twilight sleep


noun Medicine/Medical.

a state of semiconsciousness, usually produced by hypodermic injections of scopolamine and morphine, used chiefly to effect relatively painless childbirth.

Origin of twilight sleep

First recorded in 1910–15

Example sentences from the Web for twilight sleep

  • The "twilight-sleep" injections are not started until the patient is in the stage of active labor.

    The Mother and Her Child |William S. Sadler

British Dictionary definitions for twilight sleep

twilight sleep

noun

med a state of partial anaesthesia in which the patient retains a slight degree of consciousness

Medical definitions for twilight sleep

twilight sleep
[ twīlīt′ ]

n.

An amnesic condition characterized by insensibility to pain without loss of consciousness, induced by an injection of morphine and scopolamine, formerly used to relieve the pain of childbirth.