pre-1700 medwyfe, pre-1700 medwyff, pre-1700 medwyiff, pre-1700 meidwif, pre-1700 meidwiffe, pre-1700 meid wyfe, pre-1700 meidwyff, pre-1700 meidwyffe, pre-1700 meydvyf, pre-1700 meydwyfe, pre-1700 midewife, pre-1700 midwif, pre-1700 midwyff, pre-1700 mydewyff, pre-1700 mydwyf, pre-1700 1700s– midwife. Plural Middle English medewyfz, Middle English medewyues, Middle English medewyuyse, Middle English medwyuys, Middle English midewyues, Middle English midwiues, Middle English midwius, Middle English mydwayes (transmission error), Middle English mydwifes, Middle English mydwifez, Middle English mydwyfes, Middle English mydwyfis, Middle English mydwyues, Middle English mydwyuys, 1500s mydwiffes, 1600s middwifes, 1600s– midwives; Scottish pre-1700 meidwiffes, pre-1700 midewives, pre-1700 midwifs, pre-1700 mid-wiues, pre-1700 myde wyffis, pre-1700 1700s– midwives.

Origin: Probably formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: mid adv.¹, wife n.

Etymology: Probably < mid adv.¹ + wife n.; the original sense seems to have been ‘woman (wife n. 1) who is with the mother at childbirth’. With the formation compare German (archaic) Beifrau female assistant, especially midwife's assistant (1377 in early modern German as bijfrauwe concubine < bij (see by- comb. form) + frauwe (see frau n.)). Compare later midwoman n.The apparent Romance parallels which are sometimes adduced (French regional commère midwife, Italian (now regional) comare midwife (a1498 in this sense), Spanish comadre midwife (1552 in this sense)), are in fact only later sense developments of an original sense ‘godmother’, lit. ‘fellow-mother’ (see cummer n.). An alternative etymology derives the first element of the word < mid adj., with original sense ‘woman who mediates between mother and baby’, but this seems less likely. Forms with stem vowel e in the first element (e.g. med- , mede- , which do not otherwise occur as variants of mid prep.¹ and adv.¹) are probably partly by analogy with words like mediator n., mediatrice n., etc., and partly a reanalysis by folk etymology as if < meed n. + wife n.Older Scots forms in mad-, maid- probably represent an alternative reanalysis of the first element as if < maid n.¹ J. Wright Eng. Dial. Gram. (1905) 58/2 records the general disappearance of medial w in this word in regional dialect; N.E.D. (1906) notes s.v.: ‘The colloquial pronunciation (mi·dif) /ˈmɪdɪf/ is now seldom heard’, but no other dictionary of the period appears to record this variant.

1. A woman (or, rarely, a man) who assists women in childbirth; (spec. in recent times) a medical professional trained and qualified to do this and to give antenatal and post-natal care.male midwife: see male adj. and n.¹ Compounds 1a; man-midwife n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > healer > one skilled in obstetrics or midwifery > [noun]

midwifec1300

childwifea1387

midwomana1400

Lucinac1405

matron?a1425

grace-wifec1600

Mother Midnight1602

headswoman1615

handwoman1637

sage woman1672

howdie1725

accoucheur1727

granny1738

obstetrix1773

accoucheuse1795

dukun1817

fingersmith1819

wise woman1821

obstetrician1826

obstetrist1873

tocologist1902

birth attendant1910

S.C.M.1935

monitrice1969

the world > health and disease > healing > healer > one skilled in obstetrics or midwifery > [noun] > specific male

man-midwife1607

mid-man1706

midwife1711

midwifer1825

c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Laud) 16 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 432 (MED) Þe mide-wyues him wolden habbe i-bured, ac þe moder seide euere nay.

a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 9653 (MED) Mydwyfe ys a perylus þyng, But she kunne þe poyntes of crystenyng.

a1425 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Linc. Inn) (1973) 1001 Ful glad was þo þe medwif [v.r. mydwyf] And tok þeo child al so blyue.

a1475 St. Mary Magdalene (Durh.) in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1893) 91 219 In alle my grete sorowe of my trauail of child, thou were to me a mydwife.

1486 in W. Campbell Materials for Hist. Reign Henry VII (1877) II. 65 Alice Massy..medwif to our derest wif the quene.

