▪ I. womb, n.
(wuːm)
Forms: α. 1–2, 4 wamb, 4–5 wambe; see also wame. β. 1– womb; 1 uommb, 3–7 wombe, 5 north. vombe, 6 Sc. voyme, voymbe.
[Com. Teut.: OE. wamb, womb str. fem. = (M)LG., MDu. wamme (Du. wam), OHG. wamba, wampa (MHG. wamme, wampe, G. wamme, dial. wampe), ON. vǫmb (MSw. vamb), Goth. wamba κοιλία, γαστήρ: ulterior relations obscure.
For a Romance deriv. of the Teut. word see gambeson.]
† 1. = belly. a. The abdomen. Obs.
| c 825 Vesp. Ps. xliii[i]. 25 Adhesit in terra venter noster, ætfalh in eorðan womb ur. a 1000 Riddles xxxvii. 3 Ic wiht ᵹeseah on weᵹe feran, seo..hæfde feowere fet under wombe. c 1205 Lay. 19800 His neb bigon to blakien, his wombe gon to swellen. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10794 Wan richard þe marschal..toward is fon in þe feld haþ is wombe iwent, Ssold he turne hom is rugh? c 1305 Judas Isc. 141 in E.E.P. (1862) 111 His wombe to-berste amidde atuo. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 66 Inwyth the wombe of man..Is herte lyuer and longes. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 144 His wombe & his wast were worthily smale. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 24 Tharmes, The wombe and al doun to the kne, Of bras thei were. Ibid. III. 215 What man that..wery is to swinke, Upon his wombe and lith to drinke, Forsak. a 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 635/33 Hic uenter, wambe. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 39 Take þe Wombe of A luce, & seþe here wyl. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 53 Her wombis [L. venter, aut viscera], sidis, reynys, swelle or ake. 1486 Bk. St. Albans e iij b, All thyng with in the wombe saue onli the gall. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) I. 12 If he haue a great wombe, and his Cofers ful. 1526 R. Whitford Martiloge 100 They were racked,..than were theyr wombes or belyes flayne the skynne of. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 25 And I had but a belly of any indifferencie, I were simply the most actiue fellow in Europe: my wombe, my wombe, my wombe vndoes mee. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 462 The Tormentor..drew violently with his hands, making my Wombe support the force of his feete. 1684 J. S. Profit & Pleas. United 35 As for your Mare; let her have a compleat Body, Indifferent Long with a large Womb. |
† b. The stomach (as the receptacle of food).
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xv. 17 Ne oncnauas ᵹie forðon eᵹhuelc þæt in muð inngaas in womb gaas? a 1100 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 159/27 Aluus, rif uel seo inre wamb. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. Luke xv. 16 Ða ᵹewilnede he his wambe fellen of þam beancoddan þe þa swin æten. a 1200 Moral Ode 145 in O.E. Hom. I. 169 Ful wombe mei lihtliche speken of hunger & of festen. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 137 Of here wombe hie makieð here godd. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 37 Þe fule man þe foleȝeð his wombes wil. 13.. Cursor M. 536 (Gött.) Manes wambe all licur drinkis. 1340 Ayenb. 53 Þanne ssolle we betuene þe porse and þe wombe of þe glotoune habbe a uayr strif. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 162 Hongur..wrong him so be þe wombe, þat boþe his eȝen watreden. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 462 He..Fallez on þe foule flesch & fyllez his wombe. c 1386 Chaucer Monk's T. 447 Thanne sholde nat hunger in my wombe crepe. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 170 Withe ful wombe they preche of abstynence. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 39 Do in þe grete wombe of þe Schepe, þat is, the mawe. 1515 Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C iij b/2 When ye be mery and stuffed is your wombe..Then laude ye songes. 1601 Holland Pliny xxvi. viii. II. 248 The wombe..oftentimes in a day calleth unto us for victuals. 1603 J. Davies (Heref.) Microcosmos Wks. (Grosart) I. 58/2 If nought from without come in the wombe The Body needes must die. 1756 Poor Robin June B 1 b, Who makes a swill tub of his womb, Is but a speaking, prattling tomb. |
† c. The bowels.
