/kooh vahd"/ ; Fr. /kooh vannd"/ , n.
a practice among some peoples, as the Basques of Spain, in which a man, immediately preceding the birth of his child, takes to his bed in an enactment of the birth experience and subjects himself to various taboos usually associated with pregnancy.
[ 1860-65; couv ( er ) to hatch ( cubare to lie down) + -ade -ADE 1 ; cf. COVEY ]