1502 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1900) II. 47 Item..to the mede wif, xlij s.

c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) xv. 101 His mother vas ane meyd vyf.

1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 139 It behoueth the shepheard to be skilfull in medcening of his cattell, and so cunning a midwyfe withall, as yf neede require, he may helpe his Ewe.

1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iv. 55 Mer: I see Queene Mab hath bin with you... Ben: She is the Fairies Midwife .

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 269 Adde hereto the skilfull hand of the heads-woman or Midwife as we cal them.

1690 T. Brown Diary 22 Jan. (1898) 57 Jean Angusone..wes browght to bed of a woman chyld..and..no persone knew of the same until she called for Jonet Robisone, meadwyfe.

1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 29 Apr. (1948) I. 257 The admiral is your Walker's brother the midwife.

1771 Philos. Trans. 1770 (Royal Soc.) 60 451 Mr. John Latham, Surgeon and Midwife.

1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman ix The word midwife, in our dictionaries, will soon give place to accoucheur, and one proof of the former delicacy of the sex be effaced from the language.

1838–9 F. A. Kemble Jrnl. Resid. Georgian Plantation (1863) 30 A most ludicrous visit this morning from the midwife of the estate.

1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) xix. 234 A monthly-nurse, or, as her sign-board boldly had it, ‘Midwife’.

1938 R. K. Narayan Dark Room vi. 113 You paid the midwife and the nurse.

1974 B. Emecheta Second Class Citizen viii. 105 Adah guessed that they were the midwives coming to help her deliver the baby.

1983 Daily Tel. 18 Mar. 2/3 There is no reason for advertisements not to use the term ‘midwife’ when inviting applications for jobs although we would expect it to be made clear that either men or women could apply.

1998 I. Hunter Which? Guide to Employment vi. 104 The doctor or midwife will issue the woman with Form MATB1 at about the 26th week of pregnancy.

†2. An effeminate man. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > man > [noun] > effeminate man

badlingeOE

milksopc1390

cockneyc1405

malkina1425

molla1425

weakling1526

tenderling1541

softling1543

niceling1549

woman-man1567

cocknel1570

effeminate1583

androgyne1587

meacock1590

mammaday1593

hermaphrodite1594

midwife1596

nimfadoro1600

night-sneaker1611

mock-mana1625

nan1670

she-man1675

petit maître1711

old woman1717

master-miss1754

Miss Molly1754

molly1785

squaw1805

mollycoddle1823

Miss Nancy1824

mollycot1826

molly mop1829

poof1833

Margery?c1855

ladyboy1857

girl1862

Mary Ann1868

sissy1879

milk1881

pretty-boy1881

nancy1888

poofter1889

Nancy Dawson1890

softie1895

puff1902

pussy1904

Lizzie1905

nance1910

quean1910

maricon1921

pie-face1922

bitch1923

Jessie1923

lily1923

tapette1923

pansy1926

nancy boy1927

nelly1931

femme1932

ponce1932

queerie1933

palone1934

queenie1935

girlie-man1940

swish1941

puss1942

wonk1945

mother1947

candy-ass1953

twink1953

cream puff1958

pronk1959

swishy1959

limp wrist1960

pansy-ass1963

weeny1963

poofteroo1966

mo1968

shim1973

twinkie1977

woofter1977

cake boy1992

hermaphrodite-

1596 M. Drayton Mortimeriados sig. T 1 No Apish fan-bearing Hermophradite, Coch-carried midwyfe, weake, effeminate.

3. figurative. A person who or thing which helps to bring something into being.

ΚΠ

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. ii. 62 So Greene, thou art the midwife to my woe, And Bullingbrooke my sorowes dismall heire.

1658 F. Osborne Advice to Son (1896) p. xxvii There is another piece of mine ready to peep abroad, but that Mr. Wood, my Midwife, is so taken up with raising an estate in Ireland, as he cannot attend the press.

1692 W. Congreve Incognita Pref. sig. A6 The Drama is..the Midwife to Industry, and brings forth alive the Conceptions of the Brain.

1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite ii, in Fables 45 And Midwife Time the ripen'd Plot to Murder brought.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 23 This midwife of the Muses used exercise a-horseback.

1883 J. T. Morse Jefferson (1885) iii. 39 Jefferson..had acted as undertaker for the royal colonies and as midwife for the United States of America.

