Mother Hubbard

English

Tahitian girls in their unadorned Mother Hubbards between 1880 and 1889.

Etymology

From "Old Mother Hubbard", a nursery rhyme.

Noun

Mother Hubbard (plural Mother Hubbards)

1. (fashion) A long, wide, loose gown with long sleeves and a high neck originally introduced by Christian missionaries as an adaptation of 19th-century European fashion to Polynesia but subsequently inclusive of lighter and more colorful variations.
   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 49”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     Her arms were like legs of mutton, her breasts like giant cabbages; her face, broad and fleshy, gave you an impression of almost indecent nakedness, and vast chin succeeded to vast chin. I do not know how many of them there were. They fell away voluminously into the capaciousness of her bosom. She was dressed usually in a pink Mother Hubbard, and she wore all day long a large straw hat.

Synonyms

• holoku (Hawaiian contexts)

Translations

a loose-fitting dress

• Hawaiian: holokū
• Russian: миссионе́рское пла́тье n (missionérskoje plátʹje)

Adjective

Mother Hubbard (comparative more Mother Hubbard, superlative most Mother Hubbard)

1. (colloquial) Empty
   • 2012, Cecil Castellucci, Beige‎^[1], page 24:

     "Other than my earthquake kit, the cupboards are looking pretty Mother Hubbard. We can go to the Farmers Market and get some produce."

   • 2013, Colum McCann, TransAtlantic‎^[2]:

     "It's a bit Mother Hubbard, I'm afraid.'" We made our way through the empty house.