Obs.| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 186 Se ᵹeþiᵹeda mete hefeᵹaþ þone maᵹan & he þone sammeltan þurh ða wambe utsent. c 1400 Mandeville (1919) xviii. 101 Men putten it in medicynes..to make the Wombe lax. c 1400 tr. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh. 70 A potage nesshe and laxatyue to þe wombe. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 51 If þat he be feble..voide þe fecis of his wombe bi clisterie. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. xxxiv. (1869) 88 Þou berest him to priuee chambres..to voide his wombe. 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) M ij, It is holsome for you, every day once to procure the duety of the wombe. |
† d. The belly-piece of a hide or skin.
Obs.| 1434 Will of Ruddok (Somerset Ho.) Calabir wombis. 1483 in Antiq. Rep. (1807) I. 32 A greete bordure and purfile of ermyne wombes. 1531 Dunmow Churchw. MS. lf. 11 b, Item, for a payer of wombs tande.., vi d ob. 1551–2 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI c. 15 §3 Everie Girdler..maye..sell..Neckes, Wombes and Shreddes of tanned Leather. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier Wks. (Grosart) XI. 269 Whereas you should only put the backs of skinnes into facing, you taw the wombs. 1612 Sc. Bk. Rates in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 305 Beaver bellies or wombes the peice, viii s. |
¶ (
a) In translations of the Vulgate rendering
venter in the sense of ‘heart, soul’.
| c 825 Vesp. Hymns vi. 31 Expavit venter meus, forhtade womb min. 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. li. 29 My wombe [later version soule] is disturbid in sechyng it. |
(
b)
tr. L.
ventriculus = ventricle 1.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxvi. (1495) i vij b/2 The herte hath two holownesses..And thise two holownesses ben callyd the wombes of the herte [L. ventriculi cordis]. Ibid. i viij/1 In the wombe of the hert is a pyece shappe as an eere wythout. |
2. The uterus.
| c 825 Vesp. Ps. cxxvi[i]. 3 Fructus ventris, westem wombe. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xxiii. 29 Eadᵹo biðon ða unberendo & ða wombo ðaðe ne acendon. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 87 Hv mai ðat moder forȝeten ðat child ðe hie bar in hire wombe? c 1205 Lay. 199 Heuede Lauine þa quene kine⁓bearn on wombe. a 1300 Cursor M. 3460 Childir tuin Þat lai þer moder wamb wit-in. c 1400 Beryn 859 A child gan stere in hir vombe. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 63 What wommans wambe myght bere so grete a light? a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 134 They were his bretherne of one wombe descended. 1626 Bacon Sylva §94 Birds, that are shaped without the Females Wombe, haue in the Egge..Matter of Nourishment. 1718 Prior Solomon iii. 115 Naked from the Womb We yesterday came forth. 1820 Shelley Cloud 83 Like a child from the womb. 1842 Tennyson Day-Dream 28 Like hints and echoes of the world To spirits folded in the womb. |
b. Phr.
womb-to-tomb,
esp. used
attrib. to denote procedures, etc., which span a lifetime.
Cf. cradle-to-grave s.v. cradle n. 2.
| 1964 A. Wykes Gambling i. 8 During our womb-to-tomb progress we never stop gambling, for we cannot know the outcome of each of the many decisions we have to make every day. 1967 McLuhan & Fiore Medium is Massage 12 Electrical information devices for universal, tyrannical womb-to-tomb surveillance are causing a very serious dilemma between our claim to privacy and the community's need to know. 1968 G. Jackson Let. 29 June in Soledad Brother (1971) 163 From the womb to the tomb this plays in our minds. We are not worth more than the amount of capital we can raise. 1979 Bookseller 23 June 2830/3 Kane and Abel..is a womb-to-tomb tale. |
3. transf. A hollow space or cavity, or something conceived as such (
e.g. the depth of night);
† also, a belly-shaped object or part.
