Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. See uterus.
- n. A place where something is generated.
- n. An encompassing, protective hollow or space.
- n. Obsolete The belly.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The belly; the stomach.
- n. The uterus; the hollow dilated musculo-membranous part of the female passages, between the vagina and the Fallopian tubes, in which the ovum is received, detained, and nourished during gestation, or the period intervening between fecundation and parturition: applied chielly to this organ of the human female and some of the higher or better-known mammalian quadrupeds, the corresponding part of the passages of other animals being commonly called by the technical name uterus. See uterus (with cut), and cut under peritoneum.
- n. The place where anything is produced.
- n. Any large or deep cavity that receives or contains anything.
- To inclose; contain; breed in secret.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete The belly; the abdomen.
- n. (Anat.) The uterus. See Uterus.
- n. The place where anything is generated or produced.
- n. Any cavity containing and enveloping anything.
- v. obsolete To inclose in a womb, or as in a womb; to breed or hold in secret.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a hollow muscular organ in the pelvic cavity of females; contains the developing fetus
Etymologies
- From Middle English wombe, wambe, from Old English womb, wamb ("belly, stomach; bowels; heart; womb; hollow"), from Proto-Germanic *wambō (“belly, stomach, abdomen”), from Proto-Indo-European *wamp- (“membrane (of bowels), intestines, womb”). Cognate with Scots wam, wame ("womb"), Dutch wam ("dewlap of beef; belly of a fish"), German Wamme, Wampe ("paunch, belly"), Danish vom ("belly, paunch, rumen"), Swedish våmb ("belly, stomach, rumen"), Norwegian vomb ("belly"), Icelandic vömb ("belly, abdomen, stomach"), Old Welsh gumbelauc ("womb"), Breton gwamm ("woman, wife"), Sanskrit (vapā́, "the skin or membrane lining the intestines or parts of the viscera, the caul or omentum"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English wamb. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The Dawg thinks that anyone who takes pride in where he or she was spit out of the womb is an imbicile.”
“The words mean the same, but womb is Anglo-Saxon and _uterus_ is Latin, and as Latin is the language of science, we will use that word.”
“The NIV uses the word "womb" -- a word often associated with the unborn child -- only 57 times, compared with 70 times by the”
“After all, the womb is the only world they have ever known.”
The Huffington Post: Heaven: Does Lisa Miller's Book Make The Concept Any Less Trite?
“The first organ that develops in the womb is the heart.”
“The womb is a place where we have no fear of being alone, we do not suffer the hints of morality, and we do not have to worry about Republicans or Democrats.”
“In spite of a few stumbles along the way, H.I. really does love his wife Edwina (Holly Hunter) even when they learn that, as H.I. states, "her womb was a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase.”
“It is also provided that the surrogate mother may receive monetary compensation (rent of the womb in other words) but shall relinquish all parental rights once the child is handed over to the commissioning parents.”
“ The second version of this argument claims that neither the human embryo in a dish nor the fetus in a womb is a bearer of moral rights until birth or perhaps viability.”
“The term derives from Psalm 127: Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘womb’.
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Olde Englisc
English words of Anglo-Saxon origin.
onslaught, slain, clove, clave, thrice, nincompoop, scorn, storm, scant, lurk, beneath, atop and 143 more...
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
vanish, number one, archangel, commodious, dominie, rubble, glisten, morose, spindle, ventilation, Blessed, christian and 503 more...
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Headlines & Newsmakers
frugality, environment, extinction, bible, killer, jazz, cloning, dead, god, moon, global warming, bailout and 340 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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fredrx's beautiful sounding list
two most beautiful words when put together
womb, philistine, poignant, wombastic, eschelon, macabre, precipitous, panache, misogynist, placebo, cacophony, aplomb and 43 more...
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strangelyrouge's Words
glockenspiel, gewgaw, jetsam, flotsam, gripe, grab, wench, whilst, betwixt, hither, thither, yonder and 1034 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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adamogiovane's Words
older woman, younger man, age gap relationship, non-fiction, sensuality, relationship, life, sex, love, hugs, kisses, breast and 147 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (W)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
wail, waistcoat, wales, wallflower, wand, wandering, wanderlust, waning, ward, wardrobe, warp, wassail and 97 more...
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Ugliest Words Ever
words that I refuse to say out loud.
tuna, uranus, bulbous, vaginal, rectum, cunnilingus, flatulance, pedagogy, blooper, booger, beefy, polyp and 116 more...
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words I don't like very much
many frequently used by moms; words that sound dirtier than they are
crisp, grunge, cuddle, puke, smear, voucher, manipulate, fodder, coddle, fecund, chunk, hunk and 71 more...
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EROTICA
thrust, cock, sweat, erotic, porn, penetrate, lust, force, rape, hard, cum, climax and 73 more...
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cricketann's Words
time, neck, fallacy, huzzah, lithe, wayback, anil, chaste, mineral, biota, crepuscular, dawn and 16 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for womb.
yarb I agree that it's a lovely and complex vowel sound. For me the 'b' isn't completely silent, though very muted, and the invisible 'h' is only just audible. Oct 23, 2008
fredrx This word has the prettiest vowel sound in "oo". The invisibe "h" behind the "w" and the unpronounced "b". The settling effect when prounced. One of my all time favorite words for he sound, not the connotation. Oct 23, 2008
sakhalinskii A more colloquial alternative to swimming pool. Jul 30, 2008
treeseed Any dark, recessed place of emergence..as a cave or cauldron, especially in a symbolic use as in ritual. Feb 18, 2008