womb

Etymology

From Middle English wombe, wambe, from Old English womb, wamb (“belly, stomach; bowels; heart; womb; hollow”), from Proto-West Germanic *wambu, from Proto-Germanic *wambō (“belly, stomach, abdomen”). Cognate with Scots wam, wame (“womb”), Dutch wam (“dewlap of beef; belly of a fish”), German Wamme, Wampe (“paunch, belly”), Danish vom (“belly, paunch, rumen”), Swedish våmb (“belly, stomach, rumen”), Norwegian vom (“rumen”), Icelandic vömb (“belly, abdomen, stomach”), Old Welsh gumbelauc (“womb”), Breton gwamm (“woman, wife”), Sanskrit वपा (vapā́, “the skin or membrane lining the intestines or parts of the viscera, the caul or omentum”). Superseded non-native Middle English mater, matere (“womb”) and matris, matrice (“womb”) borrowed from Latin māter (“womb”) and Old French matrice (“womb”), respectively.

noun

1. (anatomy) In female mammals, the organ in which the young are conceived and grow until birth; the uterus.
   I danced myself right out the womb / Is it strange to dance so soon? 1971, Marc Bolan (lyrics and music), “Cosmic Dancer”, in Electric Warrior, performed by T. Rex
2. (obsolete) The abdomen or stomach.
3. (obsolete) The stomach of a person or creature.
4. (figurative) A place where something is made or formed.
5. Any cavity containing and enveloping anything.
   The centre spike of gold Which burns deep in the blue-bell's womb. 1855, Robert Browning, Popularity

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To enclose in a womb, or as if in a womb; to breed or hold in secret.