Gravid By Deane Barker • October 26, 2021 • 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/encounter 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.