from
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.
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2. That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of
birth or origin; generatrix.
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Alas! poor country! . . . it can not
Be called our mother, but our grave. --Shak.
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I behold . . . the solitary majesty of Crete, mother
of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand
years. --Landor.
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3. An old woman or matron. [Familiar]
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4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an
abbess, etc.
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5. Hysterical passion; hysteria. [Obs.] --Shak.
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{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.
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