Elamur: [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [Parse](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/parse/) · **Dictionary** · [Translate](https://md.translate.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [MCP](https://mcp.elamur.ai/) · [Groupants](https://md.groupants.elamur.ai/free/en/)

[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/with-child/)

[dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [W](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/w/) / with child

# with child

phrase (adjective phrase, used after «be»: be with child, was with child); idiom

«with child» in the English dictionary: in the primary school — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## In the primary school

Source: Mova's pupils' dictionary. Licence: [Elamur Cosmic License](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/LICENSE/). Reviewed: the dictionary the pupils of Mova's primary school read; its examples quote the lessons and public-domain tales. Ships with Mova.

### Meaning

1. (euphemism, old-fashioned) pregnant: a woman who is with child has a baby growing inside her.
2. (literal, rare) together with a child, carrying or bringing a child along, as in «a woman with child in arms».

### In the lessons

An old, gentle way to say «pregnant», used to be polite or to sound grand. You meet it in old stories, fairy tales, the Bible, history books, carols and poems, and sometimes in a joking or very formal voice today; in everyday talk people just say «pregnant» or «expecting». Register: old-fashioned, literary; used everywhere English is spoken. Related phrases: «great with child» (very near the birth), «expecting», «in the family way».

### Examples

- In the fairy tale, the queen was with child and wished for a daughter.
- The carol tells of Mary, who was great with child on the road to Bethlehem.
- History book: Many women on the ships were with child when they sailed for the new colony.
- Story: The farmer's wife, heavy with child, could not walk to the market.
- Gran, joking: «In my day we said a woman was with child, not that she had a bun in the oven.»
- Old record: The widow was left with child and no money.
- A painting shows a mother with child in arms, standing by the sea.
- Chat: «Sophie's with child?! Who talks like that?» «My nan, apparently.»

### Note

Do not read it as «with a child next to her»: «she was with child» (no «a») means pregnant, while «she was with a child» means a child was beside her. It sounds old or Biblical today, so in a modern news report or a chat it sounds funny or stiff. Plain word: pregnant. Never «with childs»; there is no plural form. Not used about animals.