[syn: beget, get, engender, father, mother, sire, generate, bring forth]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Mauther \Mau"ther\ (m[add]"[th][~e]r), n. [Cf. AS. maeg[thorn] a
maid.] [Also spelled mawther, mother.]
A girl; esp., a great, awkward girl; a wench. [Prov. Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Mother \Moth"er\ (m[u^][th]"[~e]r), n. [OE. moder, AS. m[=o]dor;
akin to D. moeder, OS. m[=o]dar, G. mutter, OHG. muotar,
Icel. m[=o][eth]ir, Dan. & Sw. moder, OSlav. mati, Russ.
mate, Ir. & Gael. mathair, L. mater, Gr. mh`thr, Skr.
m[=a]t[.r]; cf. Skr. m[=a] to measure. [root]268. Cf.
Material, Matrix, Metropolis, Father.]
1. A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a
woman who has borne a child.
[1913 Webster]
2. That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of
birth or origin; generatrix.
[1913 Webster]
Alas! poor country! . . . it can not
Be called our mother, but our grave. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
I behold . . . the solitary majesty of Crete, mother
of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand
years. --Landor.
[1913 Webster]
3. An old woman or matron. [Familiar]
[1913 Webster]
4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an
abbess, etc.
[1913 Webster]
5. Hysterical passion; hysteria. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Mother Carey's chicken (Zool.), 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 Oceanodroma furcata of the
North Pacific.
Mother Carey's goose (Zool.), the giant fulmar of the
Pacific. See Fulmar.
Mother's mark (Med.), a congenital mark upon the body; a
birthmark; a naevus.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Mother \Moth"er\, a.
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.
[1913 Webster]
It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is
derived. --T. Arnold.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Mother \Moth"er\, n. [Akin to D. modder mud, G. moder mold, mud,
Dan. mudder mud, and to E. mud. See Mud.]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The film is composed of a mass of rapidly developing
microorganisms of the genus Mycoderma, and in the
mother of vinegar the microorganisms (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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Mother \Moth"er\, v. i.
To become like, or full of, mother, or thick matter, as
vinegar.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
mother \moth"er\ (m[u^][th]"[~e]r), n. [Shortened from
motherfucker as a euphemism.]
1. Same as motherfucker. [Vulgar slang]
[PJC]
2. A person or thing with some exceptional quality, as great
size or power; as, a grizzly stuck his nose in my tent and
I grabbed my pistol and shot the mother. [Slang]
[PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Mother \Moth"er\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mothered; p. pr. & vb.
n. Mothering.]
To adopt as a son or daughter; to perform the duties of a
mother to.
[1913 Webster]
The queen, to have put lady Elizabeth besides the
crown, would have mothered another body's child.
--Howell.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
mother
n 1: a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term
of address to your mother); "the mother of three children"
[syn: mother, female parent] [ant: begetter,
father, male parent]
2: a stringy slimy substance consisting of yeast cells and
bacteria; forms during fermentation and is added to cider or
wine to produce vinegar
3: a term of address for an elderly woman
4: a term of address for a mother superior
5: a condition that is the inspiration for an activity or
situation; "necessity is the mother of invention"
v 1: care for like a mother; "She fusses over her husband" [syn:
mother, fuss, overprotect]
2: make children; "Abraham begot Isaac"; "Men often father
children but don't recognize them" [syn: beget, get,
engender, father, mother, sire, generate, bring
forth]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
233 Moby Thesaurus words for "mother":
SOB, agent, ancestorial, ancestors, ancestral, apprentice,
