Word: mother Part of Speech: noun 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 Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and matter. 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. Pronunciation: /ˈmʌð.ə/, /ˈmʌðɚ/, /ˈmɐð.ə/, /ˈmað.ə/, /ˈmʊð.ə/ 1. A female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, fostered, etc). Example: I am visiting my mother any moment. Example: The lioness was a mother of four cubs. 2. A pregnant female; mother-to-be; a female who gestates a baby. Example: Nutrients and oxygen obtained by the mother are conveyed to the fetus. Example: The antiabortion iconography in the last decade featured the fetus but never the mother. 3. A female who donates a fertilized egg or donates a body cell which has resulted in a clone. 4. A female ancestor. Labels: figuratively Example: And Adã called his wyfe Heua⸝ becauſe ſhe was the mother of all that lyveth 5. A source or origin. Labels: figuratively Example: Near-synonym: matrix Example: The Mediterranean was mother to many cultures and languages. 6. Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind. (See mother of all.) Example: Near-synonym: Big One Example: 1991, January 17, Saddam Hussein, Broadcast on Baghdad state radio. The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun. 7. A title of respect for one's mother-in-law. Labels: dated Example: Mother Smith, meet my cousin, Doug Jones. 8. A term of address for one's wife. Labels: dated Example: A few minutes later we were all seated comfortably, Uncle Dave and mother, as he called his wife, myself and my husband, in the split-bottomed wooden chairs, on the vine-covered porch. / “Is Bethel a Methodist Church?” I asked. / Uncle Dave looked quizzically at his wife. “Do you hear that, mother?” he said. Example: On some days as he got near the house he would call out to his wife: / “Almighty Moses, Martha! who left the sprinkler on the grass?” / On other days he would call to her from quite a little distance off: “Hullo, mother! Got any supper for a hungry man?” 9. Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community. Labels: figuratively Example: Near-synonyms: matron, matriarch 10. Any person or entity which performs mothering. Labels: figuratively Example: Judges 5:7, KJV. The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. Example: Galatians 4:26, KJV. Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 11. 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. Example: pieces of mother ; adding mother to vinegar 12. A locomotive which provides electrical power for a slug. 13. The principal piece of an astrolabe, into which the others are fixed. 14. The female superior or head of a religious house; an abbess, etc. 15. Hysterical passion; hysteria; the uterus. Labels: obsolete Example: O how this mother ſwels vp toward my hart[…] Example: T.V. dicusseth tumors and mollifieth them, helps inflammations, rising of the mother and the epilepsie being burnt. 16. A disc produced from the electrotyped master, used in manufacturing phonograph records. 17. A person who is admired, respected, or looked up to within a particular fandom or community; see also: serve cunt