| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| mother1 |
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| SYLLABICATION: | moth·er |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  m th  r |
| NOUN: | 1. A woman who conceives, gives birth to, or raises and nurtures a child. 2. A female parent of an animal. 3. A female ancestor. 4. A woman who holds a position of authority or responsibility similar to that of a mother: a den mother. 5. Roman Catholic Church a. A mother superior. b. Used as a form of address for such a woman. 6. A woman who creates, originates, or founds something: “the discovery of radium, which made Marie Curie mother to the Atomic Age” (Alden Whitman). 7. A creative source; an origin: Philosophy is the mother of the sciences. 8. Used as a title for a woman respected for her wisdom and age. 9. Maternal love and tenderness: brought out the mother in her. 10. The biggest or most significant example of its kind: the mother of all battles. 11. Vulgar Slang Something considered extraordinary, as in disagreeableness, size, or intensity. | | ADJECTIVE: | 1. Relating to or being mother. 2. Characteristic of a mother: mother love. 3. Being the source or origin: the mother church. 4. Derived from or as if from one's mother; native: one's mother language. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: moth·ered, moth·er·ing, moth·ers
1. To give birth to; create and produce. 2. To watch over, nourish, and protect maternally. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English moder, mother, from Old English m dor. See m ter- in Appendix I. N., sense 10, translation of Iraqi Arabic 'umm. N., sense 11, short for motherfucker.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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