womb
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- wame (dialectal)
EtymologyEdit
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”)[1]. 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 Superseded non-native Middle English mater, matere (“womb”) and matris, matrice (“womb”) borrowed from Latin māter (“womb”) and Old French matrice (“womb”), respectively.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
womb (plural wombs)
- (anatomy) In female mammals, the organ in which the young are conceived and grow until birth; the uterus. [from 8th c.]
- (obsolete) The abdomen or stomach. [8th–17th c.]
- 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, OCLC 71490786; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034:
- 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 quote)
- (obsolete) The stomach of a person or creature. [8th–18th c.]
- (figuratively) A place where something is made or formed. [from 15th c.]
- 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 403869432:
- The womb of earth the genial seed receives.
- 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter 7, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 230675575:
- 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.
- The centre spike of gold
- 1855, Robert Browning, Popularity
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Etymologically related terms
TranslationsEdit
uterus
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figuratively: place where something is made or formed
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belly — see belly
VerbEdit
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[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
- she grew round-wombed
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “womb”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Further readingEdit
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “womb”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Middle EnglishEdit
NounEdit
womb
- Alternative form of wombe