womb
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English
Alternative forms
- wame (dialectal)
Etymology
From Middle English wombe, wambe, from Old English womb, wamb (“belly, stomach; bowels; heart; womb; hollow”), from Proto-West Germanic *wambu, from Proto-Germanic *wambō (“belly, stomach, abdomen”). 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 vom (“rumen”), Icelandic vömb (“belly, abdomen, stomach”), Old Welsh gumbelauc (“womb”), Breton gwamm (“woman, wife”), Sanskrit वपा (vapā́, “the skin or membrane lining the intestines or parts of the viscera, the caul or omentum”). Superseded non-native Middle English mater, matere (“womb”) and matris, matrice (“womb”) borrowed from Latin māter (“womb”) and Old French matrice (“womb”), respectively.
Pronunciation
Noun
womb (plural wombs)
- (anatomy) In female mammals, the organ in which the young are conceived and grow until birth; the uterus.
- 1971, Marc Bolan (lyrics and music), “Cosmic Dancer”, in Electric Warrior, performed by T. Rex:
- I danced myself right out the womb / Is it strange to dance so soon?
- (obsolete) The abdomen or stomach.
- 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur , London: David Nutt, , 1889, →OCLC:
- And his hede, hym semed,was enamyled with asure, and his shuldyrs shone as the golde, and his wombe was lyke mayles of a merveylous hew […].
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (obsolete) The stomach of a person or creature.
- (figuratively) A place where something is made or formed.
- 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:
- The womb of earth the genial seed receives.
- 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in The Last Man. , volume II, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC:
- The shadows of the future hours rose dark and menacing from the womb of time [...]
- Any cavity containing and enveloping anything.
- 1855, Robert Browning, Popularity:
- The centre spike of gold
Which burns deep in the blue-bell's womb.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Etymologically related terms
Translations
uterus
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figuratively: place where something is made or formed
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belly — see belly
Verb
womb (third-person singular simple present wombs, present participle wombing, simple past and past participle wombed)
- (transitive, obsolete) To enclose in a womb, or as if in a womb; to breed or hold in secret.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- she grew round-wombed
References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “womb”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Middle English
Noun
womb
- Alternative form of wombe