afterbirth
(ˈɑːftəbɜːθ, æ-)
[after- 6; in sense 1 perh. directly from Norse; cf. Icel. eptir-burðr, eftir-burðr (c 1300), OSw. efterbörd (Ihre), Dan. efterbyrd.]
1. The membrane in which the fœtus is enveloped in the womb; the secundine or placenta. So called because its extrusion follows that of the infant.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xxviii. 444 Now the world [word] Silo (saith Kimhi) signifieth the Sonne of him, and is deriued of a worde which signifieth a woman's Afterbirth as they terme it. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 81 When these vessels come vnto the secundine or after-birth they disperse through it notable braunches. 1754–64 Smellie Midwifery I. 241 The operator will be blamed for leaving the after-birth behind. 1855 Ramsbotham Obstet. Mid. & Surg. 68 It is also called the afterbirth. |
2. fig.
| 1652 E. Benlowes Theophila iv. iii. 52 All New birth heart-deep groans, All after births of penitential mones, Are swallow'd up in living streams of bliss. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Hist. own Times I. 424 The famine had indeed many a bloody after⁓birth; but it gave to the world a new Ireland. |
3. Rom. Law. (ˈafter-ˌbirth) Birth after a father's death or last will, posthumous birth.
| 1875 Poste Gaius i. 120 The institution or disinherison of a postumus born after the death of a testator..availed to save the will from rupture by afterbirth (agnatio) of an immediate successor. |
4. Later birth, late-born children.
| 1871 Swinburne Litany of Nations 2 We thy latter sons, the men thine after-birth..O Earth. |