1941 W. H. Auden New Year Let. i. 19 Art is not life and cannot be A midwife to society.

1975 P. V. Price Taste of Wine i. 13/2 Wine makers are the midwives of wine, not plastic surgeons altering a wine's style.

1998 Rec. Collector Apr. 138/1 Brian had retired to his Hollywood mansion, only emerging sporadically when Carl acted as midwife to one of his new compositions.

Compounds

midwife toad n. a European toad, Alytes obstetricans (family Discoglossidae), the male of which carries the eggs wrapped around its hind legs until they hatch.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > amphibians > order Anura or Salienta (frogs and toads) > [noun] > types of frog or toad > suborder Opisthocoela > member of family Discoglossidae (midwife toad)

midwife toad1877

1877 List Vertebrated Animals Zool. Soc. (ed. 6) 474 Midwife toad, a curious creature in that the male carries the fertilized eggs.

1901 H. Gadow in Cambr. Nat. Hist. VIII. vi. 158 A[lytes] obstetricans, the ‘Midwife-toad’, has the general appearance of a smooth toad... The pairing and the peculiar mode of taking care of the eggs by the male..has given it the specific name obstetricans, the midwife.

1934 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 June p. iv/2 A number of interesting toads have been received lately at the London Zoo, including a collection from Germany of 20 midwife toads with their eggs.

1971 A. Koestler Case of Midwife Toad i. 14 Kammerer's undoing was a grotesque amphibian creature: the midwife toad, Alytes obstetricans.

1995 New Scientist 18 Nov. 76/2 The captive-breeding of threatened amphibians, such as the Mallorcan midwife toad and Puerto Rican crested toad, have proved to be successful and cost-effective programmes.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

midwifev.

Brit.

/ˈmɪdwʌɪf/, U.S.

/ˈmɪdˌwaɪf/

Inflections: Present participle midwifing, midwiving; past tense and past participle midwifed, midwived;

Forms: 1500s mydwiue, 1600s–1700s 1900s– midwive Brit.

/ˈmɪdwʌɪv/, U.S.

/ˈmɪdˌwaɪv/, 1600s– midwife.

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: midwife n.

Etymology: < midwife n. Compare earlier midwifing n.

†a. transitive. To act as midwife to (a mother). Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1530 W. Tyndale tr. Exod. i, in Fyrst Bk. Moses f. ii^v The kynge of Egipte sayde vnto the mydwiues..when ye mydwiue the women of the Ebrues and se in the byrth tyme that it is a boye, kyll it.

1674 D. Brevint Saul & Samuel iv. 86 Whil'st she is elsewhere..in a rich Abby Mid-wiving an Abbess, whom her Steward had unfortunately gotten with Child.

b. transitive. To deliver (a foal, calf, etc.); to act as midwife at the birth of (a child); also †with out. Also in extended use. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1653 in M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family Commonwealth (1894) 203 Madcapp saith though she sould you the mare, yett she did not sell you the colt, therefore she laies her commands on you, to midwife it out, and to tittle it upp.

1684 B. Keach Progress of Sin i. 6 Just as Apollyon Midwiv'd him into the World, he let flye his Sting.

a1708 T. Ward England's Reformation (1710) 2 So Jove himself..Bred in his Head his Daughter Pallas, Whom Vulcan Midwiv'd.

1775 J. Trumbull MʽFingal 27 That horse..Bore Grecian armies in his belly, Till..Their Sinon midwif'd them in Troy.

1986 Nature 2 Oct. 385/1 Testart, whose group was responsible for the first French test-tube baby, has since ‘midwived’ 210 more.

1995 Yale French Stud. No. 88. 107 Miraculous Minerva midwifed by Vulcan.

2. transitive. To help or be instrumental in bringing (something hidden) to light, or (a piece of work, esp. a work of art) into being or into public view.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclose or reveal [verb (transitive)]

