Definition of "birth control" [birth control]

• Voluntary limitation or control of the number of children conceived, especially by planned use of contraceptive techniques. (noun)
• A contraceptive technique. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I'd never had so much as a bad scare regarding accidental pregnancy, and I was involved up past my eye sockets with a man who practiced the most bombproof form of birth control known: abstinence."
• "In their view, any government policy that appears to reward or even express neutrality toward what they consider to be immoral behavior-whether providing birth control to young people, abortion services to women, welfare support for unwed mothers, or legal recognition of same-sex unions-inherently devalues the marital bond."
• "Most of the girls in my college, however, were on their own for the first time, and I observed with amusement the dormwide bacchanal that led to more than one of them sobbing in the bathroom at three in the morning, or standing nervously in line at Health Services, where birth control pills could be had after watching a movie that would turn even the most rugged enthusiast off sex forever."