Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A practice in certain cultures in which the husband of a woman in labor takes to his bed as though he were bearing the child.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A custom, reported in ancient as well as modern times among some of the primitive races in all parts of the world, in accordance with which, after the birth of a child, the father takes to bed, and receives the delicacies and careful attention usually given among civilized people to the mother.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A custom, among certain barbarous tribes, that when a woman gives birth to a child her husband takes to his bed, as if ill.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A practice among some peoples, such as the Basques, of the husband of a woman in the last stages of pregnancy taking to bed, avoiding certain foods, or imitating other behaviours of a pregnant woman.
  • noun sympathetic pregnancy: the involuntary sympathetic experience of the husband of symptoms of his wife's pregnancy, such as weight gain or morning sickness.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a custom among some peoples whereby the husband of a pregnant wife is put to bed at the time of bearing the child

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French, from couver, to incubate, hatch, from Latin cubāre, to lie down on.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French couvade ("brooding")

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Examples

  • In the late 19th century, psychologists termed male pregnancy symptoms couvade, from the French word "couver," meaning "to incubate" or "to brood" like a mother bird.

    The Plight of the Pregnant Man Jena Pincott 2011

  • The couvade is a practical survival from the days of women's rule.

    The Dominant Sex: A Study in the Sociology of Sex Differentiation, by Mathilde and Mathias Vaerting; translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul 1923

  • The practice of that very curious custom, the "couvade," seems to be still in force among some of the Arizona Indian tribes, among whom so many other mysterious rites and customs prevail.

    Ranching, Sport and Travel Thomas Carson

  • I allude to the singular custom of the "couvade," in which the father is put to bed on the birth of a child.

    The Naturalist in Nicaragua Thomas Belt 1855

  • Those who experienced couvade were the type who clucked and cooed whenever their babies cried.

    The Plight of the Pregnant Man Jena Pincott 2011

  • Freudians attributed couvade to "fetus envy," but recent science has found that it's not so cuckoo.

    The Plight of the Pregnant Man Jena Pincott 2011

  • When it happens to humans, it's called 'couvade syndrome' as if it was some sort of illness.

    Why Expectant Dads Gain Weight Too Field Notes 2009

  • When it happens to humans, it's called 'couvade syndrome' as if it was some sort of illness.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Field Notes 2009

  • This strange malady, resembling the _couvade_ among certain savage nations, ordinarily lasted five days and four nights, but on this occasion the Ulstermen were prostrate from the beginning of November till the beginning of February.

    The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge Unknown

  • The grotesque comedy of the couvade, which proved a tragedy so often for the poor mother compelled by the custom to rise in her weakness and even neglect her new-born baby, in order to do double work and to tempt the appetite of her lord after his make-believe pangs of childbirth, was one sign that primitive consciousness found the new knowledge of double parentage very exciting.

    The Family and it's Members Anna Garlin Spencer

Comments

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  • Brittanica: "(from French couver, “to hatch�?), the custom of the father going to bed at the birth of his child and simulating the symptoms of labour and childbirth. In an extreme form of couvade, the mother returns to her work as soon as possible after giving birth, often the same day, and waits on the father; the roles of the sexes are thus reversed."

    February 26, 2007

  • What the...?!

    March 4, 2007

  • Hey, a woman's got to learn life ain't all ice cream and midwives.

    March 4, 2007

  • The least he could do is throw her an eskimo pi on his way to bed.

    March 4, 2007

  • Let all of us be on our guard

    Lest judgment be hasty and hard.

    Is it tenderest sharing

    Or harsh and uncaring

    For a husband to suffer couvade?

    The definition supplied with the Word of the Day gives a positive spin to couvade but other definitions and examples are less generous.

    December 19, 2018