unwryc825

unhelec1000

to draw forthc1175

unhillc1200

to bring forth?c1225

unsteekc1250

let witc1275

uncovera1300

wraya1300

knowc1300

barea1325

shrivec1374

unwrapc1374

again-covera1382

nakena1382

outc1390

tellc1390

disclosea1393

cough1393

unhidea1400

unclosec1400

unhaspc1400

bewrayc1405

reveal1409

accusea1413

reveil1424

unlocka1425

unrekec1425

disclude?1440

uncurec1440

utter1444

detect1447

break1463

expose1483

divinec1500

revelate1514

to bring (also put) to light1526

decipher1529

rake1547

rip1549

unshadow1550

to lay to sight1563

uppen1565

unlace1567

unvisor?1571

resign1572

uncloak1574

disshroud1577

spill1577

reap1578

unrip1579

scour1585

unharboura1586

unmask1586

uncase1587

descrya1591

unclasp?1592

unrive1592

discover1594

unburden1594

untomb1594

unhusk1596

dismask1598

to open upc1600

untruss1600

divulge1602

unshale1606

unbrace1607

unveil1609

rave1610

disveil1611

unface1611

unsecret1612

unvizard1620

to open up1624

uncurtain1628

unscreen1628

unbare1630

disenvelop1632

unclothe1632

to lay forth1633

unshroud1633

unmuffle1637

midwife1638

dissecret1640

unseal1640

unmantle1643

to fetch out1644

undisguise1655

disvelop1658

decorticate1660

clash1667

exert1692

disinter1711

to up with1715

unbundlea1739

develop1741

disembosom1745

to open out1814

to let out1833

unsack1846

uncrown1849

to bring (out) in (also into) the open1861

unfrock1866

disbosom1868

to blow the lid off1928

flush1950

surface1955

to take or pull the wraps off1964

the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > confinement > confine or deliver [verb (transitive)] > give birth > aid in childbirth

unbindc1325

midwife1638

obstetricate1662

deliver1676

accouche1858

granny1880

born1888

1638 Bp. H. King in Sandys Div. Poems To Author 34 This Child of yours, borne without spurious blot, And Fairely Midwivd, as it was begot.

1673 B. Southwood Bookseller, To Rdr. in J. Smith England's Improvem. Reviv'd This Book..hath stuck in the Birth for some years, by reason of the incapacity of the Author to Midwife it into the world.

1725 N. Bailey tr. Erasmus All Familiar Colloquies 124 I have something runs in my Mind, and I'm with Child to have it out... If it be a Dream, you shall be the Interpreters, or midwife it into the World.

1764 J. Otis Rights Brit. Colonies iv, in B. Bailyn Pamphlets Amer. Revolution I pretend neither to the spirit of prophecy nor any uncommon skill in predicting a crisis, much less to tell when it begins to be ‘nascent’ or is fairly midwived into the world.

1829 C. Lamb Let. 27 Feb. (1935) III. 210 Expectation was alert on the receit of your strange-shaped present... When midwifed into daylight, the gossips were at loss to pronounce upon its species.

c1850 in Scribner's Mag. (1895) Mar. 344/2 A silent,..impish motion, conceived in the dark and midwifed in a committee-room.

1936 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 41 695 Motion pictures..are the purest form of democracy... They were midwifed, nursed, and tutored by persons of humble origins.

1972 Sunday Tel. 30 Apr. 7/7 As befitted the man who midwived ‘That Was The Week That Was’, Sir Hugh also got the best laugh at the Colonels' expense.

1994 M. Baigent & R. Leigh Secret Germany 79 The Minnesänger and Meistersänger who midwifed the epoch's great corpus of lyric, dramatic and narrative poetry.

Derivatives

† midwived adj. Obsolete rare

ΚΠ

1685 E. Sherburne tr. Theocritus Idyll XVI in N. Tate Poems by Several Hands 156 Oh mighty Jove! Father of Gods! Heav'ns King! And thou who from his midwiv'd Brain did'st spring Honour'd Minerva!

