MOTHER
A mother is a female parent.
Etymology
From Middle English moder,
from Old English mōdor,
from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr,
from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr.
Superseded non-native Middle English mere (“mother”) borrowed from Old French mere (“mother”). Doublet of mater.
Some have proposed that the "dregs" sense is from Middle Dutch modder (“filth”),
from Proto-Germanic *muþraz (“sediment”), but modder is not known in this meaning.
On the other hand, words for "mother" have developed the secondary sense of "dregs" in several Romance and Germanic languages; compare Dutch moer, French mère de vinaigre, German Essigmutter, Italian madre, Medieval Latin māter, and Spanish madre.[1]
Noun
mother (plural mothers)
- A female parent, sometimes especially a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, or fostered).
I am visiting my mother today.
The lioness was a mother of four cubs.
- A female who has given birth to a baby; this person in relation to her child or children. quotations ▼
My sister-in-law has just become a mother for the first time.
He had something of his mother in him.
- A pregnant female, possibly as a shortened form of mother-to-be; a female who gestates a baby. quotations ▼
Nutrients and oxygen obtained by the mother are conveyed to the fetus.
- A female who donates a fertilized egg or donates a body cell which has resulted in a clone.
- (figurative) A female ancestor. quotations ▼
- (figurative) A source or origin. quotations ▼
The Mediterranean was mother to many cultures and languages.
- Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind. (See mother of all.) quotations ▼
- (dated, when followed by a surname) A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.
Mother Smith, meet my cousin, Doug Jones.
- (dated) A term of address for one's wife. quotations ▼
- (figurative) Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.
- (figurative) Any person or entity which performs mothering. quotations ▼
- Dregs, lees; a stringy, mucilaginous or film- or membrane-like substance (consisting of acetobacters) which develops in fermenting alcoholic liquids (such as wine, or cider), and turns the alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air.
pieces of mother, adding mother to vinegar
- (rail transport) A locomotive which provides electrical power for a slug.
- The principal piece of an astrolabe, into which the others are fixed.
- The female superior or head of a religious house; an abbess, etc.
- (obsolete) Hysterical passion; hysteria; the uterus. quotations ▼
- A disc produced from the electrotyped master, used in manufacturing phonograph records.
Synonyms
- (one’s female parent): See also Thesaurus:mother
- (most significant thing): father, grandfather, granddaddy
- (of or pertaining to the mother, such as metropolis): metro-
Antonyms
Hypernyms
- (a female parent): parent
Coordinate terms
- (a female parent): father
Derived terms
- adoptive mother
- and his mother
- antimother
- baby mother
- be mother
- biological mother
- birth mother
- bonus mother
- brother from another mother
- bunny mother
- camp mother
- co-mother
- co-mother-in-law
- corn mother
- cow-mother
- den mother
- do you kiss your mother with that mouth
- earth mother
- everybody and his mother
- everybody and their mother
- everyone and his mother
- everyone and their mother
- face only a mother could love
- face that only a mother could love
- foster mother
- founding mother
- fuck your mother
- godmother
- gold star mother
- grandmother
- great-grandmother
- like a mother hawk
- megaspore mother cell
- milk-mother
- milk mother
- mother abscess
- mother-bird
- motherboard
- mother bomb
- mother church
- Mother City
- mother country
- mother dough
- Mother Earth
- mother figure
- mother-fucker
- mother fucker
- motherfucker
- mother goddess
- mother hen
- mother-hen
- mother heroine
- mother hive
- mother-hive
- Mothering Sunday
- mother-in-law
- mother-in-law apartment
- mother-in-law sandwich
- mother-in-law seat
- mother-in-law's tongue
- mother-in-law style
- motherland
- mother language
- motherless
- motherlike
- motherline
- mother liquor
- motherload
- mother-lode
- mother lode
- motherly
- mother may I
- mother naked
- mother-naked
- mother of all
- mother of chapel
- mother of coal
- mother-of-pearl
- mother of pearl
- mother of thousands
- mother-of-thyme
- mother-out-law
- mother plant
- mother sauce
- mother sauces
- Mother's Day
- mother ship
- mother-spot
- mother superior
- mother-to-be
- mother-tongue
- mother tongue
- mother-wit
- mother wit
- motherwort
- mothery
- my very educated mother just served us nachos
- my very educated mother just served us nine pumpkins
- my very educated mother just served us noodles
- necessity is the mother of innovation
- necessity is the mother of invention
- queen mother
- refrigerator mother
- she could be his mother
- she's the cat's mother
- single mother
- stage mother
- step-mother
- stepmother
- surrogate mother
- sweet Mary mother of God
- sweet mother of God
- sweet mother of Jesus
- sweet mother of pearl
- tiger mother
- welfare mother
- wolf-mother
- you kiss your mother with that mouth
- your mother