couvade noun. [ku:'vɑ:d] M19.
[French, from couver hatch from Latin cubare lie: see -ADE 1.]
A custom in some cultures by which a man takes to his bed and goes through certain rituals when his wife bears a child.

► Adopted in French in this sense in M19 owing to a misunderstanding of faire la couvade, 'sit doing nothing' in earlier writers.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