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	midwife
释义	midwifen. Brit. /ˈmɪdwʌɪf/, U.S. /ˈmɪdˌwaɪf/ Inflections: Plural midwives. Forms: Middle English medewife, Middle English medewiffe, Middle English medewijf, Middle English medewyf, Middle English medewyve, Middle English medwif, Middle English medwife, Middle English medwyf, Middle English meedwijf, Middle English midewyf, Middle English midewyve, Middle English midwif, Middle English midwiif, Middle English midwyf, Middle English myddewyfe, Middle English myddewyffe, Middle English mydewife, Middle English mydewyf, Middle English mydwif, Middle English mydwijf, Middle English mydwyff, Middle English mydwyffe, Middle English–1500s medwyf, Middle English–1500s medwyfe, Middle English–1500s midwyfe, Middle English–1500s mydwife, Middle English–1500s mydwyf, Middle English–1500s mydwyfe, Middle English– midwife; Scottish pre-1700 madwyffe, pre-1700 maidwiff, pre-1700 maidwyfe, pre-1700 maidwyffe, pre-1700 maidwyiff, pre-1700 meadwyf, pre-1700 meadwyfe, pre-1700 medewif, pre-1700 medvyff, pre-1700 medwyf, pre-1700 medwyfe, pre-1700 medwyff, pre-1700 medwyiff, pre-1700 meidwif, pre-1700 meidwiffe, pre-1700 meid wyfe, pre-1700 meidwyff, pre-1700 meidwyffe, pre-1700 meydvyf, pre-1700 meydwyfe, pre-1700 midewife, pre-1700 midwif, pre-1700 midwyff, pre-1700 mydewyff, pre-1700 mydwyf, pre-1700 1700s– midwife. Plural Middle English medewyfz, Middle English medewyues, Middle English medewyuyse, Middle English medwyuys, Middle English midewyues, Middle English midwiues, Middle English midwius, Middle English mydwayes (transmission error), Middle English mydwifes, Middle English mydwifez, Middle English mydwyfes, Middle English mydwyfis, Middle English mydwyues, Middle English mydwyuys, 1500s mydwiffes, 1600s middwifes, 1600s– midwives; Scottish pre-1700 meidwiffes, pre-1700 midewives, pre-1700 midwifs, pre-1700 mid-wiues, pre-1700 myde wyffis, pre-1700 1700s– midwives. Origin: Probably formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: mid adv.¹, wife n. Etymology: Probably < mid adv.¹ + wife n.; the original sense seems to have been ‘woman (wife n. 1) who is with the mother at childbirth’. With the formation compare German (archaic) Beifrau female assistant, especially midwife's assistant (1377 in early modern German as bijfrauwe concubine < bij (see by- comb. form) + frauwe (see frau n.)). Compare later midwoman n.The apparent Romance parallels which are sometimes adduced (French regional commère midwife, Italian (now regional) comare midwife (a1498 in this sense), Spanish comadre midwife (1552 in this sense)), are in fact only later sense developments of an original sense ‘godmother’, lit. ‘fellow-mother’ (see cummer n.). An alternative etymology derives the first element of the word < mid adj., with original sense ‘woman who mediates between mother and baby’, but this seems less likely. Forms with stem vowel e in the first element (e.g. med- , mede- , which do not otherwise occur as variants of mid prep.¹ and adv.¹) are probably partly by analogy with words like mediator n., mediatrice n., etc., and partly a reanalysis by folk etymology as if < meed n. + wife n.Older Scots forms in mad-, maid- probably represent an alternative reanalysis of the first element as if < maid n.¹ J. Wright Eng. Dial. Gram. (1905) 58/2 records the general disappearance of medial w in this word in regional dialect; N.E.D. (1906) notes s.v.: ‘The colloquial pronunciation (mi·dif) /ˈmɪdɪf/ is now seldom heard’, but no other dictionary of the period appears to record this variant. 1. A woman (or, rarely, a man) who assists women in childbirth; (spec. in recent times) a medical professional trained and qualified to do this and to give antenatal and post-natal care.male midwife: see male adj. and n.¹ Compounds 1a; man-midwife n. