surrogate mother

2 definitions found

surrogate mother - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Surrogate mother \Sur"ro*gate mother\, n.
     1. a person or who serves in place of the biological mother
        for child, as for caring or nurturing.
        [PJC]
  
     2. a female animal that raises and nurses the offspring of
        another animal.
        [PJC]
  
     3. a woman who becomes pregnant by an artificial procedure
        (one other than copulation), and bears a child to be
        raised by another person. The person on whose behalf the
        child is gestated and born is usually one of the
        biological parents. The embryo carried by the surrogate
        mother may be created by in vitro fertilization, and may
        have no genetic material from the surrogate mother, or the
        surrogate mother may be impregnated by artificial
        insemination, usually by sperm donated by the father who
        is to raise the child.
  
     Note: The procedure is common but controversial, and in some
           states of the United States, contracts for surrogacy
           are not considered enforceable.
           [PJC]

surrogate mother - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  surrogate mother
      n 1: a woman who bears a child for a couple where the wife is
           unable to do so; "a surrogate mother is artificially
           inseminated with the father's semen and carries the fetus
           to term"