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Nursing Programs
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
mid·wife    Audio Help   [mid-wahyf] Pronunciation Key noun, plural -wives    Audio Help   [-wahyvz] Pronunciation Key, verb, -wifed or -wived, -wif·ing or wiv·ing.
–noun
1.a person trained to assist women in childbirth.
2.a person or thing that produces or aids in producing something new or different.
–verb (used with object)
3.to assist in the birth of (a baby).
4.to produce or aid in producing (something new): to midwife a new generation of computers.

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME midwif, equiv. to mid with, accompanying (OE; cf. meta-) + wif woman (OE wīf; see wife)]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Nursing Programs
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Phoenix.edu

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Midwife Training
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Midwife Degrees
Find Midwife Degrees for Midwife Careers.
www.TheCollegeSearch.org
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
midwife

To learn more about midwife visit Britannica.com

© 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
mid·wife    Audio Help   (mĭd'wīf')  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. mid·wives (-wīvz')
  1. A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth. Also called regionally granny, granny woman.
  2. One who assists in or takes a part in bringing about a result: "In the Renaissance, artists and writers start to serve as midwives of fame" (Carlin Romano).

tr.v.   mid·wifed or mid·wived (-wīvd'), mid·wif·ing or mid·wiv·ing (-wī'vĭng), mid·wifes or mid·wives (-wīvz')
  1. To assist in the birth of (a baby).
  2. To assist in bringing forth or about: "Washington's efforts to midwife a Mideast settlement" (Newsweek).


[Middle English midwif : probably mid, with (from Old English; see me-2 in Indo-European roots) + wif, woman (from Old English wīf).]

Word History: The word midwife is the sort of word whose etymology seems perfectly clear until one tries to figure it out. Wife would seem to refer to the woman giving birth, who is usually a wife, but mid ? A knowledge of older senses of words helps us with this puzzle. Wife in its earlier history meant "woman," as it still did when the compound midwife was formed in Middle English (first recorded around 1300). Mid is probably a preposition, meaning "together with." Thus a midwife was literally a "with woman" or "a woman who assists other women in childbirth." Even though obstetrics has been rather resistant to midwifery until fairly recently, the etymology of obstetric is rather similar, going back to the Latin word obstetrīx, "a midwife," from the verb obstāre, "to stand in front of," and the feminine suffix -trīx; the obstetrīx would thus literally stand in front of the baby.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
midwife 
1303, "woman assisting," lit. "woman who is 'with' " (the mother at birth), from M.E. mid "with" (see meta-) + wif "woman" (see wife). Cognate with Ger. Beifrau. Midwifery is attested from 1483.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
midwife

noun
a woman skilled in aiding the delivery of babies 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
midwife [ˈmidwaif] nounplural ˈmidwives [-waivz]
a person (usually a trained nurse) who helps at the birth of children
Arabic: قابِلَه، مُوَلِّدَه
Chinese (Simplified): 助产士
Chinese (Traditional): 助產士
Czech: porodní asistentka
Danish: jordemor
Dutch: vroedvrouw
Estonian: ämmaemand
Finnish: kätilö
French: sage-femme
German: die Hebamme
Greek: μαία
Hungarian: bába
Icelandic: ljósmóðir
Indonesian: bidan
Italian: levatrice, ostetrica
Japanese: 助産婦
Latvian: vecmāte, akušiere
Lithuanian: akušerė, pribuvėja
Norwegian: jordmor
Polish: położna, akuszerka
Portuguese (Brazil): parteira
Portuguese (Portugal): parteira
Romanian: moaşă
Russian: акушерка
Slovak: pôrodná asistentka
Slovenian: babica
Spanish: comadrona, partera, matrona
Swedish: barnmorska
Turkish: ebe
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
midwife

A person who serves as an attendant at childbirth but is not a physician. Some midwives (called certified nurse midwives) are trained in university programs, which usually require previous education in nursing; others (called lay midwives) learn their skills through apprenticeship.


[Chapter:] Medicine and Health


The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Midwife

Mid"wife`\, n.; pl. Midwives. [OE. midwif, fr. AS. mid with (akin to Gr. ?) + ? woman, wife. Properly, the woman or wife who is attendant upon a woman in childbirth. See Meta-, and Wife.] A woman who assists other women in childbirth; a female practitioner of the obstetric art.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Midwife

Mid"wife`\, v. t. To assist in childbirth.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Midwife

Mid"wife`\, v. i. To perform the office of midwife.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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