OB

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does OB mean? 

• OB (noun)
  The noun OB has 2 senses:

1. a major river of western Siberia; flows generally northward and westward to the Gulf of Ob and the Kara Sea

2. the branch of medicine dealing with childbirth and care of the mother

  Familiarity information: OB used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OB (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A major river of western Siberia; flows generally northward and westward to the Gulf of Ob and the Kara Sea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Ob; Ob River

Instance hypernyms:

river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))

Holonyms ("Ob" is a part of...):

Siberia (a vast Asian region of Russia; famous for long cold winters)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The branch of medicine dealing with childbirth and care of the mother

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

midwifery; OB; obstetrics; tocology

Hypernyms ("OB" is a kind of...):

medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)

Domain member category:

induction of labor ((obstetrics) inducing the childbirth process artificially by administering oxytocin or by puncturing the amniotic sac)

presentation ((obstetrics) position of the fetus in the uterus relative to the birth canal)

incompetent cervix ((obstetrics) uterine cervix that becomes dilated before term and without labor often resulting in miscarriage or premature birth)

nullipara ((obstetrics) a woman who has never give birth to a child)

gravida I; primigravida ((obstetrics) a woman who is pregnant for the first time)

para I; primipara ((obstetrics) woman who has been delivered of a child for the first time)

quadripara ((obstetrics) woman who has given birth to a viable infant in each of four pregnancies)

quintipara ((obstetrics) woman who has given birth to a viable infant in each of five pregnancies)

para; parity ((obstetrics) the number of liveborn children a woman has delivered)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "OB"):

fetology; foetology (the branch of medicine concerned with the fetus in the uterus)

perinatology (the branch of obstetrics concerned with the anatomy and physiology and diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the mother and the fetus or newborn baby during late pregnancy and childbirth and the puerperium)

 Context examples 

"He says it was indecent, ob—obscene."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

If we do so, you just say to us, as old Chloe did in Uncle Tom, 'Tink ob yer marcies, chillen!' 'Tink ob yer marcies!' added Jo, who could not, for the life of her, help getting a morsel of fun out of the little sermon, though she took it to heart as much as any of them.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Also called ob/gyn.

(Obstetrics and gynecology, NCI Dictionary)

We used to think it took years and years to develop high blood pressure, said study author David Haas, M.D., a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, and a practicing OB/GYN doctor.

(First-time pregnancy complications linked to increased risk of hypertension later in life, National Institutes of Health)