obstetricate

O1B3S1T1E1T1R1I1C3A1T1E1

verb

To assist in the manner or as if in the manner of a midwife.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

verbobstetricate (third-person singular simple present obstetricates, present participle obstetricating, simple past and past participle obstetricated)

present singular third person obstetricates · participle present obstetricating · participle past obstetricated · past obstetricated

  1. obsoleteTo assist in the manner or as if in the manner of a midwife.

    Whatever its effect on the soldiers, Paul's sermon on Areopagus has not been forgotten in Mars Hill, Maine, where the town's other doctor wears a cross in his lapel and has personally been obstetricated twice

    1986, John McPhee, Heirs of General Practice
    1 more example

    Some adviſe us to break the ſhells of Pines to facilitate their delivery, and I have eſſay'd it; but to my loſs; Nature does obſtetricate, and do that office of her ſelf when it is the beſt ſeaſon; [...]

    1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “. Chapter XXI. Of the Fir, Pine, Pinaster, Pitch-tree, &c..”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 53

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

obstetricate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/obstetricate

MLA

“obstetricate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/obstetricate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “obstetricate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/obstetricate.

Source: obstetricate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.