gestatory

English

Etymology

From Latin gestatorius (“that serves for carrying”). Compare French gestatoire.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɛstətɔɹi/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒɛstətəɹi/, /ˈdʒɛstətɹi/

Adjective

gestatory (not comparable)

1. (archaic) gestational (pertaining to gestation or pregnancy)

   gestatory surrogacy

2. (obsolete, rare) Capable of being carried or worn.
   • 1684, Thomas Browne, “Of Garlands and Coronary Plants”, in Miscellany Tracts:

     The Crowns and Garlands of the Ancients were either Gestatory, such as they wore about their Heads or Necks; Portatory, such as they carried at solemn Festivals; Pensile or Suspensory, such as they hanged about the Posts of their Houses in honour of their Gods, as of Jupiter Thyræus or Limeneus; or else they were Depository, such as they laid upon the Graves and Monuments of the dead.

   • 1843, Albert Way, editor, Promptorium parvulorum sive clericorum, London, page 157:

     In its secondary sense feretrum signified a portable shrine, containing the relics of saints, and carried in processions on a frame similar to the ordinary bier; and also stationary shrines of similar fashion, but which it was not customary to display as gestatory ornaments, such as those of St. Cuthbert at Durham, or St. Thomas of Hereford, in the cathedral there.

   • 1882 May, Rev. Wladislaw Somerville Lach-Szyrma, “May Day”, in The Antiquary, volume 5, London, page 187:

     Garlands, it is needless to say, played an important part in the festivals of antiquity, gestatory garlands worn round the neck (like those just mentioned), postilory for feasts, pensile hung on the posts of the doors.

Further reading

• “gestatory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.