Careful Words

midwife (n.)

O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you!

She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes

In shape no bigger than an agate-stone

On the fore-finger of an alderman,

Drawn with a team of little atomies

Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Romeo and Juliet. Act i. Sc. 4.