childbearing

From Middle English childberyng, childbering, chyldberynge, child berynge. By surface analysis, child +‎ bearing.

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childbearing (usually uncountable, plural childbearings)

1. The process of giving birth; pregnancy and parturition.
   • 1865, Great Britain. General Register Office, Annual Report ... of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England and Wales ..., volumes 26–30, page 243:

     From the Swedish returns (1776-1855) it appears that 100 childbearings produced 101.62 children, viz., 2.82 stillborn, 98.80 quickborn; consequently 100 quickborn children imply 101.21 childbearings.

childbearing (not comparable)

1. Of, pertaining to, or suitable for childbirth.
   • 1836, Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton, England and the English:

     Women in the latter stages of childbearing should not be permitted to attend the toll of the manufactories.

   • 2000, Methodology for deriving ambient water quality criteria for the protection of human health:

     In these cases, fish intake rates specific to females of childbearing age are most appropriate when assessing exposures to developmental toxicants.

2. (of a woman's hips) Attractively wide.
   • 2004, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Stephanie Marston, Chicken Soup to Inspire a Woman's Soul: Stories Celebrating the Wisdom, Fun and Freedom of Midlife‎, page 256:

     Hips that in the old country would be considered good childbearing hips, but in this country are too wide.