mother

Meaning

Noun

1. A female parent, sometimes especially a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, or fostered).
2. A female who has given birth to a baby; this person in relation to her child or children.
3. A pregnant female; mother-to-be; a female who gestates a baby.
4. A female who donates a fertilized egg or donates a body cell which has resulted in a clone.
5. A female ancestor.
6. A source or origin.
7. Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind. (See mother of all.)
8. A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.
9. A term of address for one's wife.
10. Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.
11. Any person or entity which performs mothering.
12. Dregs, lees; a stringy, mucilaginous or film- or membrane-like substance (consisting of a culture 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.
13. A locomotive which provides electrical power for a slug.
14. The principal piece of an astrolabe, into which the others are fixed.
15. The female superior or head of a religious house; an abbess, etc.
16. (obsolete) Hysterical passion; hysteria; the uterus.
17. A disc produced from the electrotyped master, used in manufacturing phonograph records.
18. aA person who is admired, respected, or looked up to within a particular fandom or community; see also: serve cunt

Verb

1. To give birth to or produce (as its female parent) a child. (Compare father.)
2. To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.
3. To cause to contain mother (“that substance which develops in fermenting alcohol and turns it into vinegar”).
4. To develop mother.

Hyphenated as

moth‧er

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmʌðə/

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr
Proto-Germanic *mōdēr
Proto-West Germanic *mōder
Old English mōdor
Middle English moder
English mother
From Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-West Germanic *mōder, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr. Doublet of mata, mater, and matrix.
Some have proposed that the "dregs" sense is from Middle Dutch modder (“filth”), from Proto-Germanic *muþraz (“sediment”), but modder is not known in this meaning. On the other hand, words for "mother" have developed the secondary sense of "dregs" in several Romance and Germanic languages; compare Dutch moer, French mère de vinaigre, German Essigmutter, Italian madre, Medieval Latin māter, and Spanish madre.

Sentences

During his childhood he was coached and trained by his mother and grandmother .

His two unmarried sisters and widowed mother came with them .