gestation
noun/dʒeˈsteɪʃn/
/dʒeˈsteɪʃn/
- [uncountable, countable] the time that the young of a person or an animal develops inside its mother’s body until it is born; the process of developing inside the mother’s body
- a baby born at 38 weeks’ gestation
- The gestation period of a horse is about eleven months.
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- [uncountable] (formal) the process by which an idea or a plan develops synonym development
- His book was nearly twenty years in gestation.
Word Originmid 16th cent. (denoting ‘an excursion on horseback, in a carriage, etc., considered as exercise’): from Latin gestatio(n-), from gestare ‘carry, carry in the womb’, frequentative of gerere ‘carry’.
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