[koo-vahd; Fr. koo-vad] 
| a practice among some peoples, as the Basques of Spain, in which a man, immediately preceding the birth of his child, takes to his bed in an enactment of the birth experience and subjects himself to various taboos usually associated with pregnancy. |
| cou·vade (kōō-väd') n. A practice in certain cultures in which the husband of a woman in labor takes to his bed as though he were bearing the child. [French, from Old French, from couver, to incubate, hatch, from Latin cubāre, to lie down on.] |
couvade cou·vade (k&oomacr;-väd')
n.
A practice in certain non-Western cultures in which the husband of a woman in labor takes to his bed as though he were bearing the child.
couvade
(from French couver "to hatch") ritual behaviour undertaken, usually by a man, during or around the birth of a child. Historically, couvade has been poorly defined; it has encompassed practices that are quite divergent in terms of timing, participants, activity, and cause
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