man-midwife

English

Noun

man-midwife (plural man-midwives)

1. An accoucheur; a male midwife
   • 1775, Laurence Sterne, The Koran, Chapter XXXVII: The Man-Midwife, The Works of Laurence Sterne, page 75,

     She was daughter to a man-midwife; — and all that has been urged upon the former caſe, is equally referable to this one also.

   • 1835 May 30, Evidence of Mr, Guthrie before the Parliamentary Medical Committee, The Lancet for 1834-35, Volume 2, page 287,

     It is the same with the man-midwife ; he has no time to devote to surgery ; if he has time, he has no means of improving his knowledge in it.

   • 2010, Mary Lindemann, Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe, page 268:

     Thus, the answer to the old question of whether man-midwives or midwives were the better birth attendants is not simple. Some midwives were indeed dirty, ignorant, and dangerous; some man-midwives saved lives with their forceps; and some births were doomed to disaster.

Coordinate terms

• accoucheuse
• (female) midwife

Derived terms

• man-midwifery

Translations

man who assists women in childbirth

• Catalan: llevador (ca) m, parterot (ca) m
• French: sage-femme homme (fr) m, accoucheur (fr) m
• German: Entbindungspfleger (de) m, Geburtshelfer (de) m, Entbindungshelfer m
• Romanian: mamoș (ro) m, obstetrician (ro) m
• Russian: акуше́р (ru) m (akušér)

See also

• obstetrics
• obstetrician