[Ads-l] "Drop"

Tue May 23 18:49:08 UTC 2023

Thanks for posting about this interesting sense for drop, Clai.
The OED has the following under "lightening":

[Begin excerpt from OED]
lightening, n.2
2 b. The feeling experienced by a pregnant woman after the uterus
descends into the pelvis and lessens pressure within the abdomen,
occurring some days before the onset of labour; (also) the process of
descent of the uterus into the pelvis.

1876   W. S. Playfair Treat. Sci. & Pract. Midwifery I. 131   This
change is familiar to all childbearing women, to whom it is known as
‘the lightening before labour’.
. . .
2004   S. Jones & M. Jones Great Expectations ii. 123/2   Once your
baby drops as you near your delivery date, called lightening, you'll
discover the luxury of being able to take deep breaths again.
[End excerpt from OED]

The 2004 citation contains "baby drops".
Here is a citation for “dropping” in the pertinent sense although it
refers to the dropping of the womb instead of the dropping of a baby.

Year: 1870
Book title: Advice to a Wife on the Management of Her Own Health
Author: Pye Henry Chavasse
Part 3: Labour
Quote Page 166
Publisher: John Churchill and Sons, London
https://books.google.com/books?id=j3BaAAAAcAAJ&q=%22dropping+of%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt - double check for typos]
472. A few days, sometimes a few hours, before labour commences, the
child "falls" as it is called, that is to say, there is a subsidence-a
dropping-of the womb lower down the belly. This is the reason why she
feels lighter and more comfortable, and more inclined to take
exercise, and why she can breathe more freely.

473. The only inconvenience of the subsidence of the womb is, that the
womb presses on the bladder, and sometimes causes an irritability of
that organ, inducing a frequent desire to make water.

474. The subsidence-the dropping-of the womb may then be considered
one of the earliest of the precursory symptoms of childbirth, and as
the herald of the coming event.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, May 23, 2023 at 1:14 PM Charles C Rice
<charles.rice at louisiana.edu> wrote:
>
> I have heard about babies dropping (intr) for many years and this conversation convinced me to look it up. As I understood it--not an expert in midwifery--it had something to do with the positioning of the fetus lower in the pelvis in preparation for birth. Some people would use the timing or extent of this event to predict the baby's sex. I don't see anything like this meaning in OED. I'm not aware of any strong critique of OED regarding gender bias in word selection or defining, but this omission might be an example of such.
>
> When Does Baby Drop? What is Lightening in Pregnancy?: https://www.peanut-app.io/blog/when-does-baby-drop
> May 11. 2023--blog entry with an explanation, "lucky for you, we’re here to drop some baby-dropping knowledge."
>
> What does it feel like when baby drops – 8 telling signs! September 10, 2020: https://kiindred.co/pregnancy/labour-and-birth/what-does-it-feel-like-when-baby-drops/
> "Your baby dropping is also often referred to as ‘lightening’ or being ‘engaged’"
> These other two terms are also not included in OED with this meaning.
>
> Karen Williamson, The Caesarian Controversy, Xenia Daily Gazette, Xenia, Ohio. Dec 2, 1982, Page 4
> https://newspaperarchive.com/xenia-daily-gazette-dec-02-1982-p-4/
> "During the second pregnancy the baby dropped to the head or down position, so I knew she was not likely to be breech. Two weeks ahead of my due date, I went into labor..."
>
> I've pushed it back a little further to 1978 using newspaperarchive.com but will have to continue this search later. My guess is it will go back pretty far if we find the right publications, those intended for women with information about pregnancy and birth issues. Possibly nursing or midwife training materials.
>
> Clai
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> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org