| 969 in Birch Cart. Sax. III. 532 Þæt swa on east crofte þæt swa ondlong þære heᵹe ræwe þæt on ondoncilles wombe. a 1000 Riddles iv. 48 [Clouds] feallan lætað sweart sumsendu seaw of bosme, wætan of wombe. Ibid. xxxviii. 1 Ic þa wihte ᵹeseah; womb wæs on hindan þriþum aþrinten. 1382 Wyclif Isa. xix. 7 Nakened shal be the flod wombe [alveus rivi]. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §3 The moder of thin Astrelabie is þe thikkeste plate, perced with a large hole, þat resseyuyth in hir wombe the thynne plates. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 56, I had moche leuer that the erthe wold opene and swalwe me in to his wombe. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 239, I may be pluckt into the swallowing wombe, Of this deepe pit, poore Bassianus graue. 1592 ― Rom. & Jul. v. i. 65 As violently, as hastie powder fier'd Doth hurry from the fatall Canons wombe. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iii. v, Yee sootie coursers of the night, Hurrie your chariot into hels black wombe. 1615 Chapman Odyss x. 471 The fourth brought water, and made fuel shine In ruddy fires beneath a womb of brass. 1616 T. Scot Philomythie I 3 b, And both these rudely enter The strong ships wombe. 1661 J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 141 When the wind is gathered into that hole, and tossed to and fro in the womb of it, there is to be heard as it were a musicall sound. 1697 Dryden æneis xii. 1278 What Earth will open her devouring Womb, To rest a weary Goddess in the Tomb? 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Mem. Things II. x. 334 There was seen at Mecklin fifteen Pair of Dice..in the Womb of a Cherry-Stone. 1722 Swift Stella's Birthday 68 As you raise it [sc. the bottle] from its Tomb, It drags behind a spacious Womb. 1797 J. Curr Coal Viewer 45 Inclosing it [sc. the boiler] with a circular wall 10 inches thick, as high as the womb of the boiler. 1827 Keble Chr. Y., Palm Sunday iii, Stones in earth's dark womb that rest. 1857 B. Taylor Northern Trav. xxx. (1858) 315 You can..watch, through the vortex of whirling spray in its tortured womb, the starry coruscations which radiate from the bottom of the fall. 1863 ― Poems, Poet's Jrnl., 2nd Eve in Winter, Wait in the womb of the snow. 1887 Ian Hamilton Ballad of Hadji 14 Then through the womb Of night I galloped. |
4. fig. (from 2) A place or medium of conception and development; a place or point of origin and growth; sometimes
spec., as
† the matrix of metals, etc.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 51 This England, This Nurse, this teeming wombe of Royall Kings. Ibid. ii. 10 Some vnborne sorrow, ripe in fortunes wombe. 1604 ― Oth. i. iii. 377 There are many Euents in the Wombe of Time, which wilbe deliuered. 1622 J. Taylor (Water P.) Shilling C 6 b, Siluer..from the wombe of vaust America. 1631 Widdowes Nat. Philos. 15 Elements are simple essences..and are the wombs of mixed things. 1665 J. Spencer Vulg. Proph. 8 There is not a more fruitful womb of seditions and confusions in States than the Opinion of such predictions is. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 673 Undoubted sign That in his womb was hid metallic Ore, The work of Sulphur. a 1708 Beveridge Thes. Theol. (1711) III. 29 The empty Womb of Nothing delivered itself of that Lump and confused Chaos, which..God..digested into that..Order we now see it in. 1757 [Burke] Europ. Settlem. Amer. vii. xxix. II. 282 The cold womb of the earth is incapable of any better production than some miserable shrubs. 1776 J. Lee Introd. Bot. Explan. Terms 396 Pericarpium, the Womb of the Plant big with Seeds, which it emits when mature. 1810 Coleridge Friend No. 22 ¶8 The various unforeseen Events that are ripening in the womb of the Future. 1866 Veness El Dorado ix. 95 The fulfilment of her destiny is in the womb of time. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
womb-element,
womb-fruit,
womb-land,
womb-life,
womb part,
womb passage,
womb-pipe,
womb side;
womb-enclosed,
womb-fibrilled,
womb-like,
womb-lodged adjs.;
womb-ward adv.;
† womb ache, belly-ache, stomach-ache;
† womb brother, a uterine brother;
† womb-cake = placenta 1;
† wombȝate [
gate n.1],
= vulva 1;
womb-grain [
tr. G.
mutterkorn], ergot of rye (Dunglison
Med. Lex. 1848);
† womb-infant, an unborn child;
† womb-joy, gratification of the appetite, luxurious fare, belly-cheer;
† womb-liver = womb-cake;
† womb-pancake = womb-cake;
† womb-rope, a belly-band of rope;
womb-stone, a calcified fibroid tumour of the womb (Billings
Med. Dict. 1890);
womb-syringe, a uterine syringe;
† womb syrup (see
quot.);
† womb-tack [
cf. tack n.1, v.