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > healer > one skilled in obstetrics or midwifery > [noun] midwifec1300 childwifea1387 midwomana1400 Lucinac1405 matron?a1425 grace-wifec1600 Mother Midnight1602 headswoman1615 handwoman1637 sage woman1672 howdie1725 accoucheur1727 granny1738 obstetrix1773 accoucheuse1795 dukun1817 fingersmith1819 wise woman1821 obstetrician1826 obstetrist1873 tocologist1902 birth attendant1910 S.C.M.1935 monitrice1969 the world > health and disease > healing > healer > one skilled in obstetrics or midwifery > [noun] > specific male man-midwife1607 mid-man1706 midwife1711 midwifer1825 c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Laud) 16 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 432 (MED) Þe mide-wyues him wolden habbe i-bured, ac þe moder seide euere nay. a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 9653 (MED) Mydwyfe ys a perylus þyng, But she kunne þe poyntes of crystenyng. a1425 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Linc. Inn) (1973) 1001 Ful glad was þo þe medwif [v.r. mydwyf] And tok þeo child al so blyue. a1475 St. Mary Magdalene (Durh.) in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1893) 91 219 In alle my grete sorowe of my trauail of child, thou were to me a mydwife. 1486 in W. Campbell Materials for Hist. Reign Henry VII (1877) II. 65 Alice Massy..medwif to our derest wif the quene. 1502 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1900) II. 47 Item..to the mede wif, xlij s. c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) xv. 101 His mother vas ane meyd vyf. 1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 139 It behoueth the shepheard to be skilfull in medcening of his cattell, and so cunning a midwyfe withall, as yf neede require, he may helpe his Ewe. 1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iv. 55 Mer: I see Queene Mab hath bin with you... Ben: She is the Fairies Midwife . View more context for this quotation 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 269 Adde hereto the skilfull hand of the heads-woman or Midwife as we cal them. 1690 T. Brown Diary 22 Jan. (1898) 57 Jean Angusone..wes browght to bed of a woman chyld..and..no persone knew of the same until she called for Jonet Robisone, meadwyfe. 1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 29 Apr. (1948) I. 257 The admiral is your Walker's brother the midwife. 1771 Philos. Trans. 1770 (Royal Soc.) 60 451 Mr. John Latham, Surgeon and Midwife. 1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman ix The word midwife, in our dictionaries, will soon give place to accoucheur, and one proof of the former delicacy of the sex be effaced from the language. 1838–9 F. A. Kemble Jrnl. Resid. Georgian Plantation (1863) 30 A most ludicrous visit this morning from the midwife of the estate. 1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) xix. 234 A monthly-nurse, or, as her sign-board boldly had it, ‘Midwife’. 1938 R. K. Narayan Dark Room vi. 113 You paid the midwife and the nurse. 1974 B. Emecheta Second Class Citizen viii. 105 Adah guessed that they were the midwives coming to help her deliver the baby. 1983 Daily Tel. 18 Mar. 2/3 There is no reason for advertisements not to use the term ‘midwife’ when inviting applications for jobs although we would expect it to be made clear that either men or women could apply. 1998 I. Hunter Which? Guide to Employment vi. 104 The doctor or midwife will issue the woman with Form MATB1 at about the 26th week of pregnancy. †2. An effeminate man. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > man > [noun] > effeminate man badlingeOE milksopc1390 cockneyc1405 malkina1425 molla1425 weakling1526 tenderling1541 softling1543 niceling1549 woman-man1567 cocknel1570 effeminate1583 androgyne1587 meacock1590 mammaday1593 hermaphrodite1594 midwife1596 nimfadoro1600 night-sneaker1611 mock-mana1625 nan1670 she-man1675 petit maître1711 old woman1717 master-miss1754 Miss Molly1754 molly1785 squaw1805 mollycoddle1823 Miss Nancy1824 mollycot1826 molly mop1829 poof1833 Margery?c1855 ladyboy1857 girl1862 Mary Ann1868 sissy1879 milk1881 pretty-boy1881 nancy1888 poofter1889 Nancy Dawson1890 softie1895 puff1902 pussy1904 Lizzie1905 nance1910 quean1910 maricon1921 pie-face1922 bitch1923 Jessie1923 lily1923 tapette1923 pansy1926 nancy boy1927 nelly1931 femme1932 ponce1932 queerie1933 palone1934 queenie1935 girlie-man1940 swish1941 puss1942 wonk1945 mother1947 candy-ass1953 twink1953 cream puff1958 pronk1959 swishy1959 limp wrist1960 pansy-ass1963 weeny1963 poofteroo1966 mo1968 shim1973 twinkie1977 woofter1977 cake boy1992 hermaphrodite- 1596 M. Drayton Mortimeriados sig. T 1 No Apish fan-bearing Hermophradite, Coch-carried midwyfe, weake, effeminate. 