Gestates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To carry and develop offspring in the womb from conception until birth; to conceive or nurture an idea or plan until it is fully formed; to undergo a period of growth or formation internally before emergence
2. To nurture a fetus inside the body until it is ready for birth; to gradually develop a concept or project in the mind or in a preparatory stage; to experience a process of maturation or incubation before completion
3. To sustain the development of an unborn child within the uterus until delivery; to steadily cultivate and bring forth an idea or design through careful planning; to pass through a developmental phase enclosed and protected prior to manifestation

Etymology: "Gestates" is the third-person singular form of "gestate," which means to carry unborn young inside the body. The verb is a back-formation: English speakers first had the noun "gestation," and from it they created "gestate" by stripping away the noun ending and adding the verb-forming suffix "-ate." The result is a word that looks like it might have come straight from Latin, but it was built in English from an existing noun rather than inherited or borrowed as a verb. The noun underneath it, "gestation," carries the older history. It comes from the Latin "gestatio," a noun of action from "gestare," meaning to carry or bear, which was itself a frequentative of "gerere," to bear or carry. The core idea is physical transport: the verb once described carrying a load, and the pregnancy sense grew out of the notion of a body carrying something within it.

Synonyms: pregnant, carry, develop fetus, incubate

Antonyms: abort, miscarry, terminate pregnancy