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Webster 1913 Edition

‖

(koōˊvȧd′)

Noun.

[F., fr.

couver

. See

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

The world-wide custom of the

couvade

, where at childbirth the husband undergoes medical treatment, in many cases being put to bed for days.

Tylor.

couvade ‎(plural couvades)

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.
Sympathetic pregnancy: the involuntary sympathetic experience of the husband of symptoms of his wife's pregnancy, such as weight gain or morning sickness.

couvade f ‎(plural couvades)