mother

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Contents

English[edit]

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Pronunciation[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:

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Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr (compare West Frisian moer, Saterland Frisian Muur, Dutch moeder, German Mutter, Danish moder), from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (compare Irish máthair, Latin mater, Albanian motër (“sister”), Tocharian A mācar, B mācer, Lithuanian mótė, Russian мать (mat'), Greek μητέρα (mitéra), Persian مادر (mâdar), Sanskrit मातृ (mā́tṛ)).

Noun[edit]

a mother and her baby
a mother cat and kittens

mother (plural mothers)

  1. A (human) female who (a) parents a child or (b) gives birth to a baby. Sometimes used in reference to a pregnant female, possibly as a shortened form of mother-to-be (c).
    (a) I am visiting my mother today.
    • 1988, Robert Ferro, Second Son
      He had something of his mother in him, but this was because he realized that in the end only her love was unconditional, and in gratitude he had emulated her.
    (b) My sister-in-law has just become a mother.
    (c) Nutrients and oxygen obtained by the mother are conveyed to the fetus.
    • 1991, Susan Faludi, The Undeclared War Against American Women
      The antiabortion iconography in the last decade featured the fetus but never the mother.
  2. A female parent of an animal.
    The lioness was a mother of four cubs.
  3. (figuratively) A female ancestor.
    • Genesis 3:20, NIV:
    • Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
    • T. Arnold:
      It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is derived.
  4. (figuratively) A source or origin, viewed affectionately.
    The Mediterranean was mother to many cultures and languages.
  5. (when followed by a surname) A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.
    Mother Smith, meet my cousin, Doug Jones.
  6. (figuratively) Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.
  7. (figuratively) Any person or entity which performs mothering.
    • The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. –Judges 5:7, KJV.
    • Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. –Galatians 4:26, KJV.
  8. A film or membrane which is developed on the surface of fermented alcoholic liquids, such as vinegar, wine, etc., and acts as a means of conveying the oxygen of the air to the alcohol and other combustible principles of the liquid, thus leading to their oxidation.
  9. The principal piece of an astrolabe, into which the others are fixed.
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Hypernyms[edit]
Coordinate terms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from mother (noun)
Translations[edit]
female (human) who parents a child, gives birth to a baby, or is pregnant
one’s female parent
Title of respect for one's mother-in-law
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

mother (third-person singular simple present mothers, present participle mothering, simple past and past participle mothered)

  1. (transitive) To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.
    • around 1900, O. Henry, An Adjustment of Nature
      She had seen fewer years than any of us, but she was of such superb Evehood and simplicity that she mothered us from the beginning.
Translations[edit]
to treat as a mother would be expected to

References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Calque of Arabic أم (’umm, mother).

Noun[edit]

mother (plural mothers)

  1. Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
    "The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun." — Saddam Hussein
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
something that is the greatest of its kind

Etymology 3[edit]

Shortened from motherfucker

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

mother (plural mothers)

  1. (euphemistic, vulgar, slang) Motherfucker.
  2. (euphemistic, colloquial) A striking example.
    • 1964, Richard L. Newhafer, The last tallyho:
      November, 1943 If ever, Cortney Anders promised himself, I get out of this mother of a thunderstorm there is a thing I will do if it is the last act of my life.
    • 1980, Chester Anderson, Fox & hare: the story of a Friday night‎, page 5:
      Some hot night there's gonna be one mother of a riot down here. Just wait." He'd been saying the same thing since 1958, five years of crying wolf.
    • 2004 Nov, Rajnar Vajra, “The Ghost Within”, Analog Science Fiction & Fact, volume 124, page 8: 
      Basically, we wind up with a program. One mother of a complex application.
    • 2006, Elizabeth Robinson, The true and outstanding adventures of the Hunt sisters:
      Josh, whose fleshy face resembles a rhino's - beady wide-set eyes blinking between a mother of a snout
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
motherfucker — see motherfucker

Statistics[edit]

Etymology 4[edit]

Coined from moth by analogy to mouser.

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

This word is not a homophone or rhyme of mother when used in the maternal sense. The o component is pronounced with the CLOTH vowel, and the th component is voiced /ð/ or voiceless /θ/ predictably depending on whether the pronunciation of mouser has voiced /z/ or voiceless /s/.

Noun[edit]

mother (plural mothers)

  1. (nonstandard) A cat that catches moths.
Usage notes[edit]

Because of the spelling mother, the alternative hyphenated spelling moth-er may be used to avoid ambiguity.

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