midwife
noun
- medical professional
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈmɪd.waɪf/ / /ˈmɪd.(w)ɪf/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English midwif, corresponding to mid (“with”) + wif (“woman, wife, female”). It appears not to be entirely clear whether the original understanding was “with-woman” in the sense of “attending/assisting woman”, or “they who are with the woman” (namely the mother).
- A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth, but who is not a physician.
“A hundred years ago, a midwife would bring the baby into the world - going to a hospital to deliver a baby was either impossible or unheard of.”
“Modernly, a hospital midwife is usually a registered nurse.”
- Someone who assists in bringing about some result or project.
“He had not read it, but he said that every detail in it was true. This struck me as a rather cavalier attitude to truth, but hatred is not the midwife of caution or accuracy.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English midwif, corresponding to mid (“with”) + wif (“woman, wife, female”). It appears not to be entirely clear whether the original understanding was “with-woman” in the sense of “attending/assisting woman”, or “they who are with the woman” (namely the mother).
- To act as a midwife.
- To facilitate the emergence of.
“But the bigger objective was to help Iraqis midwife a democratic model that could inspire reform across the Arab-Muslim world and give the youth there a chance at a better future.”
“In the mid-1960s, Reichism was midwifed into reexistence by such stalwarts as William Schutz, Bernard Gunther, Charlotte Selver, Alexander Lowen, Ida Rolf, and many other exponents of human knead needs.”