3. figurative. A person who or thing which helps to bring something into being. ΚΠ 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. ii. 62 So Greene, thou art the midwife to my woe, And Bullingbrooke my sorowes dismall heire. View more context for this quotation 1658 F. Osborne Advice to Son (1896) p. xxvii There is another piece of mine ready to peep abroad, but that Mr. Wood, my Midwife, is so taken up with raising an estate in Ireland, as he cannot attend the press. 1692 W. Congreve Incognita Pref. sig. A6 The Drama is..the Midwife to Industry, and brings forth alive the Conceptions of the Brain. 1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite ii, in Fables 45 And Midwife Time the ripen'd Plot to Murder brought. 1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 23 This midwife of the Muses used exercise a-horseback. 1883 J. T. Morse Jefferson (1885) iii. 39 Jefferson..had acted as undertaker for the royal colonies and as midwife for the United States of America. 1941 W. H. Auden New Year Let. i. 19 Art is not life and cannot be A midwife to society. 1975 P. V. Price Taste of Wine i. 13/2 Wine makers are the midwives of wine, not plastic surgeons altering a wine's style. 1998 Rec. Collector Apr. 138/1 Brian had retired to his Hollywood mansion, only emerging sporadically when Carl acted as midwife to one of his new compositions. Compounds midwife toad n. a European toad, Alytes obstetricans (family Discoglossidae), the male of which carries the eggs wrapped around its hind legs until they hatch. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > amphibians > order Anura or Salienta (frogs and toads) > [noun] > types of frog or toad > suborder Opisthocoela > member of family Discoglossidae (midwife toad) midwife toad1877 1877 List Vertebrated Animals Zool. Soc. (ed. 6) 474 Midwife toad, a curious creature in that the male carries the fertilized eggs. 1901 H. Gadow in Cambr. Nat. Hist. VIII. vi. 158 A[lytes] obstetricans, the ‘Midwife-toad’, has the general appearance of a smooth toad... The pairing and the peculiar mode of taking care of the eggs by the male..has given it the specific name obstetricans, the midwife. 1934 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 June p. iv/2 A number of interesting toads have been received lately at the London Zoo, including a collection from Germany of 20 midwife toads with their eggs. 1971 A. Koestler Case of Midwife Toad i. 14 Kammerer's undoing was a grotesque amphibian creature: the midwife toad, Alytes obstetricans. 1995 New Scientist 18 Nov. 76/2 The captive-breeding of threatened amphibians, such as the Mallorcan midwife toad and Puerto Rican crested toad, have proved to be successful and cost-effective programmes. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022). midwifev. Brit. /ˈmɪdwʌɪf/, U.S. /ˈmɪdˌwaɪf/ Inflections: Present participle midwifing, midwiving; past tense and past participle midwifed, midwived; Forms: 1500s mydwiue, 1600s–1700s 1900s– midwive Brit. /ˈmɪdwʌɪv/, U.S. /ˈmɪdˌwaɪv/, 1600s– midwife. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: midwife n. Etymology: < midwife n. Compare earlier midwifing n. 1. †a. transitive. To act as midwife to (a mother). Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1530 W. Tyndale tr. Exod. i, in Fyrst Bk. Moses f. ii^v The kynge of Egipte sayde vnto the mydwiues..when ye mydwiue the women of the Ebrues and se in the byrth tyme that it is a boye, kyll it. 1674 D. Brevint Saul & Samuel iv. 86 Whil'st she is elsewhere..in a rich Abby Mid-wiving an Abbess, whom her Steward had unfortunately gotten with Child. b. transitive. To deliver (a foal, calf, etc.); to act as midwife at the birth of (a child); also †with out. Also in extended use. Now rare. ΚΠ 1653 in M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family Commonwealth (1894) 203 Madcapp saith though she sould you the mare, yett she did not sell you the colt, therefore she laies her commands on you, to midwife it out, and to tittle it upp. 1684 B. Keach Progress of Sin i. 6 Just as Apollyon Midwiv'd him into the World, he let flye his Sting. a1708 T. Ward England's Reformation (1710) 2 So Jove himself..Bred in his Head his Daughter Pallas, Whom Vulcan Midwiv'd. 1775 J. Trumbull MʽFingal 27 That horse..Bore Grecian armies in his belly, Till..Their Sinon midwif'd them in Troy. 1986 Nature 2 Oct. 385/1 Testart, whose group was responsible for the first French test-tube baby, has since ‘midwived’ 210 more. 1995 Yale French Stud. No. 88. 