pregnant

• prægnant (obsolete)
• pregnaunt (obsolete)

From Middle English preignant, from Old French preignant, pregnant, also prenant (compare archaic Modern French prégnant), partly from Old French preindre, priembre (“to press”), from Latin premere (“to press”), and partly from Classical Latin praegnans, variant of praegnas, probably from prae- (“pre-”) + gnascī (“to be born”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛɡnənt/

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pregnant (comparative more pregnant, superlative most pregnant)

1. (chiefly not comparable) Carrying developing offspring within the body.

   I went to the doctor and, guess what, I'm pregnant!

   1. Expecting a baby together.

      We are pregnant.

2. (comparable) Having numerous possibilities or implications; full of promise; abounding in ability, resources, etc.

   a pregnant pause

   • 2019 January 26, Kitty Empire, “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in The Guardian‎:

     The many tear-jerkers deal with finality, with death and the end of love, with a stoicism pregnant with feeling.

   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

     wherein the pregnant enemy does much

3. (now poetic) Fertile, prolific (usually of soil, ground etc.).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vi:

     The sunne-beames bright vpon her body playd, / Being through former bathing mollifide, / And pierst into her wombe, where they embayd / With so sweet sence and secret power vnspide, / That in her pregnant flesh they shortly fructifide.

4. (obsolete) Affording entrance; receptive; yielding; willing; open; prompt.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

     Pregnant to good pity.

• (carrying offspring (standard)): expecting, expecting a baby, expectant, gravid (of animals only), with child, fertilized
• (carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)): eating for two, having a bun in the oven, in a family way, knocked up, preggers, up the duff, up the spout
• (carrying offspring (euphemistic)): in an interesting condition, in a family way
• (having many possibilities or implications): meaningful, significant
• See also Thesaurus:pregnant

• (carrying developing offspring): in trouble

pregnant (plural pregnants)

1. A pregnant woman.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dunglison to this entry?)

Borrowed from German prägnant and French prégnant.

• IPA^(key): /preɡˈnant/

pregnant m or n (feminine singular pregnantă, masculine plural pregnanți, feminine and neuter plural pregnante)

1. pregnant (having many possibilities or implications)