‖Cou′vade″ (ko͞o′vȧd″), n. [F., fr. couver. See Covey.] A custom, among certain barbarous tribes, that when a woman gives birth to a child her husband takes to his bed, as if ill.
The world-wide custom of the couvade, where at childbirth the husband undergoes medical treatment, in many cases being put to bed for days.
Tylor.