architect, artificer, artist, attend to, aunt, auntie, author,
baby, baby-sit, bastard, bear, beget, begetter, beginner, birth,
blood brother, breed, breed true, brethren, bring to birth,
brother, bub, bubba, bud, buddy, bugger, builder, care for,
catalyst, causer, chaperon, cherish, coddle, conceiver, conserve,
constructor, copulate, cosset, country cousin, cousin,
cousin once removed, cousin twice removed, cradle, craftsman,
creator, creep, crossbreed, cultivate, dam, daughter, designer,
deviser, discoverer, dry-nurse, effector, engender, engenderer,
engineer, executor, executrix, fart, father, fatherlike, fatherly,
feed, first cousin, fondle, foster, foster brother, foster mother,
founder, frater, generate, generator, genesis, genetrix, get,
give birth to, grandfatherly, grandmotherly, grandnephew,
grandniece, grandparental, granduncle, great-aunt, great-uncle,
grower, half brother, heel, hood, hooligan, inaugurator, inbreed,
indulge, industrialist, initiator, innate, inspirer, instigator,
institutor, introducer, inventor, jerk, journeyman,
keep watch over, kid brother, lavish care on, look after,
look out for, look to, louse, ma, make love, maker, mam, mama,
mamma, mammy, manufacturer, master, master craftsman, mater,
materfamilias, maternal, maternal ancestor, matriarch, matronize,
maw, meanie, mind, minister to, mom, mommy, motherlike, motherly,
mover, multiply, mum, mummy, native, natural, nephew, niece,
nourish, nuncle, nunks, nunky, nurse, nurture, nurturer, old,
old lady, old woman, organizer, origin, originator, outbreed,
pamper, parent, parental, past master, paternal, patriarchal, pill,
planner, precursor, preserve, prime mover, primum mobile,
procreate, producer, progenitrix, proliferate, propagate, protect,
protege, provide for, raiser, rat, realizer, reproduce in kind,
ride herd on, second cousin, see after, see to, serve, shaper,
shelter, shepherd, shit, shithead, shitheel, sire, sis, sissy,
sister, sister-german, sistern, smith, son, source, spoil,
spoon-feed, stepbrother, stepmother, stepsister, stinkard, stinker,
suckle, support, sustain, take care of, take charge of, tend,
the old woman, turd, unc, uncle, uncs, uterine brother, wait on,
watch, watch out for, watch over, wellspring, wet-nurse, wright
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
parent
mother
predecessor
The ancestor node in a tree that
points to the current node (one of its child nodes).
(2005-09-15)
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
MOTHER, domestic relations. A woman who has borne a child.
2. It is generally the duty of a mother to support her child, when she
is left a widow, until he becomes of age, or is able to maintain himself; 8
Watts, R. 366; and even after he becomes of age, if he be chargeable to the
public, she may, perhaps, in all the states, be compelled, when she has
sufficient means, to support him. But when the child has property sufficient
for his support, she is not, even during his minority, obliged to maintain
him. 1 Bro. C. C. 387; 2 Mass. R. 415; 4 Miss. R. 97.
3. When the father dies without leaving a testamentary guardian, at
common law, the mother is entitled to be the guardian of the person and
estate of the infant, until he arrives at fourteen years, when he is able to
choose a guardian. Litt. sect. 123; 3 Co. 38; Co. Litt. 84 b; 2 Atk. 14; Com
Dig. B, D, E; 7 Ves. 348. See 10 Mass. 135, 140; 15 Mass. 272; 4 Binn. 487;
4 Stew. & Part. 123; 2 Mass. 415; Harper, R. 9; 1 Root, R. 487.
4. In Pennsylvania, the orphans' court will, in such case, appoint a
guardian until the infant shall attain his fourteenth year. During the joint
lives of the parents, (q.v.) the father (q.v.) is alone responsible for
the support of the children; and has the only control over them, except when
in special cases the mother is allowed to have possession of them. 1 P. A.
Browne's Rep. 143; 5 Binn. R. 520; 2 Serg. & Rawle 174. Vide 4 Binn. R. 492,
494.
5. The mother of a bastard child, as natural guardian, has a right to
the custody and control of such child, and is bound to maintain it. 2 Mass.
109; 12 Mass. 387, 433; 2 John. 375; 15 John. 208; 6 S. & R. 255; 1 Ashmead,
55.