lying-in

plural lying-ins · plural lyings-in

1. The final stages of pregnancy; accouchement.

   from our first knowing each other, which was soon after my lying-in, we were almost inseparable companions […]

   1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Folio Society, published 1973, page 404

   1 more example

   One of them went to the pail, and finding no water in it, cried out to the others, what must they do to christen the child? On which they replied it should be done in beer. With that the seeming parson took the child in his arms, and performed the ceremony of baptism, dipping his head into a great tub of strong beer, which the woman had brewed the day before to be ready for her lying-in.

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 400

2. A period of postpartum confinement, typically a month or longer, formerly common in Europe and still practiced in some parts of the world.

   As she lay by the birth-fire, she gazed on the face of the child asleep in the bamboo cradle […] Once free from the lying-in, Linchong set herself to bringing up the baby.

   1995, Meredith Borthwick, transl., Many Lives, Kukrit Pramoj, pages 177–8

3. historicalThe process of childbirth and the immediate postpartum recovery period of rest and confinement in bed.

   '[…] as soon as she recovered from her lying-in, for I found her near her delivery […]'

   1811, [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC

1. not comparableof, or relating to childbirth
2. not comparableof, or relating to postpartum confinement