1]
= womb-tie;
† womb-trumpet [
cf. G.
muttertrompete], a Fallopian tube, oviduct.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xlviii. (1495) f iij b/1 Gete..swagyth *wombe ache. |
| 1647 Trapp Comm. 2 Thess. ii. 1 Brethren, *womb brethren, as near in nature as is possible. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Hartfordshire (1662) ii. 19 Son to Queen Katherine by Owen Theodor, her second husband, womb-brother to King Henry the Sixth. |
| 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. Introd., The Navil-vein, receiving blood out of the *Womb-cake. 1743 R. Poole Journ. France etc. (1744) I. 132 The Placenta or Womb Cake. |
| 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 94 Who lies with the waters of his silent passion, *womb-element?—Fish in the waters. |
| a 1593 Marlowe Ovid's Elegies ii. xiv. 8 Thy *wombe-inclosed off-spring. |
| 1923 *Womb-fibrilled [see inturned ppl. a.]. |
| 1379 Gloucester Cath. MS. 19 Press No. 1 Tentigo ys ycalled paries vulue Anglice the *Wombeȝates wall. Or elles lingula vulue Anglice the Wombeȝates tunge. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Vraque, the pipe or passage whereby a *wombe-infants vrine is carried from it. |
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 68 Prelatis..sillen..trewe prechynge for..worldli lordschipe, & *wombe ioie and idelnesse. 1388 Songs & Poems on Costume (Percy Soc.) 45 Unthrifte and wombe-joye, steriles et luxuriosi. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. vi. (Tollem. MS.) [Children] biþinkeþ only in wombe ioye, and knoweþ not þe mesure of here owen wombe. |
| 1930 A. Huxley Vulgarity in Literature iv. 16 Those yearning popular songs which are the national anthems of *Wombland. |
| 1876 G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland vii, in Poems (1967) 53 Warm-laid grave of a *womb-life grey. |
| a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 308 The shell-like, *womb-like, convoluted shadow. 1981 J. Wainwright All on a Summer's Day 24 An Interview Room..is womb-like in its complete isolation. |
| 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xxxvi. 80 That same round mass is called Placenta Uteri, the Womb-pancake..; also the *Womb-liver. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. ii. 2 On the seventh day she..voided the placenta (or womb liver). |
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Agneliere, A *wombe-lodged infant. 1668 *Womb-pancake [see womb-liver]. |
| 1598 Florio, Vulva,..the *wombe part or *womb passage. 1860 Mayne Expos. Lex., Womb-Passage,..common term for the Vagina. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Vulve, the *wombe-pipe, or priuie passage. |
| c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 168 Ke porte à dos une dossere [gloss rige-leyther], E au ventre une venter [gloss a *wombe-rop]. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 882 Sele coler et ventrere, Sadul hamborwe and womberope. |
| c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §29 The lyne Meridional on the *wombe-side. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 101 Ley the pike in A charger, the wombe side vpward. |
| 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 5/1 This Water is to be injected into..the Womb with a *Womb-Syringe. |
| Ibid. 609/1 Syrupus Uterinus, i.e. Carannæ, The *Womb Syrup, or Syrup of Gum Caranna. |
| 1729 P. Walkden Diary (1866) 56 Henry Charnley viewed the horse, with packsaddle and *woontak, at {pstlg}2 10s. |
| 1703 Etmullerus Abridged 596 The Egg thus influenc'd, falls off into one of the *Womb-Trumpets. |
| 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 19 There was a flower that flowered inward, *womb-ward. |
▪ II. womb, v. (
wuːm)
[f. womb n.] 1. trans. To enclose as in a womb.
| 1557 Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 239 The hidden harme..Wombed within our walles and realme about, As Grekes in Troy were in the Grekish beast. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 501 Not..for all the Sun sees, or The close earth wombes,..will I breake my oath. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 113 In this from out another tree A bud they womb. 1871 G. Macdonald Somnium Myst. v. 30 A world that lay Wombed in its sun. |
† 2. To cause to swell
out:
= belly v. 1.
nonce-use.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves i. [ii.] lxi. 57 Once lanched forth, hee may..find the blast, to wombe out his sailes more fully. |
3. pa. pple. Impregnated
with.
nonce-use.
| 1786 J. Courtenay Poet. Rev. Char. Johnson 16 As womb'd with fire the cloud electrick flies. |