gestation
(dʒɛˈsteɪʃən)
Also 6 -acion.
[ad. L. gestātiōn-em (n. of action f. gestāre to carry) found esp. in sense 1. Cf. F. gestation (Cotgr.).]
The action of bearing or carrying.
1. A carrying or being carried, e.g., on horseback or in a carriage, regarded as a kind of exercise. Now rare.
| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 49 b, There is also another kynde of exercise, whiche is called Gestation..as..sytting in a chaire, whiche is caried on mens shulders with staves..or syttynge in a boate or barge, whiche is rowed, rydyng on a horse [etc.]. 1562 W. Bullein Def. agst. Sickness, Vse of Sicke Men 67 b, Gestacion, that is to be caried of an other thyng, without any trauaill of the bodie it self. 1606 Holland Sueton. 214 He never went forth any iourney (were it but for exercise by way of Gestation), but [etc.]. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., Gestation, increaseth heat..and causeth sleep. 1806 R. Cumberland Mem. (1807) II. 238 He..took his morning's circuit on horse-back at a foot's-pace; for his infirmity would not admit of any strong gestation. 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 429 Moderate gestation, and a temperate course of diet, will be found to answer the purpose of promoting convalescence. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 251 Gestation, pure air, sea-bathing and every other kind of tonic..are also of the utmost importance. 1871 Sir T. Watson Lect. Princ. Med. (ed. 5) II. li. 245 Gestation in a carriage or in a boat, has the same good effects [as equitation] but in a less degree. 1885 in Syd. Loc. Lex. |
† 2. The practice of wearing (a ring). Obs. rare—1.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. iv. 185 Affirming that the gestation of rings upon this hand and finger, might rather be used for their conveniency and preservation, then any cordiall relation. |
3. The action or process of carrying young; the condition of being carried in the womb during the period between conception and birth.
Applied by extension to processes somewhat similar, e.g. dorsal gestation, oral gestation, mammary gestation or pouch gestation.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 336 You shall reconcile Hippocrates to himselfe, if you say, that the end of the tenth moneth is the absolute and longest limit of gestation. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., The gestation is various also, the woolf goeth a month or forty daies, the bitch nine weeks. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. i. 38 The comfort of her sister-in-law, during her gestation. 1786 Gilpin in Mrs. Delany's Life & Corr. Ser. ii. III. 340 Naturalists tell us, that the noblest animals are the longest in gestation. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) VI. 573 The words ‘born in due time afterwards.’ Such words, in the case of a man's own children, mean the time of gestation. 1821 Sporting Mag. IX. 4 The gestation and foaling, upon which so much has been already written. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xlii. 162 As to the period of gestation, most insects begin to lay their eggs soon after fecundation has taken place. 1868 Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. i. 29 It has been objected that our domestic dogs cannot be descended from wolves or jackals, because their periods of gestation are different. |
| fig. 1691–1701 Norris Ideal World i. Pref. 1 Measuring the perfection of the birth by the presumed time of the gestation [of a literary work]. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. ii. v, How this Question of the Trial grew laboriously, through the weeks of gestation,..were superfluous to trace here. 1851 R. R. Madden Shrines Old & New World II. 606 The work was conceived in prison, and the whole process of gestation was accomplished there. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such xiii. 229 He has a trying gestation of every speech. |
______________________________
Add: Hence geˈstational a., associated with gestation; gestative.
| 1896 Dorland Man. Obstetr. iii. 406 Gestational paralysis may assume the form of a paraplegia, a hemiplegia, facial paralysis, or paralysis of the nerves of special sense. 1961 Lancet 9 Sept. 610/2 The subjects chosen for discussion are: oral antidiabetic agents, anabolic and gestational steroids, modern drugs used in psychiatry, and side-effects of drugs. 1989 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 Mar. 797/2 The mean crude birth weight was 3325 g and mean gestational age 39.4 weeks. |