Gravid

Definition: pregnant; carrying young or eggs

For no particular reason, I searched Google Trends for “gravid” and found an interesting correlation – a large percentage of searches for the term come from southern US states. Do Southerners use this term more often, or do are they just less likely to know what it means and therefore have to search for it?

Why I Looked It Up

In Cutting for Stone, I found the following passage:

Then the sunbeam fell directly on Sister Mary Joseph Praise’s gravid uterus, which bulged out of the bloody wound like an obscenity on a saint’s tongue.

As her title would indicate, Mary was a nun, hence the problem and colorful simile usage to describe it.