mother

Less common meanings

4. 4
   tend lovinglyverbtransitive

   To care for and protect someone the way a loving mother would.

   Like a hen keeping her chicks safe under her wings.

   She mothers every new student who joins the class.

   Stop trying to mother me. I can handle this myself.

   UsageIf you mother an adult, you may care for them too much.

   Similarnurture, baby, coddle, pamper

   Oppositeneglect

5. 5
   head nunnouncountable

   The woman who leads a convent or other religious house.

   Like the principal who runs a whole school.

   The mother welcomed the new novices to the abbey.

   She served as mother superior of the convent for nearly twenty years.

   UsageSay Mother Superior, with capitals.

   Similarabbess, prioress, superior

6. 6
   greatest of allnoun

   The biggest or most amazing example of something, as in the mother of all storms.

   That storm was the mother of all blizzards.

   They threw the mother of all parties to celebrate the win.

   UsageUse the mother of all before a plural noun: the mother of all parties.

   Note
7. 7
   ancestornounfigurativelycountable

   A woman from whom a family or people are descended.

   In the story, Eve is the mother of all humanity.

   She traced her family back to one mother who crossed the ocean centuries ago.

   Similarancestor, matriarch

8. 8
   give birthverbtransitive

   To give birth to a child, or to produce one as its female parent.

   Q's sister, Debbie, had mothered two kids by the time she was twenty, with neither of the fathers in sight.

   1998, Nina Revoyr, The Necessary Hunger: A Novel

   Zilpah, Leah's maid, mothered two sons for Jacob, Gad and Asher. Leah became pregnant once more and had two more sons, Issachar, and Zebulun, and a daughter, Dinah, thus Leah had seven children for Jacob.

   2010, Lynette Joseph-Bani, The Biblical Journey of Slavery: From Egypt to the Americas

   UsageMothered can also mean cared for. Use gave birth to when you need to make the meaning clear.

   Similarbear, birth, produce

   Note
9. 9
   vulgar slangnounslangmildly vulgareuphemisticcountable

   A rude short form of a stronger swear word, used for a person or thing.

   Turn that mother up. I love this song!

   Watch out for that mother. He's got a nasty temper.

   Similarsucker

   Note
10. 10
    idolnounslangcountable

    A person that fans really admire and look up to.

    Fans flooded the comments calling the singer their mother.

    Everyone in the fandom agrees that she is mother.

    UsageOften with no a or the: She is mother. Fans also shout Mother!

    Similaricon, idol, queen

    Note
11. 11
    vinegar starternouncountable or uncountable

    A jelly-like layer of helpful bacteria that forms in wine or cider and turns it into vinegar.

    Like the cloudy lump that floats in a bottle of natural vinegar.

    A thick mother had formed on top of the cider, so we knew it was turning to vinegar.

    She scooped the mother from the jar and used it to start a new batch of vinegar.

    UsageSay add mother to the wine.

    Note
12. 12
    senior womannounfigurativelycountable

    An older woman who is respected in her community.

    Like calling a respected older woman 'auntie' even when she isn't really your relative.

    At church, everyone greeted Mother Jackson, the oldest woman there, with a hug.

    Everyone in the village called the old woman Mother Rose and went to her for advice.

    UsageIn some churches and communities, respected older women are called Mother + name: Mother Rose.

    Similarmatriarch, elder

13. 13
    genetic donornouncountable

    A woman whose egg or cell gives a baby or a clone its genes.

    The mother donated an egg so another woman could carry the baby.

    Scientists took a single cell from the mother to grow the clone.

    UsageSay genetic mother or biological mother.

14. 14
    name for wifenoundated

    An old-fashioned way for a husband to speak to his wife.

    He turned to his wife and said, 'Mother, supper smells wonderful.'

    'Come sit by the fire, Mother,' the husband called gently.

    Note
15. 15
    address in-lawnoundated

    A respectful way to address your husband's or wife's mother, often used with her last name.

    My grandmother called her husband's mother 'Mother Bennet' all her life.

    He always greeted his wife's mother warmly as Mother Clarke.

    Note
16. 16
    nounobsolete

    Uncontrolled emotional distress once thought to come from the womb, or the womb itself.

    St Botolph's parish records ascribed three deaths to 'mother', an old name for the uterus.

    1979, Thomas R. Forbes, “The changing face of death in London”Here, mother means the womb, once thought to cause wild emotional distress.

    The Root hereof taken with Zedoary and Angelică, or without them, helps the rising of the Mother.

    1666, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physitian EnlargedHere, the rising of the Mother means attacks of hysteria, thought to come from the womb.

    Note
17. 17
    verb

    Of wine or cider, to grow the film that turns it into vinegar.
18. 18
    noun

    A metal disc copied from the master, used to make the metal plates that press records.
19. 19
    noun

    A locomotive that supplies electric power to a powerless helper unit called a slug.
20. 20
    noun

    The main body of an astrolabe that holds all the other parts.