mother

Meanings

Noun

• 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.
• A female ancestor.
• A source or origin.
• A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.
• Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.
• Any person or entity which performs mothering.
• 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.
• Hysterical passion; hysteria; the uterus.
• 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.
• Motherfucker.
• A striking example.
• Alternative of moth-er

Verb

• To give birth to or produce (as its female parent) a child.
• To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.
• To cause to contain mother.
• To develop mother.

Related

Similar words

• father, grandfather, granddaddy
• metro-
• MF, mofo, motherfucker, mutha

Opposite words

• father
• daughter, son, child, offspring

Broader meaning words

• parent

Origin

• From Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr. Superseded non-native Middle English mere borrowed from Old French mere. mater.
• From Middle English modren, from the noun (see above).
• Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *muþraz, perhaps through intermediate Middle Dutch modder.
• Coined from moth by analogy to mouser.