▪ I. pregnancy1
(ˈprɛgnənsɪ)
[f. pregnant a.2: see -ancy.]
1. a. The condition of being pregnant, or with child or young; gestation. Also transf., with reference to appearance: bigness, swollen shape.
| 1598 Florio, Pregnanza, greatnes with child, pregnancie, a being great with childe or with yoong. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 62 That extraordinary extension that is requisite in the time of their Pregnancy. 1777 Watson Philip II (1839) 9 Those appearances, which gave rise to the belief of Mary's pregnancy, were found to be nothing but the approach of a dropsy. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 132 The phænomena of mania and pregnancy will very constantly impede the progress of pulmonary consumption. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 25 Feb. 9/3 When Mr. Lawson Tait unravelled for himself the whole mystery of the broad ligament, the prevention of death in the awful catastrophe of tubal pregnancy was made clear to him. 1950 Manch. Guardian Weekly 4 May 3/4 Since Packard abolished its regal proboscis and succumbed to the epidemic pregnancy of current American models [of automobiles]. |
| attrib. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 799 The ‘pregnancy kidney’,..the chronic form of renal disease dependent on pregnancy. 1906 Athenæum 21 July 79/1 Mr. H. A. Rose..describes in two papers the pregnancy observances in the Punjab, of the Hindu and Mohammedan populations. |
b. fig. (or in fig. context).
| a 1529 Skelton Replycacion 371 Suche a pregna[n]cy Of heuenly inspyracion In laureate creacyon. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. vi. Wks. 1851 III. 122 Heresie begat heresie with a certaine monstrous haste of pregnancy in her birth. 1754 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) III. 84, I have often announced to you a pregnancy of events, which have soon after been still-born. |
2. transf. a. Of the soil, etc.: Fertility, fecundity, fruitfulness; abundance.
| 1615 G. Sandys Trav. i. 21 [Mt. Ida] Famous for the iudgement of Paris, and pregnancie in fountaines. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. vi. (1762) 13 [The earth] will acquire such a genuine and masculine pregnancy. 1878 Masque Poets 48 He knows the utmost secret of the earth, The pregnancy of every blossom's birth. |
† b. A germinating or vitalizing quality. Obs. rare.
| 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 157 Like the eggs of an Ostrich in the dust; I do but lay them in the sun; their own pregnancies hatch the truth. |
† c. The state or condition of being impregnated with some substance. Obs.
| 1666 G. Harvey Morb. Angl. iv. 31 The blood..through its pregnancy with volatil aculeous salt. |
3. a. fig. In reference to the mind: Fertility, productiveness, inventiveness, imaginative power; quickness or readiness (of wit).
| 1550 Bale Eng. Votaries ii. 49 b, They perceyued in hym great copye of learnynge, pregnancy of wytt. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 192 Pregnancie is made a Tapster, and hath his quicke wit wasted in giuing Recknings. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 593 Henry the eight conceiued so good an opinion of his discreet comportement, and ingenious pregnancie, that he..made him his principall Secretary. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §267 He [Sir H. Vane] was chosen to cozen, and deceive a whole Nation..: which he did with notable pregnancy and dexterity. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 309 ¶12 The Diversions of the fallen Angels..are described with great Pregnancy of Thought. 1833 Coleridge Table-t. 23 Oct., I scarcely know a more striking instance of the strength and pregnancy of the Gothic mind. |
† b. esp. in reference to the young. Obs.
| 1599 Broughton's Lett. v. 16 Certaine knowledge of the Archbishops great industrie, from his youth, not pregnancie alone. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. i. (1682) 273 A pregnancy of judgment above his years. 1671 Clarendon Dial. Tracts (1727) 290 He observes a pregnancy in his apprentice, which he cherishes and instructs. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) III. vii. iii. 306 Such youths as are remarkable for the pregnancy of their parts and goodness of disposition. 1852 R. Williams Eminent Welshmen 342 [Thos. Morgan] was..a poor lad in a farmer's house, near Bridgewater, Somerset. The pregnancy of his genius was conspicuous, and the Rev. John Moore..offered him tuition gratis. |
† c. transf. A youth of promise. Obs.
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. 340 To select yearly one, or moe, of the most promising pregnancies out of both Universities, and to breed them beyond the seas. a 1661 ― Worthies, Berks. (1662) i. 93. |
4. a. In reference to speech, words, etc.: Latent fullness of meaning, significance, suggestiveness.
| 1841 L. Hunt Seer ii. (1864) 59 Not that they want the same pregnancy in our language, but because they are neither so abundant nor so musical. a 1884 M. Pattison Mem. (1885) 63 The political pregnancy of certain words in these had excited my interest. |
b. In reference to events, actions, etc.: Latent capacity to produce results, potentiality.
| 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 401 The estate that was in them, was, by the statute, wholly transferred to serve the uses which were in esse, with a pregnancy and prospect to the contingent remainders, if they should arise in due time. 1883 Seeley Expansion Eng. 144 The true test of the historical importance of events..is their pregnancy..the greatness of the consequences likely to follow from them. |
5. Special Comb.: pregnancy test, a test to establish whether a woman (or female animal) is pregnant; so pregnancy testing.
| 1929 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 25 May 1746/1 Their ‘pregnancy test’..is based on the injection of urine into immature white mice. 1962 L. Davidson Rose of Tibet 313 Forcible mating begun... Army doctors followed..to make pregnancy tests. 1977 Private Eye 13 May 22/2 (Advt.), Pregnancy Test Service. Send small sample of urine & fee {pstlg}3 for reliable & strictly confidential results by first class return post (plain sealed cover). 1977 Times 21 June 5/8 Scientists yesterday carried out pregnancy tests on a Colorado beetle found at the weekend on a rose bush in a garden at Peacehaven, Sussex. |
| 1938 Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. XXXV. 362 A review of the most recent work in pregnancy testing is presented. 1971 Guardian 15 Apr. 22/4 An instant pregnancy-testing service is to be promoted in chemists' shops. |
▪ II. † ˈpregnancy2 Obs.
[f. pregnant a.1: see -ancy.]
Cogency, force, weight, of an argument; clearness of evidence or proof; a weighty reason.
| 1649 Milton Eikon. iii, All those pregnancies and just motives came to just nothing. 1650 Vindic. Hammond's Addr. §10. 3 On purpose..to take off from the clearnesse, and the pregnancie of the probation. a 1674 Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 45 Illustrating his definitions by instances, as he often doth with great pregnancy. 1677 A. Horneck Gt. Law Consid. iv. (1704) 106 Whatever pregnancy there may be in the motives a judicious person doth allege. |