childbearing

plural childbearings · alternative child-bearing

1. uncountableusuallyThe process of giving birth; pregnancy and parturition.

   women of childbearing age

   1 more example

   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.

   1865, Great Britain. General Register Office, Annual Report ... of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England and Wales ..., volumes 26–30, page 243

alternative child-bearing

1. not comparableOf, pertaining to, or suitable for childbirth.

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

   1836, Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton, England and the English

   1 more example

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

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

2. figurativelyinformalnot comparableOf a woman's hips, attractively wide.

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