MOTHER

mother

(noun) a condition that is the inspiration for an activity or situation; “necessity is the mother of invention”

mother, female parent

(noun) a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother); “the mother of three children”

mother

(noun) a term of address for a mother superior

mother

(noun) a term of address for an elderly woman

mother

(noun) a stringy slimy substance consisting of yeast cells and bacteria; forms during fermentation and is added to cider or wine to produce vinegar

beget, get, engender, father, mother, sire, generate, bring forth

(verb) make (offspring) by reproduction; “Abraham begot Isaac”; “John fathered four daughters”

mother, fuss, overprotect

(verb) care for like a mother; “She fusses over her husband”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

A (human) female who has given birth to a baby

A human female who parents an adopted or fostered child

A human female who donates a fertilized egg or donates a body cell which has resulted in a clone.

A pregnant female, possibly as a shortened form of mother-to-be.

A female parent of an animal.

(figuratively) A female ancestor.

(figuratively) A source or origin.

Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind. (See mother of all.)

(when followed by a surname) A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.

(figuratively) Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.

(figuratively) Any person or entity which performs mothering.

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.

Synonyms

• (one’s female parent): See also mother

• (most significant thing): father, grandfather, granddaddy

• (of or pertaining to the mother, such as metropolis): metro-

Antonyms

• (with regards to gender) father

• (with regards to ancestry) daughter, son, child, offspring

Hypernyms

• (a female parent): parent

Coordinate terms

• (a female parent): father

Etymology 2

Verb

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

(chiefly, transitive) To give birth to or produce (as its female parent) a child. (Compare father.)

(transitive) To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.

Etymology 3

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

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.

Verb

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

(transitive) To cause to contain mother (“that substance which develops in fermenting alcohol and turns it into vinegar”).

(intransitive, of an alcohol) To develop mother.

Etymology 4

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

(euphemistic, coarse, slang) Motherfucker.

(euphemistic, colloquial) A striking example.

Synonyms

• MF, mofo, motherfucker, mutha

Etymology 5

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

Alternative form of moth-er

Anagrams

• thermo-

Proper noun

Mother

(dated) One's mother.

A title given to a nun or a priestess.

(Wicca) One of the triune goddesses of the Lady in Wicca alongside the Crone and Maiden and representing a woman older than a girlish Maiden but younger than an aged Crone.

Synonyms

• Mom, Mum, Mummy

• Goddess

Antonyms

• Father

Anagrams

• thermo-

Source: Wiktionary


Moth"er, n. Etym: [OE. moder, AS. modor; akin to D. moeder, OS. modar, G. mutter, OHG. muotar, Icel. moedhir, Dan. & Sw. moder, OSlav. mati, Russ. mate, Ir. & Gael. mathair, L. mater, Gr. mh`thr, Skr. matrs; cf. Skr. ma to measure. *268. Cf. Material, Matrix, Metropolis, Father.]

1. A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a woman who has borne a child.

2. That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of birth or origin; generatrix. Alas! poor country! ... it can not Be called our mother, but our grave. Shak. I behold ... the solitary majesty of Crete, mother of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand years. Landor.

3. An old woman or matron. [Familiar]

4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an abbess, etc.

5. Hysterical passion; hysteria. [Obs.] Shak. Mother Carey's chicken (Zoöl.), any one of several species of small petrels, as the stormy petrel (Procellaria pelagica), and Leach's petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa), both of the Atlantic, and O. furcata of the North Pacific.

– Mother Carey's goose (Zoöl.), the giant fulmar of the Pacific. See Fulmar.

– Mother's mark (Med.), a congenital mark upon the body; a nævus.

Moth"er, a.

Definition: Received by birth or from ancestors; native, natural; as, mother language; also acting the part, or having the place of a mother; producing others; originating. It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is derived. T. Arnold. Mother cell (Biol.), a cell which, by endogenous divisions, gives rise to other cells (daughter cells); a parent cell.

– Mother church, the original church; a church from which other churches have sprung; as, the mother church of a diocese.

– Mother country, the country of one's parents or ancestors; the country from which the people of a colony derive their origin.

– Mother liquor (Chem.), the impure or complex residual solution which remains after the salts readily or regularly crystallizing have been removed.

– Mother queen, the mother of a reigning sovereign; a queen mother.

– Mother tongue. (a) A language from which another language has had its origin. (b) The language of one's native land; native tongue.

– Mother water. See Mother liquor (above).

– Mother wit, natural or native wit or intelligence.

Moth"er, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mothered; p. pr. & vb. n. Mothering.]

Definition: To adopt as a son or daughter; to perform the duties of a mother to. The queen, to have put lady Elizabeth besides the crown, would have mothered another body's child. Howell.

Moth"er, n. Etym: [Akin to D. modder mud, G. moder mold, mud, Dan. mudder mud, and to E. mud. See Mud.]

Definition: 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.

Note: The film is composed of a mass of rapidly developing microörganisms of the genus Mycoderma, and in the mother of vinegar the microörganisms (Mycoderma aceti) composing the film are the active agents in the Conversion of the alcohol into vinegar. When thickened by growth, the film may settle to the bottom of the fluid. See Acetous fermentation, under Fermentation.

Moth"er, v. i.

Definition: To become like, or full of, mother, or thick matter, as vinegar.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

28 April 2024

POLYGENIC

(adjective) of or relating to an inheritable character that is controlled by several genes at once; of or related to or determined by polygenes


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