Definitions

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

  • noun The act or process of giving birth; childbirth.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of bringing forth or being delivered of young.
  • noun That which is brought forth; burden; birth.

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

  • noun The act of bringing forth, or being delivered of, young; the act of giving birth; delivery; childbirth.
  • noun obsolete That which is brought forth; a birth.

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

  • noun The act of giving birth; childbirth.

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

  • noun the process of giving birth

Etymologies

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

[Late Latin parturītiō, parturītiōn-, from Latin parturītus, past participle of parturīre, to be in labor; see parturient.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word parturition.

Examples

  • Their instinct comes direct from God and guides them to help themselves in parturition; the very time when the herdsman is most anxious for his herds. wild goats -- ibex (Ps 104: 18; 1Sa 24: 2). hinds -- fawns; most timid and defenseless animals, yet cared for by God.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • -- Like a woman in parturition, who, after having restrained her breathing for a time, at last, overcome with labor pain, lets out her voice with a panting sigh; so Jehovah will give full vent to His long pent-up wrath.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • Hutzal CE, Boyle EM, Kenyon SL, Nash JV, Winsor S, Taylor DJ, Kirpalani H. Useof antibiotics for the treatment of preterm parturition and prevention of neonatal morbidity: a metaanalysis.

    Recent Neonatal Research Publications 2010

  • Mr. Bridges, the missionary who has studied so well the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuego, states that "the names _imu_ and _dabi_ -- father and mother -- have no meaning apart from their application, neither have any of their other very definite and ample list of terms for relatives, except the terms _macu_ [cf. _magu_," parturition "] and

    The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day Alexander F. Chamberlain

  • And this makes perfect sense – medically speaking, jeopardy to the mother is indivisible from jeopardy to the foetus until parturition is over.

    Why we can't get enough of childbirth on TV 2012

  • So the obvious explanation is that, previously, the off-screen relegation of parturition was the result of straight sexism, and its new primacy is a good sign.

    Why we can't get enough of childbirth on TV 2012

  • So, a third European Muslim state struggles into life, its parturition attended by a gaggle of EU midwives, infuriating Serbia and Russia into the bargain.

    Kosovo: The EU 's Bastard Child? 2008

  • So, a third European Muslim state struggles into life, its parturition attended by a gaggle of EU midwives, infuriating Serbia and Russia into the bargain.

    Archive 2008-02-17 2008

  • “An occupation requiring a woman to stand during the greater part of the day when continued up to within a few days or even hours of the time of parturition, must act to the detriment of the offspring, and there is less chance of the latter coming into the world fully grown, well-formed, and in good health.”

    Origins Annie Murphy Paul 2010

  • Poor frustrated Semmelweiss, women who died because doctors wouldn't wash, Brigid and Michael in their various painful forms of parturition – all that is the stuff of a novel.

    The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna Ursula K Le Guin 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • ...it was like the turnpike road to paradise after crossing an Arabian desert, when being led by master Diego through the kitchens, I there saw my lord archbishop's supper, and the stew-pans in the last throes of parturition.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 10 ch. 10

    October 10, 2008