107 Miraculous Minerva midwifed by Vulcan. 2. transitive. To help or be instrumental in bringing (something hidden) to light, or (a piece of work, esp. a work of art) into being or into public view. ΘΚΠ society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclose or reveal [verb (transitive)] unwryc825 unhelec1000 to draw forthc1175 unhillc1200 to bring forth?c1225 unsteekc1250 let witc1275 uncovera1300 wraya1300 knowc1300 barea1325 shrivec1374 unwrapc1374 again-covera1382 nakena1382 outc1390 tellc1390 disclosea1393 cough1393 unhidea1400 unclosec1400 unhaspc1400 bewrayc1405 reveal1409 accusea1413 reveil1424 unlocka1425 unrekec1425 disclude?1440 uncurec1440 utter1444 detect1447 break1463 expose1483 divinec1500 revelate1514 to bring (also put) to light1526 decipher1529 rake1547 rip1549 unshadow1550 to lay to sight1563 uppen1565 unlace1567 unvisor?1571 resign1572 uncloak1574 disshroud1577 spill1577 reap1578 unrip1579 scour1585 unharboura1586 unmask1586 uncase1587 descrya1591 unclasp?1592 unrive1592 discover1594 unburden1594 untomb1594 unhusk1596 dismask1598 to open upc1600 untruss1600 divulge1602 unshale1606 unbrace1607 unveil1609 rave1610 disveil1611 unface1611 unsecret1612 unvizard1620 to open up1624 uncurtain1628 unscreen1628 unbare1630 disenvelop1632 unclothe1632 to lay forth1633 unshroud1633 unmuffle1637 midwife1638 dissecret1640 unseal1640 unmantle1643 to fetch out1644 undisguise1655 disvelop1658 decorticate1660 clash1667 exert1692 disinter1711 to up with1715 unbundlea1739 develop1741 disembosom1745 to open out1814 to let out1833 unsack1846 uncrown1849 to bring (out) in (also into) the open1861 unfrock1866 disbosom1868 to blow the lid off1928 flush1950 surface1955 to take or pull the wraps off1964 the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > confinement > confine or deliver [verb (transitive)] > give birth > aid in childbirth unbindc1325 midwife1638 obstetricate1662 deliver1676 accouche1858 granny1880 born1888 1638 Bp. H. King in Sandys Div. Poems To Author 34 This Child of yours, borne without spurious blot, And Fairely Midwivd, as it was begot. 1673 B. Southwood Bookseller, To Rdr. in J. Smith England's Improvem. Reviv'd This Book..hath stuck in the Birth for some years, by reason of the incapacity of the Author to Midwife it into the world. 1725 N. Bailey tr. Erasmus All Familiar Colloquies 124 I have something runs in my Mind, and I'm with Child to have it out... If it be a Dream, you shall be the Interpreters, or midwife it into the World. 1764 J. Otis Rights Brit. Colonies iv, in B. Bailyn Pamphlets Amer. Revolution I pretend neither to the spirit of prophecy nor any uncommon skill in predicting a crisis, much less to tell when it begins to be ‘nascent’ or is fairly midwived into the world. 1829 C. Lamb Let. 27 Feb. (1935) III. 210 Expectation was alert on the receit of your strange-shaped present... When midwifed into daylight, the gossips were at loss to pronounce upon its species. c1850 in Scribner's Mag. (1895) Mar. 344/2 A silent,..impish motion, conceived in the dark and midwifed in a committee-room. 1936 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 41 695 Motion pictures..are the purest form of democracy... They were midwifed, nursed, and tutored by persons of humble origins. 1972 Sunday Tel. 30 Apr. 7/7 As befitted the man who midwived ‘That Was The Week That Was’, Sir Hugh also got the best laugh at the Colonels' expense. 1994 M. Baigent & R. Leigh Secret Germany 79 The Minnesänger and Meistersänger who midwifed the epoch's great corpus of lyric, dramatic and narrative poetry. Derivatives † midwived adj. Obsolete rare ΚΠ 1685 E. Sherburne tr. Theocritus Idyll XVI in N. Tate Poems by Several Hands 156 Oh mighty Jove! Father of Gods! Heav'ns King! And thou who from his midwiv'd Brain did'st spring Honour'd Minerva! This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.c1300v.1530
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